Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature: Vernon Bogdanor

Vernon Bogdanor – The Strange Survival of Liberal Britain: Politics and Power before the First World War.

Britain’s best-known constitutional historian, Professor Vernon Bogdanor, says the 20 turbulent years before the outbreak of the First World War, heralded a new agenda that still dominates today. The years saw a transition from aristocratic rule to mass politics. Vernon claims that we are still grappling with the same complex and difficult issues that the Edwardians were – economic modernisation, social welfare and equality, secondary and technical education, and a new role for Britain in the world. While the era is often seen as one of decadence and the death of liberal Britain, Vernon argues that Britain’s institutions and liberal political culture were strong enough to guarantee the survival of liberal Britain today.

Vernon Bogdanor is professor of government at King’s College London and a former professor of government at the University of Oxford. His past students include former Prime Minister, David Cameron.