The author analyzes the office of prime minister in England in the postwar period, profiling the eleven office-holders and discussing changes in the office.
Assessing the performance of British Prime Ministers from Clement Attlee to Tony Blair, Hennessy (contemporary history, U. of London) presents a political and administrative history "with a large dash of biography." He finds that some of the Prime Ministers were "system shifters" (Attlee, Thatcher, and Blair) while others were "seasoned copers" (Churchill and Callaghan). Major and Eden earn especially low marks, but Hennessy is sympathetic to all of them. He seems to suggest that performance is merely related to effectiveness in achieving political goals and that one shouldn't assess the actual impact of that performance on real people. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
