Marking the third centenary of the office of Prime Minister, this book tells its extraordinary story, explaining how and why it has endured longer than any other democratic political office in world history. Sir Anthony Seldon, historian of Number 10 Downing Street, explores the lives and careers, loves and scandals, successes and failures, of all our great Prime Ministers. From Robert Walpole and William Pitt the Younger, to Clement Attlee and Margaret Thatcher, Seldon discusses which of our Prime Ministers have been most effective and why. He reveals the changing relationship between the Monarchy and the office of the Prime Minister in intimate detail, describing how the increasing power of the Prime Minister in becoming leader of Britain coincided with the steadily falling influence of the Monarchy. This book celebrates the humanity and frailty, work and achievement, of these 55 remarkable individuals, who averted revolution and civil war, leading the country through times of peace, crisis and war.
Author(s): Anthony Seldon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 430
City: Cambridge
Cover
Half-title page
Series page
Title page
Copyright page
Dedication
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1 The Bookend Prime Ministers: Walpole and Johnson
Chapter 2 A Country Transformed, 1721–2021
Chapter 3 The Liminal Premiership: From the Saxons to 1806
Chapter 4 The Transformational Prime Ministers, 1806–2021
Chapter 5 The Powers and Resources of the Prime Minister, 1721–2021
Chapter 6 The Constraints on the Prime Minister, 1721–2021
Chapter 7 The Eclipse of the Monarchy, 1660–2021
Chapter 8 The Rise and Fall of the Foreign Secretary, 1782–2021
Chapter 9 The Rise, and Rise, of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1660–2021
Chapter 10 The Impossible Office?: The Prime Minister by 2021
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
