Abstract
For a long time, the study of political leadership has aroused little interest in the UK (Foley, 2000: 244) — reflecting the traditional view of the Prime Minister as first among Cabinet equals and hence dependent on the Cabinet, but also on the governing party and on Parliament. This view of the premiership, which is based on the collective nature of the British political system, tends to dismiss personal leadership as being somewhat irrelevant to political life. Political studies have therefore mainly focused on the office of Prime Minister, assessing the performance of successive premiers, with few comparisons with and little interest in individual leaders and the impact of personal leadership on policy-making (Theakston, 2002: 283). However, the Thatcher era undoubtedly marked a turning-point in the study of political leadership in Britain. The unquestionable influence of Thatcher’s strong leadership style on policy-making drew attention to the role of personal leadership and revived the interest of political scientists (Foley, 2002: 5).
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© 2015 Karine Tournier-Sol
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Tournier-Sol, K. (2015). Leadership and the European Debate from Margaret Thatcher to John Major. In: Alexandre-Collier, A., de Chantal, F.V. (eds) Leadership and Uncertainty Management in Politics. Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137439246_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137439246_9
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