The culmination of a lifetime's work by the celebrated journalist and historian Paul Foot, The Vote tells the thrilling story of how the universal franchise was secured in Britain, and the slow erosion that followed. Foot takes readers from the smoke-filled church of the Putney Debates to the incendiary arguments between Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke in the aftermath of the French Revolution, to the rise of Chartism and the fight for women's suffrage. Throughout, Foot shows how vested interests first delayed and then hobbled the progress of democracy.

Looking to the twentieth century, Foot exposes the gaps between the promises of a succession of Labour governments and their actions once in power, and the party's abandonment of any aspiration to economic democracy.

Written with Paul Foot's inimitable energy and engaging style, this is a classic work of history and a must-read for anyone interested in the origins of today's political scene.