London has been described as a city built on the spoils of empire, prompting visitors, at least over a damp weekend in March, to wonder why more of these spoils weren’t spent on proper indoor heating.

One Fine Day: Britain’s Empire on the Brink. By Matthew Parker. PublicAffairs; 624 pages; $35. Abacus; £25 Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain. By Charlotte Lydia Riley. Bodley Head ...

Just what drove the expansion of the British Empire into one of the largest in history? Kenneth Morgan weighs up whether it was the desire for greater trade or the thirst for conquest. The long 18th ...