Blurb…

In this book, I explore original survey and interview data on the personality characteristics of British politicians, specifically 168 Members of Parliament (MPs), in order to draw unique insights about who enters politics and why, how they represent ‘us’ once they get there, and whether public antipathy towards politicians is justified. Data collected from MPs are evaluated alongside comparable surveys and experiments conducted with over 400 elected councillors and thousands of UK citizens.

Drawing down from these broad themes, I offer theoretical propositions about, empirical analyses on, and potential solutions to three core ‘problems’ in contemporary democratic politics:

Problem 1: Who enters politics and how are they different to the general public?

Problem 2: Do politicians’ personality characteristics matter for their behaviour once they are elected to parliament?

Problem 3: Do voters really get the ‘wrong’ politicians?

I find that (a) politics is a profession few 'ordinary' people care to enter, (b) politicians’ basic values impact a range of actual legislative behaviours, and (c) voters have clear psychological preferences when it comes to choosing their representatives.

This book is distinctive in its approach to familiar issues predominant in academic, popular and journalistic press. The substantive findings presented in this book do, therefore, tell a human story that has appeal beyond the ivory towers of academia. 

The book is available to purchase online from retailers like Amazon and Google, or direct from the publisher here.