Liberal Lion

Peter Barberis is Professor of Politics at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he teaches British politics and contemporary British political history. He is the author of The Elite of the Elite: Permanent Secretaries in the British Higher Civil Service; and co-author of Government, Industry and Political Economy and Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century British and Irish Political Organisations.

New Statesman, review by David Steel (leader of the Liberal Party between 1976-1988): "thoroughly researched political assessment." "Barberis reveals much about his earlier life of which I was ignorant." "Barberis clarifies for a younger generation just how visionary Grimond was." "What Barberis captures well is Grimond's extraordinary life"; London Review of Books, 5th May 2005. Review by Peter Clarke; "A well researched account of Grimond's career, presenting a sympathetic view of him while not flinching from asking some awkward questions, though generally on matters that would be regarded as tactical rather than strategic. It doesn't openly proclaim a big-L-Liberal allegiance but its small-l-liberal perspective is manifest throughout."