'This witty and well-written book highlights 52 parliamentary rogues from 1603 to 1945. There are fascinating stories of blackmail, adultery, embezzlement and murder. It’s a rattling good read.'
Professor Frank McDonough
Author of The Hitler Years
Latest book
Published 19 February 2026
Members Behaving Badly
A History of Britain in 52 Parliamentary Rogues
Over the centuries, the House of Commons has been full of Members of Parliament of courage and conviction – remarkable people doing remarkable things for the good of all. Yet, just as often, it has harboured cheats and liars who have played games, played the markets and played the people who put trust in them. There have been abusers and kidnappers and murderers, violent men doing violent deeds, often using parliament as a front and excuse.From 1603 to 1945, Members Behaving Badly tells the story of our nation through fifty-two of these parliamentar...
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About Debbie Kilroy
Debbie Kilroy is a writer and historian. Having read history at the University of Birmingham as an undergraduate, where she won the Kenrick Prize, she founded the award winning Get History platform in 2014 with the aim of bringing accessible yet high quality history telling and debate to a wide audience. Since then, she has completed a Masters in Historical Studies at the University of Oxford, receiving a distinction and the Kellogg College Community Engagement and Impact Award. An Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, she has worked with Histories of the Unexpected and Inside History. Her article for Parliaments, Estates and Representation won the international ICHRPI Emile Lousse prize for the best political essay by an up and coming historian.
Praise for 'Members Behaving Badly'
'A thoroughly entertaining gallop through four centuries of Parliamentarian perfidy. Members Behaving Badly is a Hogarthian gallery of rogues and rotters, full of the woeful and riotous tales of the many men who have disgraced the benches of Westminster. I enjoyed it very much.'
Jonathan Healey
Author of The Blazing World
'Thought the likes of Johnson, Hancock, Pincher and Parish were the worst behaved MPs of all time? Think again … Funny, eye-opening and jaw-dropping.'
Charlie Higson
Author of Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee
'Reader beware – beneath the veneer lies a dark world filled with pirates, kidnapping, adultery, duels, baby swapping, gambling, murder and devil worship... Brimming with detail sprinkled throughout with wit and humour. This is a must read!'
Kate Vigurs
Author of Mission France: The True History of the Women of SOE
'A riot of malfeasance and misbehaviour… Debbie Kilroy reminds us that, though we might imagine ourselves ill-served by our current crop of MPs, some of their predecessors were hilariously and horribly worse.'
Roger Moorhouse
Author of The Wolfpack
'Relevant, informative and timely, Kilroy shows us the real unparliamentary behaviour of the past, whilst also reminding us some things never change!'
Jackson van Uden
History with Jackson