Why We Get the Wrong Politicians

[This book] is about how we get the wrong political cultures, which lead to us having and unrepresentative, often unprepared and frequently unhappy bunch of politicians who end up passing bad laws causing personal disasters on small or catastrophic scales to people who then flood their constituency surgeries in crisis. Politicians are consistently voted the least trusted professional group by the UK public. They've recently become embroiled in scandals concerning sexual harassment and expenses. Every year, they introduce new legislation that doesn't do what it sets out to achieve - often with terrible financial and human costs. But, with some notable exceptions, they are decent, hard-working people, doing a hugely difficult and demanding job. In this searching examination of our political class, award-winning journalist Isabel Hardman tries to square this circle. She lifts the lid on the strange world of Westminster and asks why we end up with representatives with whom we are so unhappy. Filled with forensic analysis and revealing reportage, Isabel Hardman’s impressive and insightful first book takes a long, balanced look at those in office and those who lost out, questioning our very system of government and the divisions and cynicism it so readily appears to foster. Objective and surprising, Hardman presents a very readable and important insight into the mechanics of Whitehall. A landmark study, Why We Get the Wrong Politicians is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the landscape of contemporary politics and see a future with better government. “It is Isabel Hardman’s singular achievement in this brilliant, empathetic book to remind us of what we should already know: that politicians are like the rest of us. Why We Get the Wrong Politicians is a civics lesson, a call for reform, and a fly-on-the-wall perspective on life inside the halls of power, but above all a masterpiece of journalism.” – Clement Knox, Waterstones History and Politics Buyer