The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945

by Peter Hennessy

In The Prime Minister: the Office and its Holders since 1945, Peter Hennessy explores the formal powers of the Prime Minister and how each incumbent has made the job his or her own.

Drawing on unparalleled access to many of the leading figures, as well as the key civil servants and journalists of each period, he has built up a picture of the hidden nexus of influence and patronage surrounding the office.

From recently declassified archival material he reconstructs, often for the first time, 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, from Clement Atlee and Winston Churchhill to Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, and proposes a new specification for the premiership as it enters its fourth century.

'I really can't praise it too highly: a tremendous achievement ... an instant classic'
  Antony Jay, author of Yes, Prime Minister

'Supersedes everything else written on the subject. If I were Tony Blair, I'd keep a copy by my bedside'
  Adam Sisman, Observer

'A must ... far and away the best account of the office of the First Lord of the Treasury, its history, powers and practice, and an independent assessment of the occupants of Downing Street since the Second World War'
  Tony Benn, Spectator

'Important and extremely readable ... Hennessy's portrait of the Blair premiership is fascinating ... a major contribution to our understanding of how we are governed'
  Peter Oborne, Sunday Express

Peter Hennessy is Attlee Professor of History at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. Among many other books, he is the author of The Secret State, Whitehall and Never Again: Britain 1945-1951, which in 1993 won the NCR Award for Non-Fiction and the Duff Cooper Prize.

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Biography

704 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 1998

About the author

Peter Hennessy is an English historian and academic specialising in the history of government. Since 1992, he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary University of London.

He was born in Edmonton, the youngest child of William G. Hennessy by his marriage to Edith (Wood-Johnson) Hennessy

Hennessy attended the nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, and on Sundays he went to St Mary Magdalene church, where he was an altar boy. He was educated at St Benedict's School, an independent school in Ealing, West London. When his father's job led the family to move to the Cotswolds, he attended Marling School, a grammar school in Stroud, Gloucestershire. He went on to study at St John's College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a BA in 1969 and a PhD in 1990. Hennessy was a Kennedy Memorial Scholar at Harvard University from 1971 to 1972.

Hennessy went on to work as a journalist during the 1970s and 1980s.
He went on to co-found the Institute of Contemporary British History in 1986.

From 1992 to 2000, Hennessey was professor of contemporary history at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. From 1994 to 1997, he gave public lectures as Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College, London. From 2001, he has been Attlee professor of contemporary British history at Queen Mary.

Hennessy's analysis of post-war Britain, 'Never Again: Britain 1945–1951', won the Duff Cooper Prize in 1992 and the NCR Book Award in 1993.

Furthermore, his study of Britain in the 1950s and the rise of Harold Macmillan, 'Having It So Good: Britain in the 1950s', won the 2007 Orwell Prize for political writing

Hennessy was created a life peer on November 8, 2010.

Reviews

[Gramarye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm particularly fond of Hennessy's writing, and this book is certainly no exception. It's a study of the office of Prime Minister (and First Lord of the Treasury) of Great Britain in the years since World War II. And while the subject matter doesn't seem like a topic that would interest a lot of people, Hennessy has taken a subject that is staggeringly large to contemplate and written a neat and very compact analysis that explores the roles and responsibilities of the premiership since 1945. The insight and input from a wide range of senior officials, politicians, and media people provide a running commentary on the evolution that has taken place over the years.

Interestingly, Hennessy seems to take it as a mission to 'redeem' premiers that perhaps haven't been given the credit they deserve for their achievements in their time in office. He has quite a few kind words for Clement Attlee's seemingly unflappable outlook on governing, Sir Alec Douglas-Home's sense of duty and determination, Edward Heath's successful European entry negotiations, and Jim Callaghan's deep roots in the labour movement. But he's not above castigating a prime minister for serious flaws or failings -- he points out Anthony Eden's near-monomaniacal hatred of General Nasser and Harold Wilson's slapdash attempts to control inter-Cabinet squabbles as special examples of leadership problems. Even Winston Churchill is dismissed as having been too old and too steeped in wartime tradition to think that he could manage Britain at peace (leaving Korea and Indochina aside for the moment, that is). As for what he has to say about Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair...well, let's just say that he thinks their approaches to Cabinet government leave much to be desired.

As a study of the premiership and as a person-by-person analysis of those who have held the office of First Lord of the Treasury since 1945, I can only say that this book is invaluable. Even if it's occasionally a little frustrating to look at the footnotes and see 'Private information' as the source for a really insightful comment or quotation, it's difficult to fault the breadth, depth, or quality of Hennessy's research. He's covered the bureaucracy (Whitehall), the security services (The Secret State), and now the premiership...one can only wonder where he'll go next.

[MadgeUK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Peter Hennessy is one of the foremost political historians in Britain today and is a frequent visitor to Downing Street and Whitehall as well as a popular broadcaster. He writes lucidly and with humour and his personal insights into Prime Ministers since WWII are a joy to read. As John Campbell of the Sunday Telegraph writes: 'He anatomizes the mandarins and their masters with the infectious enthusiasm of David Attenborough marvelling at bats or bull-frogs. Even when he is critical of them, he plainly loves the cast of specimens whom history has thrown up for his inexhaustible delight...an important book'.

[David Heathcote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant book. A detailed study with fascinating insider stories about the people and their policies. Quite an academic overview outlining the political journey of the UK since 1945.

[Andreas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all of us who love British history, and in particular some of the nations Prime Ministers. You’ll get to know a bit more about Churchill, Eden, Macmillan, Douglas-Home, Wilson, Heath, Callaghan, Thatcher and Blair.

[Colin Luker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book lots of interesting facts did not know before about Prime Ministers, particularly their personalities / management skills or lack of.Very big book so not one for a quick read.

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of the recent history of the UK but a weighty read.

[Andres Cordoba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a big fan. Detailed in some areas, while leaving a lot to the imagination in others. Long term prime ministers are covered inadequately with lots of focus in some areas, while entire years are brushed over. Not a helpful overview.

[Stephen Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful for me when I was a politics student at Leeds University.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy it the overview of the office of British Prime Minister and its holders, both in terms of the nature of the office and the different PMs since 1945. I however think Hennessy spent too much time on the how each PM governed rather what they govern about and the policies they implemented. What changes happened during their reign, how did they assent to power and fall from it, what where their political challenges, and how did they, if at all, change the nation? These questions were mostly left unanswered, when focusing on how much power was shared with the cabinet rather than containing it at No. 10, which left me disappointed.

[John Bowis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book with its insights into the personalities of our post-war prime ministers, their plans for the job and the working structures they put in place for Number Ten and the inner cabinet committees used to persuade or bulldoze lesser cabinet mortals to follow their lead. It is a study that should/could be updated to include more recent premiers and Peter Hennessy is clearly the best equipped to do so.

[Drew Pyke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a surprisingly accessible book, opening up the different styles of political leadership amongst the post-war PMs. Some lean on the cabinet whilst others look beyond it, some exercise a hawkish foreign policy whilst others more insular. Quite long for a book but the subject matter and content keeps it interesting throughout.

[Jethro Elsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall an Excellent guide to how the role of prime minister has evolved since 1945 up until about 2001. Less a historical guide to policy or events, more a discussion of how governmental/constitutional procedures and powers have changed over the period. A little dense, but given the subject matter this is probably unavoidable.

[Tanis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel a bit of a fraud saying I've finished this book because I barely started it. I tried but in the end life's too short.

[Sunil · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deep and insightful look at the office, especially noted for extensive research using internal official correspondence. Read it, loved it, need to read it again :)

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very comprehensive history book on the UK Prime ministers.

Especially useful in providing quotations on the different events in this time period

[Pinko Palest · Rating 1 out of 5]

extra dry, with nothing uninteresting left out, and everything remotely interesting exorcised. It is more a history of how policy was implemented, and the relations between PMs and the Civil Service