How Westminster Works . . . and Why It Doesn't: The instant Sunday Times bestseller from the ultimate political insider

Whatever your opinion of Ian Dunt, his punditry and politics, this short book is a concise summary of what's gone awry in the British political system.Even if you don't like Dunt, you should read this book.Dunt has reviewed and summarised the primary reports about the faults in our political system so you don't have to. Snd he's salted the commentary with quotes from political giants, some attributable, some not.'Westminster: HIW and WID' is a strategic book that takes time articulating the problem statement, provides brief, actionable solutions, and asks the reader to engage and agitate for change.

If you are curious about why our political system is in the mess it is, and are concerned about the steady erosion of our democracy this book is a very good starting point.This is not a critique about the finer points of politics and buried in legal speak. It is written in plain English and explains how our political system works, and more importantly, how it should function. It starts with how candidates are selected to represent a constituency and follows a path through election to how parliament works and terminates in the House of Lords. The book concludes with the author's assessment about what works well and, in his opinion, what should be changed.In this work nobody escapes criticism including the Media, the Civil Service and the drafters of legislation. In general it is non-partisan and levels criticism at the Opposition as well as the Government. Considering we pride ourselves on being the oldest Democracy in the World, it is surprising how undemocratic Westminster actual is! The chapter regarding how the backbench MP's are manipulated by their party is particularly revealing.To be fair the author is not too scathing about the backbenchers and praises their hard work and diligence; his criticism is mainly reserved for the "career politician" and their outstanding level of incompetence and their inability to understand ordinary people. Some most probably suspected this, but this work exposes their weakness.This work is not uplifting reading, but it's compelling all the same. This will not fill you with a warm glow and fill you full of pride about our political masters, from any particular party, but it will make you think why change is necessary.This is an essential read for all those concerned about the mess we are in.

Describes the current UK political system and works out ways to make it more efficient and progressive. A good analysis, though I'm sure others will suggest other solutions!

A brilliant book - essential reading for MPS and civil servants.

This very readable summary of the arcane way that Westminster works takes us through the whole process, with emphasis on the long-standing flaws that render most parts of government unfit for purpose, suggests ways to fix it (proportional representation essentially), and explains why it's in the interests of successive governments (but not the rest of us) not to fix it. Excellent.

Failing and flailing Grayling is in this book, but the book goes much much deeper than providing a harrowing account of the botched ‘reform’ of the English probation system.Ian Dunt brings exceptional journalistic and forensic skills, as well as a deep knowledge of Whitehall and Westminster, to bear. Readers - who have struggled to understand why our system of government is so poor - will end up being able to understand why the UK has been served up with multiple flailing and failing Graylings.This is the essential corrective to Liz Truss’s ‘deep state’ nonsense. It is the best (and most readable) account of why our parliamentary and governance systems are unfit for purpose and it includes excellent suggestions - about where to start - for those who want to change them.

An impressive piece of work, well researched and put together. I would not share ID's political views, far from it, but he has not really demonstrated the sort of content one will find in his twitter account. Interestingly his fundamental, but by no means his only, solution is proportional representation at general elections and indeed he makes a sensible case for this. He does not however touch on the downside of this electoral "reform", namely the inevitable weakness of this methodology. In recent years we have seen elected representatives taking over a year to form a government (Belgium), nations modifying their constitutions as a result of the weakness inherent in PR (Israel) and back in the post war years a series of weak and unstable governments severely damaging the progress of the country (France). I could go on of course with list of political as opposed to structural consequences, indeed they were explored at length during the referendum during the Con/Lib coalition some years ago when of course the UK voted to stick with FPTP.

It shows so clearly why this country is in such a mess and my MPS have never succeeded in sorting out my problems.

An informative and fascinating insight into our democracy. Frankly depressing at times, but the final message is one of hope.