How Westminster Works ... and Why It Doesn't by Ian Dunt

REVIEWER: Ali Hull

BOOK: How Westminster Works… and Why It Doesn’t

(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2024) 448pp, paperback, RRP£10.99

This book is very, very hard-hitting. It takes the reader through the entire political process, from the selection of candidates to the failures of the first-past-the-post system, the way that MPs are controlled and dissuaded from thinking for themselves: the disregard for expertise that runs through not only Parliament but also the Civil Service (though not the House of Lords); the lack of time for looking at legislation properly, the lack of time given to MPs to raise issues they feel are important; the sheer workload on MPs which means they are usually chronically exhausted, and the impact that has on their judgement – and all that gets far worse when you get to ministerial level. Even 10 Downing Street comes in for criticism – it was not built for 21st century governance, and it is just not suitable for it. Yet we keep it, as we keep so much in the UK, because it is traditional, even though doing so is completely indefensible. Very few things escape criticism – and that includes the press, although Dunt is a columnist  - but surprisingly for some, the House of Lords wins his praise (as do Parliamentary Select committees and the actions of John Bercow in challenging the government’s refusal to listen to MPs). 

There are two particular case studies – Chris Grayling’s disastrous reform of the Probation Service, which eventually had to be reversed by his own government before more damage was done, and the arguably even more disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, in which thousands of people who had links to the UK that made them vulnerable to the Taliban, were simply left behind. Both showed up what is wrong with our current system. The book is not party-political: not all the failings are recent, and the concentration of power in the hands of the Prime Minister and a few of those around them has been going on since the days of Margaret Thatcher.

I found it a depressing read, simply because so much is so awry in our political system. The book ends, however, with a chapter on what could be done to improve matters, and the author looks at systems in other countries which are far less dysfunctional than our own.

Reviewer: Ali Hull
Ali Hull is Book Editor for Preach magazine. Fascinated by politics, she is also a former editor of the Christian Democrat newspaper.