THE INSTANT TOP TWO SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY BOOK AWARDS

Longstanding Labour MP Chris Bryant tells the inside story of what went so wrong with Westminster – and how we might solve it.

''Takes a bulldozer to the crumbling edifice of parliamentary standards''
JAMES O''BRIEN

''Absolutely riveting. I read, I blink, I gasp''
REVEREND RICHARD COLES

''Vital. It should serve as a wake-up call to all of us''
ALASTAIR CAMPBELL

''A lively, forensic, engrossing, sometimes entertaining, often disturbing and always unflinching interrogation of what''s gone wrong with our legislature''
ANDREW RAWNSLEY, OBSERVER

The extraordinary turmoil we have seen in British politics in the last few years has set records. With the last government, we had the fastest turnover of ministers in our history and more MPs suspended from the House than ever. Rules were flouted repeatedly, sometimes in plain sight. The government seemed unable to escape the brush of sleaze. And just when we thought it was all going to calm down a bit, another scandal would break.

Having spent years as Chair of the Committees on Standards and Privileges, Chris Bryant had a front-row seat for the battle over standards in our politics. Taking us inside the Pugin-carpeted corridors of Westminster, from the prime minister''s office to the Strangers'' Bar, he examines how parliament got into this mess and suggests how it might – at last – get its house in order.