Mr Balfour's Poodle (Bloomsbury Reader Pod) [Paperback]

Writing with the advantage of post-war perspective, Jenkins gives an insightful account of the battles surrounding the Parliament Act and the move towards the supremacy of the House of Commons. The work has aged well over the decades, with Jenkin's analysis as fresh as when he wrote it. Indeed, a mid-20th century perspective, particular from one of Jenkin's intellectual stature, is helpful - far enough from the events themselves to be impartial, without being caught up in the latest changes and machinations with regard to the upper house.

Jenkins sets out the stragies and motivations of the different sides clearly, and in as impartial a manner as can be expected (given that a modern perspective is highly unlikely to sympathise with those peers seeking to preserve the status quo). There is little "demonising" of the conservative factions, and the book is an informed and intelligent insight into a critical turning point for the British constitution.

Roy Jenkins was an MP from 1948 to 1976 and then again from 1982 to 1987 when his defeat at Hillhead led to his translation to the House of Lords as Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, though not of the constituency which he represented. During his political career he served twice as Home Secretary and once as Chancellor of the Exchequer as well as being among the last Aviation Minister in Britain and the only Briton to serve as President of the European Commission.

Jenkins was also an author of considerable note and when he died in 2003 he had a substantial corpus of work to his credit including what is probably still the standard work on HH Asquith plus two highly esteemed lives of Gladstone and Churchill. He had also just about completed a rather briefer life of Franklin D Roosevelt and, with commendable optimism for someone with a serious heart condition, he was already planning his next book which was to be a life of John F. Kennedy.

"Mr Balfour's Poodle" was not Jenkins' first book but it was the first substantial foray in an area that he very much made his own-the political history of Britain from the Second Reform Act to the outbreak of the Second World War. The first point that has to be made is that Jenkins could write, and write well, which places him in a very small number indeed as borne out by the any volumes of turgid memoirs. The book marches along at a fair rate of knots, the issues are clearly and successfully identified-

The almost knee jerk reaction of the Lords to any non Conservative government in the Commons, no matter how large its majority
The use by interest groups such as the brewers to have the Lords wreck legislation coming up from the Commons
The motivation of the 1909 budget, revenue raising or provocation
Reform or curtailment of the veto
The role of the king
The eventual impact of the reform.

The style is much less ornate than in his later works with no use of words such as ratiocination or tergiversation, as far as I could see. Nor is there any evidence of the qualifying parenthesis so ably parodied, but not excessively so, by Craig Brown in Private Eye.

Secondly the book's essential thrust has stood the test of time. A recent Oxford University Symposium on the 1911 Parliament Act gave exactly the same financial background to the 1909 Budget as that outlined by Jenkins. He is also very good at conveying the breath taking arrogance of the Lords in their belief that no matter what the popular vote was they were totally entitled to ride roughshod over the Commons. Jenkins is able to clearly show the almost medieval attitudes of peers such as Lord Willoughby De Broke, leader of the Ditchers. On the other side Jenkins identifies the great strengths of Asquith and Lloyd George. By using apt and extensive quotations one can see clearly why Asquith was able to dominate the Commons for so long and why Lloyd George had the peers spluttering with rage at his comments and gibes.

Finally it has to be recognized that Jenkins had no access to the papers that are now available. When the book was written the fifty year rule applied so that the public records were only available up until 1902. There were no cabinet minutes to consult since they were not kept until 1917. Instead Jenkins had to rely on the Annual Register, and the published biographies of the participants such as Balfour's by his niece Blanche Dugdale which for all it's length can be quite uninformtive according to Jenkins. Asquith's biography was written by the Liberal journalist JA Spender while King George's official life was being published as Jenkins' book was being prepared. It is an indication of his great skill as a writer that Jenkins has been able to take such dense material and weave such a readable account of the crisis.

Also at the time of the book's publication at least some of the participants were still alive. The Prime Minister was Winston Churchill who had been Lloyd George's closest ally in the Liberal Cabinet. Lloyd George's son was Home Secretary in Churvchill's government and Asquith's daughter, Violet Bonham Carter, was still very much a leading Liberal and guardian of her father's reputation. Jenkins made no attempt to see Churchill but through his friendship with Mark Bonham Carter he would have had access to his mother, the redoubtable Lady Violet.

Although sixty years old this book is still a worthwhile read for all those interested in British political reform especially as the Commons is likely to wrestle once again with the issues of reforming the upper house.