Bogdanor's short and readable critique of proposals such as the alternative vote and fixed-term parliaments is to the high standard one has come to expect from him.

Tim L. Oliver, International Affairs, Volume 88, No. 2

This is a book, which one hopes will be published in paperback so that many students of British politics can have it close at hand. It offers basic information about elections and coalitions to which one will want to turn to, time and again.

T. P. Wolf, British Politics Group Quarterly

... this book offers many interesting insights into the workings of the British constitution, how far the negotiations to create the coalition conform to expected constitutional norms, and how far the government has altered or seeks to alter the constitution.

Dr Julie Smith, The Journal of Liberal History, Issue 72

Professor Bogdanor is an expert in constitutional history so it is no surprise to find that one of the strengths of the book is the depth of its historical comparisons.

Roger Smith, JUSTICE Journal

[Vernon Bogdanor] is undoubtedly a considerable authority on constitutions generally and the British one in particular...this is probably the best short introduction in the bookshops to our current constitutional debates.

Jonathan Sumption, The Spectator

Vernon Bogdanor is the leading academic authority on the strange jumble of customs, laws and myths known as the British constitution. To that role he brings formidable learning, a relentless appetite for sniffing out self-serving humbug and a quiet, but insistent radicalism. He deploys all of these to startling effect in this short book. In form it is an analytical study of the coalition's impact on the constitution; in fact, it is the literary equivalent of a mortar shell fired at the Cameron-Clegg command centre.

David Marquand, The Guardian