Book contents
- The Impossible Office?
- Works by Anthony Seldon
- The Impossible Office?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1 The 300th Anniversary Bookend Prime Ministers
- Chapter 2 A Country Transformed, 1721–2024
- Chapter 3 The Liminal Premiership
- Chapter 4 The Transformational Prime Ministers, 1806–2024
- Chapter 5 The Powers and Resources of the Prime Minister, 1721–2024
- Chapter 6 The Constraints on the Prime Minister, 1721–2024
- Chapter 7 The Eclipse of the Monarchy, 1660–2024
- Chapter 8 The Rise and Fall of the Foreign Secretary, 1782–2024
- Chapter 9 The Rise, and Rise, of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1660–2024
- Chapter 10 The Impossible Office?
- Acknowledgments to the First Edition
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 10 - The Impossible Office?
The Prime Minister by 2024
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2024
- The Impossible Office?
- Works by Anthony Seldon
- The Impossible Office?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1 The 300th Anniversary Bookend Prime Ministers
- Chapter 2 A Country Transformed, 1721–2024
- Chapter 3 The Liminal Premiership
- Chapter 4 The Transformational Prime Ministers, 1806–2024
- Chapter 5 The Powers and Resources of the Prime Minister, 1721–2024
- Chapter 6 The Constraints on the Prime Minister, 1721–2024
- Chapter 7 The Eclipse of the Monarchy, 1660–2024
- Chapter 8 The Rise and Fall of the Foreign Secretary, 1782–2024
- Chapter 9 The Rise, and Rise, of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1660–2024
- Chapter 10 The Impossible Office?
- Acknowledgments to the First Edition
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Eight under-accomplishing premierships since Thatcher stood down in 1990, and a long list of long-standing domestic problems not resolved by successive administrations, including stalled productivity in the economy, crumbling transport infrastructure and chronic housing shortages, repeated failures to address social care and a failing health service, speak of a failure of leadership at the top. Many PMs – not all– who stepped up were potentially well-equipped for the job. So what has happened? Has the job now become impossible: or is it the quality of the incumbents and their preparedness for office that have declined? This final chapter seeks to provide answers. It probes the issue of quality, and examines which prime ministers have been successful and why, assigning them to one of six grades. It examines how judgements about premierships are formed, and the role of the individuals themselves in shaping those perceptions, before concluding with five proposals to ensure that, as we move towards the mid twenty-first century, prime ministerial performance might improve.
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- The Impossible Office?The History of the British Prime Minister - Revised and Updated, pp. 389 - 428Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024