Another good book is Why We Get The Wrong Politicians, by Isabel Hardman
This was my review for local mag.:
Hardman is a Westminster lobby journalist and assistant editor of The Spectator, so has been able to observe the workings of the House of Commons at close quarters. She analyses the motivations of those who stand for Parliament, followed by their rapid disenchantment as they start to work out that they are virtually powerless.
She is in the main sympathetic to MPs, recognising the home-wrecking nature of their chosen career path, and the huge sacrifices that have to be made in so many areas: health, family life, finances, moral standards, idealism. It is a sorry tale of sheer impotence in the face of an arcane system in Westminster.
She acknowledges the presence of corrupt self-serving individuals - but did they start out that way, or did the system at Westminster push them in that direction as being the only rational course of action to save their career?
She observes the novice MPs who arrive bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, fresh from their heady triumph, and full of political fervour to improve the nation, but find themselves sucked into jostling for a remote chance of making a difference; and faced with massive moral compromises. Such painful disillusionment presents a dilemma: give it all up and face the fact that all that hard work and massive expenditure were in vain, and try and pick up the pieces of your life without too much loss of face; or go with the flow and try to carve a niche for yourself by fair means or foul?
She asks: “Why would anyone with a vaguely decent perspective on life and a few hobbies want to go anywhere near Parliament?” And her answers are not unkind – she recognises the often laudable motives of many candidates, and laments the fate of so many as they cave in to the prevailing moral mire that confronts them at Westminster.
The pathway to Parliament demands money in quantities that many candidates underestimate, which is why “We end up with a political class that cannot instinctively see the impact of bad policies on the most vulnerable.” Not bad people then, she seems to say, just ignorant of real life.
She is full of praise for the dedication of many MPs to their constituency casework. How sickeningly ironic it is that so much of their time is spent sorting out the impact of their own flawed legislation on ordinary people.
This is a good book, with her assertions well researched and backed-up; and a real compassion for those decent people who find themselves locked into a system that leaves many frustrated and miserable, and easy prey for the booze and the marriage-destroying charms of fresh newly-graduated young assistants. It is also a very sad book – sad for the individuals involved and sad for all of us whose lives are dictated by legislation that is passed under such devious processes.
“What is far worse than the few fools and failures that every parliament seems to contain is the fact that the House of Commons is – both structurally and culturally – not working, and that will remain the case no matter how many snap elections we have over the next few years.”
