British Labour Leaders, Charles Clarke and Toby James (eds)
This summer will be busy for politics in the UK as both the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats are elected new leaders of their parties.
It is therefore perfect timing for a trilogy of books on British political leaders. I’ve co-edited two of these on British Labour Leaders (with Charles Clarke) and British Conservative Leaders (with Charles Clarke, Tim Bale and Patrick Diamond). A third, on British Liberal Leaders has been edited by colleagues at the Liberal History Group.
All books begin by considering how we can assess political leaders and the challenges that we face in doing so. Jim Buller and I then set out a statecraft framework (or an adapted version of anyway) as one way forward. Charles Clarke then gives a statistical overview of each leader’s fortunes at general elections. In Part II of each book there are chapters assessing each leader, written by leading biographers of their subject. In Part III we have exclusive interviews with some of the leaders themselves (Tony Blair, Neil Kinnock, William Hague, Michael Howard, David Steel, Paddy Ashdown and Nick Clegg) on how they think we should assess leaders and their reflections on their own time in office.
The books are now available for pre-order.
The contents/contributors to the books that I’ve co-edited are:
British Labour Leaders
Part I: FRAMEWORKS FOR ASSESSING LEADERS
1 Introduction: the British Labour Party in search of complete leadership – Toby S. James
2 Statecraft: a framework for assessing Labour Party leaders – Toby S. James and Jim Buller
3 Measuring the success or failure of Labour leaders: the general election test – Charles Clarke
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Part II: ASSESSMENTS OF LABOUR LEADERS
4 Keir Hardie – Kenneth O. Morgan
5 George Nicoll Barnes and William Adamson – William W. J. Knox
6 John Robert Clynes – Phil Woolas
7 Ramsay MacDonald – David Howell
8 Arthur Henderson – Chris Wrigley
9 George Lansbury – John Shepherd
10 Clement Attlee – Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds
11 Hugh Gaitskell – Brian Brivati
12 Harold Wilson – Thomas Hennessey
13 James Callaghan – Peter Kellner
14 Michael Foot – Kenneth O. Morgan
15 Neil Kinnock – Martin Westlake
16 John Smith – Mark Stuart
17 Tony Blair – John Rentoul
18 Gordon Brown – Steve Richards
19 Ed Miliband – Tim Bale
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Part III: LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVES
20 Neil Kinnock on leadership, the Labour Party and statecraft theory – Neil Kinnock, Toby S. James and Charles Clarke
21 Tony Blair on leadership, New Labour and statecraft theory – Tony Blair, Toby S. James and Charles Clarke
British Conservative Leaders, Charles Clarke, Toby S. James, Tim Bale and Patrick Diamond (eds)
British Conservative Leaders
Part I: FRAMEWORKS FOR ASSESSING LEADERS
1 Introduction – Tim Bale, Patrick Diamond and Alan Wager
2 Statecraft: a framework for assessing Conservative Party leaders – Toby S. James and Jim Buller
3 Measuring the success or failure of Conservative leaders: the general election test – Charles Clarke
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Part II: ASSESSMENTS OF CONSERVATIVE LEADERS
4 Sir Robert Peel – Richard A. Gaunt
5 Lord Derby – Angus Hawkins
6 Benjamin Disraeli – Robert Saunders
7 Lord Salisbury – T. G. Otte
8 Arthur Balfour – Nigel Keohane
9 Andrew Bonar Law – Andrew Taylor
10 Austen Chamberlain – David Dutton
11 Stanley Baldwin – Anne Perkins
12 Neville Chamberlain – Stuart Ball
13 Winston Churchill – John Charmley
14 Anthony Eden – David Dutton
15 Harold Macmillan – D. R. Thorpe
16 Alec Douglas-Home – Andrew Holt
17 Edward Heath – Mark Garnett
18 Margaret Thatcher – John Campbell
19 John Major – Anthony Seldon and Mark Davies
20 William Hague – Jo-Anne Nadler
21 Iain Duncan Smith – Timothy Heppell
22 Michael Howard – Tim Bale
23 David Cameron – Matthew d’Ancona
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Part III: LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVES
24 William Hague on leadership, the Conservative Party and statecraft theory – William Hague, Toby S. James and Charles Clarke
25 Michael Howard on leadership, the Conservative Party and statecraft theory – Michael Howard, Toby S. James and Charles Clarke
Toby S. James 