Club Government

"'Club government' was a fixation of the period: press accounts, diarists, and writers such as Dickens, Disraeli and Trollope all advanced the view that key political decisions were taken behind closed doors, in the clubs of London's St James's district. Yet despite 'club government' being referenced in most major political histories of the period, the topic has never before enjoyed a full-length study. Making use of previously-sealed club archives, and adopting a broad range of analytical techniques, this work of political history, social history, sociology and quantitative approaches to history seeks to deepen our understanding of the distinctive and novel ways in which British political culture evolved in this period. The book concludes that historians have hugely underestimated the extent of club influence on 'high politics' in Westminster, and though the reputation of clubs for intervening in elections was exaggerated, the culture and secrecy involved in gentleman's clubs had a huge impact on Britain and the British Empire."--Bloomsbury Publishing.