The Rage of Party

The Rage of Party will tell the dramatic and strangely neglected story of Britain’s first – and most rambunctious – burst of party politics.

THE TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025

A CAPX AND ENGELSBERG IDEAS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025

The late 17th century saw the rise of a new phenomenon that would transform Britain forever: party politics.
Beginning with a furious dispute over whether to allow a Roman Catholic – James II – to become king, the division between Whig and Tory marked the chief political battlelines of a ferociously polarised country for several tumultuous generations.

The Rage of Party traces the thrilling story of how these two parties – one representing the established social forces of squire, church and monarchy; the other the rising forces of financial power and Protestant Dissent – settled the defining debates of the age, culminating in a dramatic fight