The Self‐Magnification of British Leaders: Prime Ministers’ Perceptions and Projections of their Powers and Roles in the Postwar Era

Journal article

Within the extensive literature on the powers and constraints of British prime ministers, there has been little comparison of the extent to which the premiers themselves have perceived or projected a personal entitlement to determine government policy. Using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, this article compares prime ministers who have asserted a right to be the ultimate decision maker with those who have embraced, and even emphasised, the determining role of government ministers and collective bodies in major policy making. For quantitative comparison, the focus is on prime ministers’ speeches to their party's annual conference, from Attlee in 1946 to Starmer in 2024. Margaret Thatcher's leadership emerges as a transition point. Post‐Thatcher, prime ministers have an augmented sense of their own prerogatives and a greater willingness to claim increasingly capacious powers.

Authors: Brown, A; James, N

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: The Political Quarterly
• Publication date: 2025-02-26
• Acceptance date: 2025-02-13
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-923x.13510
• EISSN: 1467-923X
• ISSN: 0032-3179
• Language: English
• Keywords: personalistic leadership; political language; postwar Britain; content analysis; prime ministers; Blair; foreign policy; Thatcher; Attlee