The Prime Ministers We Never Had: Success and Failure from Butler to Corbyn

Product Information

Butler, David; Butler, Gareth (2010). British Political Facts (10thed.). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-29318-2. I accept that answering that question would have been answering a hypothetical which is hardly definitive. However, this is arguably an odd omission given that the “what if” element in the title and aim of this book is in large part it’s main spark of interest to potential readers. I found that it was easier to fill in the blanks on this question with those potential leaders who were determinedly reformist cabinet ministers, since their policy fixations help provide valuable clues. Occasionally, such as in the Ken Clarke chapter the author took time to explain away public misconceptions about particular figures. This was useful in making clear points about their world views. Introduction". Britain before the Reform Act: Politics and Society 1815–1832 (2nded.). Routledge (published 2014). ISBN 978-1-317-88547-4. Marriott, John (1923). English Political Institutions: An Introductory Study (2nded.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. OL 17361473W.

Grube, Dennis (2013). Prime Ministers and Rhetorical Governance. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-31836-7. Richards writes like the Westminster insider he is. So he presumes to tell Roy Jenkins, no less, that the great man was ‘not an entirely accurate reader of his own political mind’. Although now a practised columnist, Richards started out as a broadcaster. He has interviewed most of the subjects of this book (as he did those of his previous book, on actual PMs) and brings to it the wholesome broadcaster’s perspective. This means he underplays the influence of the Tory-supporting, oligarch-owned tabloids in the murkier corners of politics. There are lots of shrewd insights here, but the book would have been better with slightly fewer of the author’s emollient ruminations and more colourful material about his subjects. Less earnestness, more jokes please! Richards is, after all, also a stand-up comic. Having been a member of the Labour party for a number of years, deeply disappointed after the 1992 election result, and having shared a London to Edinburgh shuttle with John, I was devastated on this day as the news filtered through. Venning, Timothy (2005). "Prime Ministers". Compendium of British Office Holders. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-50587-2.

The Prime Ministers We Never Had

What kept him from the job? Heseltine was beaten in a leadership contest in 1990 by future Prime Minister John Major. He could not recover from being smeared as Thatcher's executioner, having played an instrumental role in her downfall, and even those who agreed that the Iron Lady had to be scrapped couldn't quite bring themselves to support the man who did the deed. Cook & Stevenson 1988, p.41; Eccleshall & Walker 2002, p.14; Englefield, Seaton & White 1995, pp.7–10; Jones & Jones 1986, p.222.

John Smith is the man who would have been prime minister, and Blair could not have got into office if it hadn't been for the great work done by Mr Smith. New Labour today would have been very different under his leadership. Deaths". The British Magazine and Review. Vol.1. 1782. The Most Honourable Charles Watson Wentworth. Chapman, Richard A. (2002). "History: from earliest times to the present day". The Treasury in Public Policy-Making. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-86426-3.It would have been nice for him to see the fruits of his labour now, both in terms of the Westminster and Scottish parliaments, although I suppose this was also the catalyst for the issues between Gordon and Tony which are still to be resolved. King, Anthony Stephen, ed. (1985). The British Prime Minister (2nded.). Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-0635-1. Eccleshall & Walker 2002, pp.159, 167; Englefield, Seaton & White 1995, pp.169–174; Royal Society of Edinburgh 2006, p.375; Tout 1910, p.741.