Britain was victorious in the Second World War, and yet thirty years later she had many of the characteristics of a defeated nation. What went wrong? The Politics of Decline sets out the assumptions of the 1940s and clinically examines the records of successive Governments as they strove to run the country in the approved manner. The I.M.F. crisis of 1976 brought these efforts to a shuddering halt. Using original sources, this book marshals the evidence to support a compellingly written interpretation of events.

This book examines how the Crown has performed as Head of State across the UK and post war Commonwealth during times of political crisis. It explores the little-known relationships, powers and imperial legacies regarding modern heads of state in parliamentary regimes where so many decisions occur without parliamentary or public scrutiny. This original study highlights how the Queen’s position has been replicated across continents with surprising results. It also shows the topicality and contemporary relevance of this historical research to interpret and understand crises of governance and the enduring legacy of monarchy and colonialism to modern politics. This collection uniquely brings together a diverse set of states including specific chapters on England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Brunei, Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, Australia, Tuvalu, and the Commonwealth Caribbean. Viceregalism is written and conceptualised to remind that the Crown is not just a ceremonial part of the constitution, but a crucial political and international actor of real importance.

Britain was victorious in the Second World War, and yet thirty years later she had many of the characteristics of a defeated nation. What went wrong? The Politics of Decline sets out the assumptions of the 1940s and clinically examines the records of successive governments as they strove to run the country in the approved manner. The I.M.F. crisis of 1976 brought these efforts to a shuddering halt. Using original sources, this book marshals the evidence to support a compellingly written interpretation of events.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Churchill, a towering historical biography, available for the first time in paperback. William Gladstone was, with Tennyson, Newman, Dickens, Carlyle, and Darwin, one of the stars of nineteenth-century British life. He spent sixty-three of his eighty-nine years in the House of Commons and was prime minister four times, a unique accomplishment. From his critical role in the formation of the Liberal Party to his preoccupation with the cause of Irish Home Rule, he was a commanding politician and statesman nonpareil. But Gladstone the man was much more: a classical scholar, a wide-ranging author, a vociferous participant in all the great theological debates of the day, a voracious reader, and an avid walker who chopped down trees for recreation. He was also a man obsessed with the idea of his own sinfulness, prone to self-flagellation and persistent in the practice of accosting prostitutes on the street and attempting to persuade them of the errors of their ways. This full and deep portrait of a complicated man offers a sweeping picture of a tumultuous century in British history, and is also a brilliant example of the biographer’s art.