Club Government ― How the Early Victorian World Was Ruled from London Clubs

The book phenomenon of 'Club Government' in the mid-nineteenth century, when many of the functions of government were alleged to have taken place behind closed doors, in the secretive clubs of London's St. James's district, has not been adequately historicized. Despite 'Club Government' being referenced in most major political histories of the period, it is a topic which has never before enjoyed a full-length study. Making use of previously-sealed club archives, and adopting a broad range of analytical techniques, this work of political history, social history, sociology and quantitative approaches to history seeks to deepen our understanding of the distinctive and novel ways in which British political culture evolved in this period. The book concludes that historians have hugely underestimated the extent of club influence on 'high politics' in Westminster, and though the reputation of clubs for intervening in elections was exaggerated, the culture and secrecy involved in gentleman's clubs had a huge impact on Britain and the British Empire.

Seth Alexander Thevoz is a parliamentary researcher and historian. He studied History at Clare College Cambridge before completing his MA under Paul Readman and Richard Vinen at King’s College London, where his thesis won the prestigious Dame Jinty Nelson Award. This book is based on his PhD awarded by Warwick University and the Houses of Parliament in 2014 – making it the first PhD to come from the UK Parliament itself. He writes regularly for Private Eye on corruption and gossip in Parliament and has also written for the Independent, the Guardian and The Observer. His paper of last year, published in the Guardian, which proved ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ the link between political donations and appointments to the Lords was featured on Channel 4 News, The Today Programme and Newsnight amongst others. An AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker, he is currently working with Michael Crick on a forthcoming book about the psephologist David Butler. In addition, Thevoz is an all-party political adviser working on policy at the Leadership Centre, House of Commons. He is the Chief Librarian at the National Liberal Club, Whitehall.