Book contents
- The Impossible Office?
- Works by Anthony Seldon
- The Impossible Office?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1 The Bookend Prime Ministers
- Chapter 2 A Country Transformed, 1721–2021
- Chapter 3 The Liminal Premiership
- 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?
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 6 - The Constraints on the Prime Minister, 1721–2021
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 April 2021
- The Impossible Office?
- Works by Anthony Seldon
- The Impossible Office?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1 The Bookend Prime Ministers
- Chapter 2 A Country Transformed, 1721–2021
- Chapter 3 The Liminal Premiership
- 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?
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
No prime minister operates as a general giving orders to troops (though some come to Number 10 thinking they can). They are all playing chess on a multi-dimensional board, prey to forces that vary in type and intensity over time. The most skilful negotiate their way through these constraints, turning them to their advantage, and refuse to be defined by adversities. The least able are swallowed up by them. We first consider the institutional restraints, the checks and balances they face, some dating back to 1721, before considering variable constraints, which have made and destroyed premierships, and rendered even the best-qualified incumbent a cornered animal.
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- The Impossible Office?The History of the British Prime Minister, pp. 179 - 219Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021