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 3 - The Liminal Premiership
From the Saxons to 1806
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
The prime minister was not predestined to appear in British history in 1721. The job Walpole came to fill in 1721 had been intermittently done for 750 years by forerunners, called here ‘chief ministers’ for simplicity’s sake. We need to understand the similarities of this earlier post, and how the job of ‘prime minister’ differed. Events from 1688 are critical to understanding why the job appeared in 1721. Walpole’s long period in office embedded the new post, but a certain fuzziness and contingency continued for four decades after he ceased to be prime minister. Only with the arrival of William Pitt the Younger (14th, 1783–1801, 1804–6) did the office of prime minister become a secure fixture in British politics.
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- The Impossible Office?The History of the British Prime Minister, pp. 58 - 94Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021