In an interview on British Politics

Walter Bagehot next.

Before I went into the House of Lords, I used to write ‘Bagehot’, The Economist’s weekly column on British politics. I am therefore biased when I recommend, as the finest book on the subject ever written, The English Constitution by Walter Bagehot, a Victorian editor of the magazine. Of course, it is a bit quaint now from the title on: if you talked of the English constitution in Glasgow or Cardiff you would be strung from a lamp-post. But though the subject has moved on, some of Walter’s concepts are eternally useful. The ‘dignified’ bit of the constitution then referred to the monarchy and the ‘efficient’ bit to parliament. Today it is parliament that is largely dignified, the efficient bit being the leader columns of The Sun and the Daily Mail. What, however, has not dated at all is the style and the verve: a great journalist in action as well as a great brain and today insufficiently read.