The Top Leader Fixation in British Politics

Abstract

This chapter argues that the progressive fixation on the top leader in British politics goes back to the leadership style of Margaret Thatcher. Expectations of prime ministers have altered over the past four decades: general elections are increasingly described as contests between two party leaders; the 2017 Conservative election manifesto was presented by the prime minister as ‘my manifesto’ and the party became ‘Theresa May’s team’. There have been ups and downs in prime ministerial power over the years, but the general tendency has been to expect the prime minister to do more than in the past and to project expectations on to him or her to an unrealistic extent. The author contends that not only are the powers of prime ministers exaggerated in much political writing, but that the placing of more power in the hands of an individual leader is also, in principle, undesirable in a democracy and conducive to policy ‘blunders’.