An Appetite for Power: A New History of the Conservative Party - Hardcover

The complete history of the Conservative Party from 1714 to the present day.

John Ramsden is the author of three of the volumes in Longman’s vast, specialised multi-volume history of the Conservative Party. He is a first rate professional historian. This is his first trade book. A new history of the Conservative Party is long overdue and Ramsden is ideally placed to write it.

Ramsden’s An Appetite for Power will be the book to replace Robert Blake’s The Conservative Party from Peel to Thatcher – a book now very tired and in need of substantial revision but which, over its various Fontana editions, has sold over 48,000 copies.

Unlike Blake’s book, Ramsden’s will cover the entire history of the Party from its formation as an identifiable political entity in 1714 until the present day, including the disastrous 1997 election and the current confusion in which the party still finds itself.

The book is written as a continuous narrative history in which Ramsden has synthesised a lifetime’s research, expertise and knowledge. The book is in many ways a political history of the last three centuries of British history, and his descriptions of the personalities and intrigues give a clear insight into the nature of politics and politicians down the years.

He concludes his book with a chapter on the lessons the Party must learn from its history if it is to regain its credibility as an electoral force.

Ramsden’s book will attract substantial press coverage on publication and is an accessible, stimulating history book for all readers of intelligent trade non-fiction.

In ' An Appetite for Power' John Ramsden – head of history at Queen Mary and Westfield College – has synthesized a life-time’s research, expertise and knowledge to write a authoritative reinterpretation of the Conservative Party from its formation as an identifiable political entity in 1714 until the present day, including the disastrous 1997 election and the current confusion in which it still finds itself. In many ways the book is a political history of the last three centuries of British history. Ramsden’s descriptions of the personalities – from peel to Disraeli to Thatcher and John Major – and accounts of the great political debates, divisions and intrigue give a clear insight into the nature of politics and politicians over nearly three centuries. He concludes his book with a chapter on the lessons the Party must learn from its history if it is to regain its credibility as an electoral force.