Peter Hennessy

A compelling account of the transformative changes Britain is facing today, exploring how we can build a post-COVID society. 2021 and 2022 were two of the most turbulent and disruptive years experienced by Britain in peacetime. Land of Shame and Glory: Britain 2021–22 addresses a series of unprecedented challenges that laid bare the fragility of Britain and the Union during...

Does the United Kingdom's constitution sufficiently protect its democracy from a rogue prime minister? In light of the resurgence of the far Right across Europe and some of the rhetoric of the 2024 General Election, which carried whiffs of political authoritarianism, Could It Happen Here? explores the possible consequences of a British prime minister refusing to leave office. Mapping out...

New and selected writings by one of the United Kingdom's leading contemporary historians. As one of Britain's foremost constitutional experts and contemporary historians, Peter Hennessy has spent his professional life unpicking the arcane world of Whitehall and Westminster. He began his career as a journalist for the Times, the Economist, and the Financial Times, developing a network of insider contacts...

One of our most celebrated historians shows how we can use the lessons of the past to build a new post-Covid society in Britain. The 'duty of care' which the state owes to its citizens is a phrase much used, but what has it actually meant in Britain historically? And what should it mean in the future, once the immediate...

The Winds of Change is the third volume of Peter Hennessy's landmark postwar history of Britain. Harold Macmillan, the presiding figure in Peter Hennessy's magnificent new history, famously remarked in 1960 that the wind of change was blowing over Africa and the remaining British Empire. However, it was also sweeping over Britain, impacting its society, its relationship with Europe, and...