Whilst serving in the prestigious post of Viceroy of India (1926-1931), Lord Irwin (later the Earl of Halifax) was kept informed about political events in Britain by frequent letters from shrewd political insiders. These private and previously unpublished letters offer a frank account from within the highest political circles of the Baldwin government (1924-29) and the serious crisis in the Conservative Party which followed (1929-31). Of great depth and richness, this collection is an essential historical source for British history between the two World Wars.

1. 1926 : the general strike and the coal dispute; 2. 1927 : the Trade Disputes Act and the Prayer Book controversy; 3. 1928 : the de-rating scheme and the liberal revival; 4. 1929 : the general election and the Irwin declaration; 5. 1930 : the Conservative Party crisis and the Round Table Conference; 6. 1931 : the survival of Baldwin and the Irwin-Gandhi pact;

Stuart Ball is Professor of Modern British History at the University of Leicester, and a leading authority on the history of the Conservative Party. His previous books include Winston Churchill (British Library, 2003) and Portrait of a Party: The Conservative Party in Britain 1918-1945 (Oxford University Press, 2013).