Two Political Books Reviewed by Chris Cotton
Rory Stewart’s Politics On the Edge is an anecdotal view of his time in UK politics. It touches on his experience in becoming an MP, the selection process, the hard slog and the rather dysfunctional process that he had to go through. Once an MP he becomes acutely aware of his impotence, his only real power was to help push issues for his local constituents. As a junior minister he slowly realises that no-one, not his political masters in the government, and not the civil servants that he is working with, have any particular interest in any expertise that he might already possess. For one group he is a flag carrier to advance their cause and for the other he is, ideally, a public relations frontman.
He does manage to achieve some change as a junior prisons minister, he is moved to the foreign office but to the Africa section rather than anything that could make use of his previous experience in the Middle East and Afghanistan. He struggles to get either Government Minsters or Civil Servants to recognise that he may have a workable solution to the problems that he is faced with and he becomes eventually disillusioned with the whole process.
The above doesn’t do justice to the detail that Stewart puts into this book. What I think really makes it an enjoyable read is the details and personal reminiscences that he provides.
Having finished Politics On the Edge the next book I picked up was How Westminster Works …and Why It Doesn’t by Ian Dunt. This was covering much of the same ground but rather than viewing it through a very personal lens it takes a much more analytical approach, dissecting the various parts of the processes in and around Parliament. He looks again at how MPs are selected, what limited power they have individually once they become an MP. He explains the imbalance of power between the Government and Parliament, he explores the shortcomings of the Civil Service and the subservient role of the modern press. The process by which new legislation is designed and developed is set out in some (sometimes depressing) detail. The bodies that come out well in this book are the House of Commons Select Committees and the House of Lords. Interestingly he attributes the efficiency and usefulness of the Lords, when compared to the Commons, in large part because they are not elected.
This is still a very readable book, Dunt illustrates his arguments with real examples but, unlike Stewart, he does not appear in his own book. By its focus this is a more detailed coverage of the workings of our system of Government. I thought that I already had a good understanding of the subject but this book shed a sometimes depressing light on the inner workings. Reading the second book helped me to understand some of the absurd and frustrating situations that Stewart had encountered.
Both books are informative, well written and entertaining. Together they give a rounded picture, with Dunt adding detail where Stewart adds colour. Recommended.