Masculinities and Parliamentary Culture in Modern Britain

Abstract

This chapter discusses the ways in which the behaviour of Britain’s political elites has been influenced by changes in the history of masculinity since c. 1800. To be taken seriously as political leaders, men had to look, speak and behave in ways that conformed to fluctuating gender norms. By studying MPs’ efforts to identify themselves with prestigious forms of ‘gentlemanliness’ it sheds new light on how politics was structured by the changing occupational, sexual and emotional cultures of modern Britain. The chapter examines how parliament’s gentlemanly culture was challenged by the presence of working-class, Irish nationalist and female MPs, before eventually collapsing in the second half of the twentieth century. This prompts a reassessment of the nature of both political leadership and parliament’s public authority.