To attempt to cover the scandalous behaviour of the political leaders of two countries over the past two hundred years in a single volume of less than three hundred pages is a very ambitious project. However the reader who recognises this will be aware that the level of detail given will not be great, and the hard evidence provided to back up many of the author's assertions of scandalous behaviour somewhat scant. The level of analysis is well illustrated by a single example from the text. When writing about Lloyd George's support for draconian punishment of Germany at Versailles, the author asserts, 'To begin with, Germany did not cause it [World War One] - Gavrilo Princip did'.
This book begins with a scamper through the development of the press and a sketchy account of the modern mass media. It is essentially a personal view of the Prime Ministers and Presidents with many opinionated asides from the author. The scandals are not recorded in any detail and indeed may often more accurately be described as 'incompetencies'. Occasionally their inclusion is reliant upon comments made by the leaders' political opponents and rivals, sometimes through the contemporaneous press. The author is clearly no great fan of modern developments in media coverage of political behaviour and bemoans the consequences of the development of
the internet and social media in general and for the resulting political coverage in particular.
For the general reader who is not familiar with the leaders described in this book there will be little to enlighten them about the lives and activities of these politicians other than the broadest outlines of their involvement in 'scandals'. Clearly the range of scandalous behaviour by these political leaders covers the full range from indolence and incompetence to financial corruption, sexual misconduct and criminal activity.
If the expectation is of an account of the scandalous behaviour of those covered in this period which could assist the curious reader to select those areas for future reference then this book is a useful starting point. But the lack of detail included, inevitably given the wide frame of reference, is unlikely to satisfy those seeking to discover the specifics
of and motives for such behaviour.
Nor will it provide a deeper understanding of the political environment in which they each operated.
However, if an accessible and sometimes entertaining run through some of the headline activities, major foibles and misdemeanours of the leadership of the two nations either side of the Atlantic, then this work may be for you.
Peter Darby