The Triumph of the Political Class by Peter Oborne

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The former political editor of the Spectator has written a coruscating polemic on the modern political elite, who now hail from the same degree courses and think tanks and hold a London-centric, middle-class outlook. This cross party "comfortable club" is in cahoots with the media and "estranged from ordinary people". Norman Lamont, Peter Mandelson, Mo Mowlam and more get skewered, while Oborne claims politicians save their vitriol for "factional conflicts within individual parties rather than collisions of ideology and belief". A little too misty-eyed about the lost "altruistic governing class", but still, a compelling if disquieting read about the mess we're in.

Synopsis by Foyles.co.uk

Both an extension of and a companion to his acclaimed expose of political mendacity, THE RISE OF POLITICAL LYING, Peter Oborne's new book reveals in devastating fashion just how far we have left behind us the idea of people going into politics for that quaint reason, to serve the public. Notions of the greater good and "putting something back" now seem absurdly idealistic, such is the pervasiveness of cynicism in our politics and politicians. Of course, self-interest has always played a part, and Oborne will show how our current climate owes much to the venality of the eighteenth century. But in these allegedly enlightened times should we not know better? Do we not deserve better from those who seek our electoral approval? Full of revealing and insightful stories and anecdotes to support his case, and with a passionate call for reform, THE TRIUMPH OF THE POLITICAL CLASS is destined to be the defining political book of 2007.