Julian Critchley: Palace of Varieties [1990] paperback

The conservative backbencher takes the reader behind the scenes in an amusing and irreverent anecdotal account of Westminster and its MPs. The lesser-known aspects of parliamentary life are here: ideology and ambition, the whips (the "broederbond"), constituency fund-raising dinners and long-suffering political wives. Also revealed are the passions, rivalries and occasional humbug of the backbenchers and there are thumbnail sketches of the author's luckless colleagues - eg Kenneth Baker, a man who "can strut sitting down".