Introduction: Political Leadership and the Office of Prime Minister

Abstract

Prime ministers exercise political leadership among colleagues. The balance between leadership and collegiality varies with different prime ministers, at different times and on different issues. The more precise and picturesque phrases are often inaccurate. No prime minister is a ‘dictator’. Similarly, the sleepy negative images mislead — Baldwin emerging from the Commons Library with an armful of personal letters, Macmillan reading Trollope and Jane Austen.