Review
"...a brilliant analysis of the conflict for leadership in England...Highly recommended."--A. Katz, Choice


Book Description
This is the first book to examine in-depth the increasing importance of political leadership. Focussing on the leadership profiles of Tony Blair and John Major, it details the importance of the mass media in leadership projection, the usage of opinion polling and market research to promote leaders, and the deployment of leaders by their respective parties into public settings for self-promotion, and how these factors have contributed toward a strong leadership dimension in contemporary British politics. As well as examining the evolution of leadership in the Labour Party, from Harold Wilson to Tony Blair, it looks at the New Labour project from a leadership perspective, follows the general election campaigns of New Labour and the Conservatives and analyzes the 1995 Conservative party leadership contest.


About the Author
Michael Foley is Professor of International Politics, University of Wales at Aberystwyth.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Britain's parliamentary democracy there have always been competing claims between party leaders for the position of prime minister. Today these claims are less the incidental features of political party exchanges and more an indication of a new dimension of political activity with its own dynamics and significance. A highly advanced and sophisticated politics of national leadership now exists in Britain. As a consequence of this competitive process, the British public has become increasingly exposed to, and conditioned by, a form of politics that thrives on the expectations of leadership, on the components of leadership and on the attributes of individual leaders in performing a leadership role in British society.