Chris Bryant has been the Labour MP for Rhondda since 2001 and is the current chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Standards, as well as being an expert on parliamentary procedure and an award winning historian of Parliament, so would seem to be the ideal person to write a book on conduct within Westminster.

The subtitle of the book is Why We Need to Fix Parliament - and How to Do It and Bryant gives very good examples of the things that are wrong and has suggestions for how to improve them, many of them good. However, there were many things in this book which I found frustrating.

Bryant explicitly states that numbers prove this to be 'the worst parliament in history' but to me that seems to be a very bold statement. We've had corrupt elections, unpaid MPs until 1911 who needed either private wealth or sponsors, all sorts of times in our history when things have not been very poor in parliament and one of my problems with this book is the lack of context. Bryant is pointing out all the issues with the Johnson government, all of which I agree with, but does not put this is any historical setting. He says the Parliament needs reform, which I agree with, but also mentions things that have been amended in the past which suggests to me Parliament is constantly evolving - I would agree that it would be wise to bring these altogether in regulations and apply it to all though.

The sources he uses to back up his arguments are quite limited, with repeated references to Transparency International, but surely there should be more than one source used to back up his claims? When he then quotes a Professor of anticorruption practices at Sussex University, he fails to mention he used to head the Transparency International UK so this is a very similar source. None of that refutes his argument but a wider range of opinion would give it more credence. When he says that T.I. have had us fall to 18th in the world in the Corruptions Perception Index, he fails to give us information on what that means, how it's measured, or where we have been in the past. Have we fallen from 1st or 17th? I found this lack of information very frustrating.

I also found it irritating the things that were mentioned and what was left out. For example, very little was said about the expenses scandal which was absolutely massive at the time and added a lot to distrust of politicians. But Bryant himself claimed rather a lot in expenses, switched second homes expenses, etc and could be said to have fully participated in what was happening so it gets little mention. Similarly, reform of the bars is not really considered a concern because MPs are not drinking so much, politics is social, etc, although female MPs are mentioned as talking about how uncomfortable it makes them feel in the environment - he likes it, so it's not considered a major issue. He talks about how badly people talk about each other as enemies, etc, and poor behaviour, and yet he was found in an investigation to have been wrong about bullying in the lobby and is always on tv talking down the opposition so could be said to contribute to it all.

To me, not enough was said about the role of 24 hour news and social media in the behaviour of politicians and the breakneck speed of politics - it was mentioned but I would consider it to be a far more important factor than suggested - and not enough about the selection of candidates to make sure we have better politicians (to me we should have fewer politicians who have never worked outside politics and more real world experience).

So I had issues with the book and Bryant's opinions, but that certainly does not make it a bad book. I don't need to agree with everything a book says, in fact I enjoy one which makes me think and this actually took a while for me to read as I kept stopping to make notes on my thoughts. Disagreeing with some of the things said is a way to clarify my own thoughts and this was very readable so I would recommend it as a book to read alongside others to gain a more rounded view.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in return for an honest review.

#CodeofConduct #NetGalley

The message is sound and I appreciated that Bryant approached this book not to (just) lambast the problem of ethics and the code of conduct in the HoC, which has largely been destroyed during the Johnson/Truss/Sunak debacle (my words not his), but to provide workable solutions that will help return the position of MP to public servant, not 'power hungry idiot'. Though we disagree on some things - he's a lot nicer about the Tories than I might be - I think this would have been better digested by me in a different format. Ideally, audiobook. Otherwise, the intellectual way Bryant writes can get a tad boring. Nevertheless, I think it's a decent book looking at a tricky subject.

I must register a relevant interest before this review.......well I could but after reading Chris Bryant's thoroughly detailed and revealing book about Parliament feel quite honestly 'Why should I bother!'
But I did work in Westminster for 13 years for an MP and was aware of much of the archaic set up of Parliamentary procedure across both the House of Commons and Lords but found much still to be dismayed at about our alleged democracy.
Bryant is a Labour MP of longstanding and some respect so critics might deride his comments on the last 13 years of both Coalition (with Lib Dem) and full majority Tory rule. But let's face it have politicians/British parliament or our place in world politics ever been so low?
Examples that Bryant explains to why the ruling Government did what they did or passed such a law in such a demonstrably corrupt manner or again and again LIE (can say this as I am an MP in the Commons) are numerous.
I often feel pessimistic about our politics and new readers to the topic may also find themselves mirred in despair after the read but Bryant does us all a huge favour by bringing together these explanations about what goes on behind the green and red benches.
Will the next General Election bring in a more moral and truthful presentation of democracy?
We can only hope so........or through in the towel.

British politics is in trouble. Lots of our MPs are (contrary to legend) are hard-working and decent. But some are not. As an MP himself, Chris Bryant has witnessed many of the negative elements of British parliamentary life first-hand . He was there, for example, on the shameful day, the Boris Johnson government attempted to allow an unprecedented rule change to allow former minister, Owen Paterson to get away with breaking Commons rules. He has seen (as we all have) the now disgraced Prime Minister Johnson lying and lying and lying again in the Commons and numerous MPs from all parties bending and breaking the rules to protect themselves and achieve personal advantage.
Reform is clearly sorely needed. At the very lease, the rule that no member should be able to accuse another member of lying is surely long overdue for change?
Chris Bryant knows what he's talking about and clearly has many great ideas on how to change things for the better. It is surely time we ejected the current ruling band of corrupt, incompetent miscreants from power and elected a Labour government imbued with the very real appetite and energy to implement these long overdue and urgently needed reforms was elected in its place.

Apart from voting, I never really paid too much attention to what was going on in That London by way of government and politics. That is, until the dreaded Covid, when I avidly watched the daily bulletins and quite soon started to realise that there was something rotten in the state of Denmark and that, although there were multiple occurrences of politicians being referred to various committees for investigation for various misdemeanours or worse, results of said committees were either too long in the coming and most people gave up waiting for conclusions or, quite simply, just ignored. Pritti Patel's bullying report being one of the obvious examples.
Anyhow, I was now on a mission to play catch-up with learning how things actually worked in Westminster. Not a simple task, but what I felt an important one.
But it was not until I finally managed to read this book that I actually understood the ins and outs of all things conduct and discipline (or lack thereof). All explained in a very easy, but not patronising, way. Peppered throughout by history and examples of previous breaches, it definitely was the gift that kept on giving. Containing some very shocking examples which appeared to be not worthy of any form of punishment or repercussion.
And, not only all that, but it has been written by someone with the intelligence, experience, and wherewithal to not only highlight the issues but also give suggestions and resolutions as to how things could be better...
Although implementing them... now there's the rub... Personally, I have already taken the advice he offers in his conclusions...