Overview
WINNER OF BEST BIOGRAPHY BY A PARLIAMENTARIAN, WESTMINSTER BOOK AWARDS 2026 The gripping, remarkably candid story of one man’s unorthodox life before politics, from Labour minister and Sunday Times-bestselling author Chris Bryant ‘Charming, unexpected, honest’ RORY STEWART ‘One of the handful of sitting MPs who can genuinely write . . . A terrific book, funny, frank and moving in equal measure’ FINANCIAL TIMES Before he was a politician, Chris Bryant was an Anglican priest, baptising babies and holding the hands of the dying. Before that, he manned the barricades in Latin America, and before that, he was the scared son of an alcoholic mother and an estranged father. This is a no-holds-barred account of a minister’s truly unconventional life before politics – one that has left Bryant equally at home behind the altar, in sweaty gay clubs, on the hustings or the stage. With characteristic frankness, he recounts growing up in General Franco’s Spain, acting alongside some of the most talented names of the day as a teenager, and caring for his brother and mother as she descended into addiction. He ran the family home from sixteen, became ordained at twenty-four and came out as gay shortly after. And that’s just the early years. A Life and a Half tells a gripping story of bishops and actors, drag queens and pushy candidates, stuffed with moments of joy and hilarity and sorrow and abuse. All while tracking the landscape of late-twentieth-century British politics, from Thatcher to the birth of New Labour. It is a memoir like no other.
Full Product Details
Author: Chris Bryant
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 3.20cm
, Length: 23.80cm
Weight: 0.580kg
ISBN: 9781526680914
ISBN 10: 1526680912
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 21 August 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
Absolutely riveting . . . There is no better guide * Reverend Richard Coles on 'Code of Conduct' * Nobody knows how parliament works - and how it doesn't - better than Chris * James O'Brien on 'Code of Conduct' *
Author Information
Chris Bryant is an acclaimed historian of Parliament and a Sunday Times bestselling author. He has been the MP for the Rhondda (now Rhondda and Ogmore) since 2001. Between 2020 and 2023, he chaired the Committees on Standards and Privileges, which have guardianship of the Code of Conduct and adjudicate on individual cases. Bryant was the first gay MP to celebrate his civil partnership in the Palace of Westminster. Code of Conduct was an instant top two Sunday Times bestseller and The Glamour Boys won the 2020 Parliamentary Book Award for Best Non-Fiction. He currently serves as Minister of State for Trade Policy.
