Has the most successful species in British political history finally become extinct? The Conservative party dominated British politics for 120 years from Disraeli's victory in 1874, culminating in an unprecedented eighteen-year spell in government after 1979. And yet at the very end of the century the Tories imploded so disastrously as to suggest the party might be doomed to follow the Liberals into oblivion. Geoffrey Wheatcroft has observed this extraordinary drama at close hand, interviewing all the key players on (and, more often, off) the record. In this provocative and often acerbically funny book he examines how the Tories came to enjoy their unlikely triumph - and their spectacular decline.
Author Biography
Geoffrey Wheatcroft contributes regularly to a variety of newspapers and journals including the Guardian, the Spectator, the TLS, The New York Times and the Atlantic Monthly. He is the author of several books, including The Randlords, The Controversy of Zion and Le Tour.
