“The historian,” wrote E. L. Doctorow, “will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.” This book sees Peter Hennessy and Robert Shepard combine both approaches with the art of the interviewer, a craft at once sensitive and probing.

Reflections collects transcripts of the best interviews from the BBC Radio 4 series Reflections with Peter Hennessy, a show on which the British political elite have spoken candidly about their careers and the moments that came to define their political lives. Supplementing the interviews are short biographies and profiles of the interviewees, allowing readers a fuller picture of each speaker’s background and professional trajectory. This revealing book includes conversations with political heavyweights such as former prime minister John Major; former foreign secretaries Margaret Beckett, David Owen, and Jack Straw; Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock; Liberal Party leader David Steel; and chancellor of exchequer Nigel Lawson. In addition, Reflections presents interviews with leading women, including Shirley Williams and Clare Short, who spent years at the forefront of their parties in Westminster.

The latest volume in the popular Haus Curiosities series, Reflections offers valuable insights from some of today’s most influential political figures.

Peter Hennessy spent twenty years in journalism and as a presenter for the BBC. Baron of Nympsfield since 2010, he is also a fellow of the British Academy and the author of multiple books, including Establishment and Meritocracy and The Kingdom to Come. Robert Shepherd is a radio and television producer based in London. He is the author of Westminster: A Biography.

— Independent, on the Haus Curiosities series

— Times Higher Education, on the Haus Curiosities series

— Carolyn Quinn

— Nick Robinson

— Martha Kearney

— James Naughtie

— Robert Peston

— CapX

— Guardian

— Jonathan Fryer

— Times (UK)