This week's great political novel is Anthony Trollope’s Phineas Redux (1874), his lightly and luridly fictionalised account of parliamentary polarisation in the age of Gladstone and Disraeli. A tale of political and personal melodrama, it explores what happens when political parties steal each other’s clothes and politicians find themselves hung out to dry by their colleagues. A story of integrity and hypocrisy and how hard it is to tell them apart.

Next time: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Coming next month on PPF: The Ideas Behind UK General Elections

Sign up now to PPF+ to get 2 bonus episodes every month and ad-free listening www.ppfideas.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices