INVITATION ONLY
THE CONSERVATIVES – A HISTORY
BY ROBIN HARRIS
The history of the Conservative Party is a story that has been at the heart of British politics for over 200 years. It features some of the very greatest of Britons – such as Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher – and it has had a crucial bearing on some of the most formative moments in the nation’s past. Yet surprisingly it is also a story that has rarely been told in a single volume for the general reader. Now Robin Harris, historian and party insider, has produced this lively but authoritative book to fill the gap and bring two centuries of political history vividly to life.
Taking as his starting point the larger-than-life personalities of the party’s leaders and prime ministers since its inception, Robin Harris’s book also examines the interconnected themes and issues that have dominated Conservative politics over the years. The careers of Peel, Disraeli, Salisbury, Baldwin, Chamberlain, Churchill, Eden, Macmillan, Heath, Thatcher, Major, Hague and Cameron – and the political ideas that informed them – are analysed in forensic and fascinating detail. These portraits of some of the most powerful men (and one woman) in British history together form a vibrant and compelling narrative which shines new light on the history of Britain since the early nineteenth century.
This landmark book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in politics – past or future – or anyone who has ever wondered how, when and why Britain came to be the nation it is today.
Robin Harris began to work for the Conservative Party in 1978, becoming Director of the Conservative Research Department, a government political adviser and a member of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Policy Unit. When Mrs Thatcher left Downing Street, so did he, going on to assist her with books and speeches. In recent years, he has written an authoritative history of the city state of Dubrovnik and an acclaimed biography of the French statesman Talleyrand. He is currently working on a biography of Margaret Thatcher. He lives in London.
Tuesday 22 November 2011‘
