Political Lives

Who were the 20th-century men and women who made history in British politics?

Who do we remember? Who have we forgotten? Who were the successes and who were the failures? What inspired these people to enter the world of politics?

What legacies did they leave? Journalist Hugo Young presents a collection of around 100 mini-biographies personally selected from the archives of the "Dictionary of National Biography" of some of these influential men and women.

His choices, as he explains in his introduction, were based not only on the subject of the biography but often also on the biographer.This collection is not designed to give a cohesive account of changes and developments in 20th-century British politics, but rather to provide interesting snapshots into the lives of just a selection of those individuals who made their mark on Britain's political landscape during some fascinating periods in modern history.