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1. What Makes for an Effective Prime Minister?

Author

Theakston, Kevin

Subjects
*EMOTIONAL intelligence, *COGNITIVE styles, BRITISH prime ministers, BRITISH politics & government
Abstract

What aspects of prime-ministerial personality, skill or style matter and make a difference to politics and government? What qualities have served well or poorly in Number 10 Downing Street? This paper applies the model developed by Fred Greenstein in his book "The Presidential Difference" to analyse prime-ministerial performance and the strengths and weaknesses of British prime ministers since 1945 in terms of: (1) their proficiency as public communicators, (2) organisational capacity, (3) political skill, (4) policy vision, (5) cognitive style and (6) emotional intelligence. There is at least as much to be learned from their failures and limitations in these terms as from their successes and strengths. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2006

2. U.K. Television News: Monopoly Politics and Cynical Populism.

Author

Wayne, Mike and Murray, Craig

Subjects
*TELEVISION broadcasting, *POPULISM, *HISTORY, BRITISH politics & government, BRITISH prime ministers
Abstract

This essay provides a statistical and qualitative analysis of the hierarchical coverage of politics by UK Television news. It finds that there is a rigidly structured hierarchy of political access and focus, whereby the Prime Minister dominates over the cabinet, the cabinet dominates over ordinary MPs, the governing party dominates over the opposition, the three main parties dominate overwhelmingly over smaller parties, and the political elites dominate over ordinary members of the public. The paper also provides a framing analysis of TV news both during and after an election campaign period, and finds a skew towards 'horse race' and personalization coverage which both outweigh 'policy' issues. Thus television news is characterised by a hybrid of hierarchical and exclusive coverage of politics, combined with a narrowly expressed 'cynicism' or populist antagonism towards politics that is personalized and anti-systemic in its focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2009
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3. Five years on.

Subjects
*REPRESENTATIVE government, *CRISES, *SCANDALS, *LEGISLATIVE bodies, BRITISH prime ministers, BRITISH politics & government
Abstract

The article looks at how different the life may be after five years of British Prime Minister John Major's administration in Great Britain. Parliament's long recess ought to be a time for reflection about politics, when both the practitioners and the rest of Britain can ponder the longer-term changes that are usually masked by today's crisis, yesterday's scandal and tomorrow's white paper. If the prime minister tries to take a slightly less dominant role on the domestic stage, it will become clearer just how much the dynamics and dramas of British politics are determined by others.

Published
1992

4. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Personality and Foreign Policy.

Subjects
*INTERNATIONAL relations, *PERSONALITY, BRITISH prime ministers, BRITISH politics & government
Abstract

I apply Margaret Hermann's trait-based content analysis scheme to new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, focusing on his answers to foreign policy questions in the House of Commons. I compare his scores on key personality traits to his immediate predecessor Tony Blair, and to a data-set encompassing every British prime minister since 1945. This allows for interpretation of Brown's initial foreign policy actions during his first months in office and some forecast of what impact an extended Brown premiership would have on British foreign policy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2008