In this study, Peter Hennessy explores the formal powers of the Prime Minister and how each incumbent has made the job his or her own. Drawing on access to many of the leading figures, as well as the key civil servants and journalists of each period, Hennessy has built up a picture of the hidden nexus of influence and patronage surrounding the office. From recently declassified archival material he reconstructs precise prime ministerial attitudes towards the key issues of peace and war. He concludes with a controversial assessment of the relative performance of each Prime Minister since 1945 and a new specification for the premiership, as it enters its fourth century.
- ISBN10 0002555018
- ISBN13 9780002555012
- Publish Date 1 January 1989
- Publish Status Cancelled
- Out of Print 9 July 1998
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Imprint HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 500
- Language English