Parliament: The Biography (Volume I - Ancestral Voices)

This book tells the story of our greatest national institution. It is well-written, contains much truth, and a great deal of important information. It is a wonderful idea.

Peter Oborne

This is a wonderful, wry view of the history of parliament "from the inside". Chris Bryant is a great myth-buster. If you ever thought that modern MPs were more corrupt or worse behaved than their predecessors, then read on. You'll find it's not quite so simple.

Mary Beard

A wonderfully iconoclastic yet affectionate history ... Bryant tells the story with clarity and verve.

Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church, Oxford University

A remarkably readable and scholarly account of the emergence of the British Parliament over its first five hundred years or so

Ken Clarke

This magnificent book... Bryant is a fine historian. His understanding of political processes shines through. After this epic the next volume will be eagerly awaited

Leo McKinstry, Express

A bravura ‘biography’ of Parliament… both charming and important… A carefully constructed and lucidly written adventure story about the institution that – like it or not – still shapes our lives

Roy Hattersley, Telegraph

Admirably comprehensive… and written in the kind of lucid, elegant prose now rarely associated with our elected representatives

New Statesman

Lively... a warts-and-all account of how MPs have first survived and subsequently shaped and initiated policy

The Lady

Worthy of its venerable subject

Independent on Sunday

a fascinating study into the lives and reputations of those who, honourable or not, have sat as parliamentarians... compelling reading

Chris Skidmore, Times Literary Supplement