The Palgrave Review of British Politics 2006 provides up-to-date coverage of developments in British government and politics written by a team of leading experts. This is an indispensable reference book covering the entire political year focussing on the key topics. It also includes a statistical appendix.

Contributors to this Hansard Society/Palgrave volume consider how British government and politics changed as Tony Blair gave way to Gordon Brown. Gordon at the Helm looks at a range of factors under Brown such as public opinion, party and opposition politics, British government and administration, public policy, local government and foreign policy.

This first book-length study of the socialisation of MPs uses questionnaire data gathered over two Parliaments (1992-97 and 1997-2001) to find out how MPs learn about, and what their attitudes are towards, their role as a Member of Parliament. It analyzes their participation in debates, the use of Parliamentary Questions and committee work.

Written by members of the Study of Parliament Group, this book assesses Parliament's response to the reorganisation of much of the civil service into 'executive agencies'. Chief executives have been given freedom to take operational decisions. Yet Ministers insist that they themselves remain constitutionally responsible for the work of the agencies. After reviewing Parliament's mechanisms and considering several case-studies, the authors conclude that Parliament has yet to exploit fully the opportunities for greater accountability which the new arrangements provide.