• A unique look at British politics - this is the first book to focus on parliamentary violence and explore what it can tell us about Britain's political and social history.
• By reconciling the changing patterns of parliamentary violence with political, economic, technological and cultural developments in the United Kingdom, the book examines why, despite an increasingly virulent anti-politician atmosphere in this country, the frequency of moments of physical violence has decreased in recent times.
• Illuminates the role that parliamentary violence has played in moments of major social upheaval - the suffragette movement, Irish Home Rule, the rise of fascism in the 1930s.