Debbie Kilroy investigates parliamentary rogues
Elliott & Thompson has signed Members Behaving Badly: A History of Britain in 52 Parliamentary Rogues by Debbie Kilroy. Publishing director Sarah Rigby bought world rights directly from the author, and it will be out in hardback and ebook in February 2026.
The book: ‘Over the centuries, the House of Commons has been full of MPs standing up against tyranny; remarkable people doing remarkable things for the good of all. Yet there have been just as many cheats and liars who have played games, played the markets and played the people who put trust in them. There have been abusers and kidnappers and murderers, violent men doing violent deeds, often using parliament as a front and excuse.
Historian and creator of ‘Get History’ Debbie Kilroy delves into the archives from 1603 to 1945 to tell the story of our nation through the MPs who made history – for all the wrong reasons. From rake and poet Sir Charles Sedley, whose illicit partying while sozzled and stark naked on a tavern balcony caused a sensation even in Restoration London, to the stock-jobbing, flip-flopping chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend, who proposed taxes that sparked a revolution, to David Lloyd George, Britain’s saviour during the First World War, but whose avarice, corruption, and abuse of honours ruined his political party forever, this is the story of the schemes and scandals of those members who behaved very badly indeed.’
Kilroy said: “For years I’d been studying past politicians’ beliefs, backgrounds and behaviours, reading about – and being astounded by – their exploits. MPs’ actions, both in public and in private, are beyond imagining – from funny tales: members falling into the Thames and being pulled out half-naked during state visits, to the truly sinister: a ‘defender of the common law’, whose knowledge of the legal system allowed him to steal from innocents, pervert the course of justice, and abuse his wife and daughters. And this was only in the first few decades of the seventeenth century. Tuning into the television news for some ‘light’ relief, I thought that, over the centuries, perhaps politicians hadn’t changed much. So I decided to find out. Across time, examples of greed, corruption, nepotism, violence and deviance abound. Given the worrying state of politics in the world today, there has never been a better time for a bit of historical perspective. I hope readers will enjoy the journey – the comedy and the errors of MPs – as much as I enjoyed the research.”
Rigby said: “While clearly many MPs who have done enormous good for Britain, Debbie Kilroy’s illuminating, pacy and riotous new history makes it clear that there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to their bad behaviour too – from the highly cheeky and ridiculous to the downright devious and abhorrent. All life, as they say, is here.”
ABOUT DEBBIE KILROY
Debbie Kilroy is a writer and historian, and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She read history at the University of Birmingham, where she won the Kenrick Prize, and founded the ‘Get History’ platform in 2014. Since then, she has completed a Masters in Historical Studies at the University of Oxford, receiving a distinction and the Kellogg College Community Engagement and Impact Award. She has also worked with Histories of the Unexpected and Inside History, with her article for Parliaments, Estates and Representation winning the international ICHRPI Emile Lousse prize for the best political article by an up-and-coming historian.