March 2011: Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore have just formed a coalition government between Fine Gael and Labour. Ireland’s banks are broken, unemployment is heading for half a million, the public finances are in deficit, international lenders rate Ireland as ‘junk’ and the country is in an IMF bailout.As Tánaiste in the new Coalition, Eamon Gilmore was at the heart of every major economic decision taken during his term, and as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade was primarily resp...

The controversial legacy of the Rudd-Gillard governments, along with Labor's 2013 election defeat, looms large over the party. Labor risks years in the political wilderness unless it can reinvent itself. What did it get right, where did it go wrong, and how can it regain the trust of voters?Troy Bramston uses new in-depth interviews with Kevin Rudd and Bill Shorten, the advice of Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, and insights from Julia Gillard's inner circle to look at La...

How Labor lost the race -- how Bill Shorten could save the party - and why it matters.In the 2007 election, led by Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard they smashed the Howard government and made the country look fresh and optimistic again. But under the sunny exterior lurked unchecked tensions, corrupt members, factional warlords, leadership woes. Now, Labor's pains have become the Abbott-led Coalition's gain. For journalist and former Young Laborite, Aaron Patrick, Labor at its best is a ...

In this memoir Mary O' Rourke writes, with remarkable candidness and humour, of personal and political events; of the many senior political figures with whom she worked, including Charles Haughey and Bertie Ahern; of her life with her beloved husband Enda; of her two dear Brians, both of whom died before their time; of her successes and disappointments. She does all this with honesty, energy and an absence of self-pity or self-justification. The book is like the woman herself: open, warm a...

Shortlisted for the 2018 Waterstones Book of the Year Winner at the 2018 Parliamentary Book Awards Longlisted for the Orwell Prize, 2019 ____________ "A really good book... Well-structured and well-written." Observer "Well written and incisive." The Times "Vital and compelling." New Statesman In an era when politicians are responsible for the Brexit logjam and embroiled in sexual-harassment and expenses scandals, it's no wonder we've lost our faith in government. Every year, they introduce...

Let us take a look back over three decades of outrageous political mishaps – with a new introduction from Sir Ivor Crewe covering Brexitblunder /ˈblʌndə(r)/, n.A gross mistake; an error due to stupidity or carelessness.There are a handful of cock-ups that we remember all too well, from the poll tax to the Millennium Dome. However, the list is longer than most of us realize – and it’s growing. With unrivalled political savvy and a keen sense of irony...

This new book offers a comprehensive and factual view on the Scottish independence debate from some of the UK's leading academics.

Since Federation in 1901, 29 men and one woman have served in the position of Australian prime minister. From Barton to Morrison, they are the leaders who have helped forge Australia’s national identity. Some have had the position thrust upon them. Some have plotted and schemed their way to the top. Four have served more than once. Three have died in office. Eight have been unceremoniously dumped by their own party. Revised and updated to include the appointment of Scott Morrison, the deat...

No Australian prime minister has had to face such a difficult and challenging political environment as did Julia Gillard. Her impressive legislative record was overshadowed by pitched battles with jealous rivals and a remarkably hostile media, as well as her own struggles to communicate effectively with the public.Following her successful The Making of Julia Gillard, award-winning biographer Jacqueline Kent analyses our first woman prime minister's tumultuous term in offic...

How did Farage persuade Reckless and Carswell to ditch the Conservatives? Would UKIP ever do a deal with another party? How have three near-death experiences shaped Farage's politics? How does Nigel feel about controversial kippers and their high-profile gaffes? Twenty-one years after its formation as a single-policy protest party, and on the eve of what promises to be one of the closest, most exciting general elections in recent memory, the truly remarkable rise of UKIP and its charismati...

Between 1995 and 2007, the Republic of Ireland was the worldwide model of successful adaptation to economic globalisation. The success story was phenomenal: a doubling of the workforce; a massive growth in exports; a GDP that was substantially above the EU average. Ireland became the world's largest exporter of software and manufactured the world's supply of Viagra.The factors that made it possible for Ireland to become prosperous - progressive social change, solidarity, major Stat...

When David Cameron returned to Tory headquarters early on the morning of 8 May, he declared his sensational election victory to be 'the sweetest' moment of his political career. The Conservatives had won their first Commons majority for twenty-three years and the Prime Minister had achieved the seemingly impossible: increasing his popularity while in government, winning more seats than in 2010 and confounding almost every pundit and opinion poll in the process. Within hours, his defeated r...