The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945

by Hennessy, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780312293130
• ISBN10: 0312293135
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-05
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

Analyzing the special chemistry of life in Number 10 Downing Street, Peter Hennessy scrutinizes what the Prime Minister actually does and the way that Cabinet government is run. He draws on unprecedented access to many of the leading politicians and also recently declassified, electrifying archival material. He illuminates Prime Ministerial attitudes towards, and authority over, such topics as nuclear weapons policy, the planning and waging of war, and foreign crises from Suez to the Falklands. He concludes with controversial assessments of each Prime Minister's performance and outlines a new profile of the premiership for the 4th century.

Author Biography

Peter Hennessy is an award winning author of numerous books. His most recent is Canada's Big House.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
PART ONE PRELUDE
The Platonic Idea and the Constitutional Deal	3	(9)
Continuity and Cottage Pie	12	(9)
PART TWO THE PREMIERSHIP
The Double-Headed Nation	21	(15)
Organized by History: The Premiership Before 1945	36	(17)
Beyond any Mortal? The Stretching of the Premiership Since 1945	53	(49)
Where the Buck Stops: Premiers, `War Cabinets' and Nuclear War Planning Since 1945	102	(45)
PART THREE THE PRIME MINISTERS
A Sense of Architectonics: Clement Attlee, 1945-51	147	(31)
In History Lie All the Secrets: Winston Churchill, 1951-55	178	(29)
The Colonel and the Drawing Room: Anthony Eden, 1955-57	207	(41)
Quiet, Calm Deliberation: Harold Macmillan, 1957-63	248	(24)
Country Values: Alec Douglas-Home, 1963-64	272	(14)
Centre Forward: Harold Wilson, 1964-70	286	(45)
The Somersaulting Modernizer: Edward Heath, 1970-74	331	(26)
Centre Half: Harold Wilson, 1974-76	357	(19)
The Sea-Changer: James Callaghan, 1976-79	376	(21)
A Tigress Surrounded by Hamsters: Margaret Thatcher, 1979-90	397	(40)
The Solo-Coalitionist: John Major, 1990-97	437	(39)
Command and Control: Tony Blair, 1997-	476	(51)
PART FOUR CODA
The Premier League: The Inevitability of Disappointment	527	(7)
Towards a New Specification: Premiership for the Twenty-First Century	534	(9)
Notes	543	(118)
Index	661