The Prime Minister (PM) is the head of His Majesty King Charles III's government in Britain, at the time of writing, this is Kier Starmer. The current PM usually, but not always, lives in 10 Downing Street in London.
This assignment will explore the question 'What makes a great Prime Minister?' There is no one correct answer to this question as it involves many factors and is subjective. It could be questioned if a 'great' Prime Minister can even exist, or if it is fair to compare and judge previous Prime Ministers. Despite that, there is a long history of people doing so, such as when Anthony Seldon denotes the top ten PMs of all time using key events that have made individuals stand out [1]. I will argue that although the answer is subjective, there are some traits and factors that affect different groups and are all important and if a 'great' PM can exist they need to consider and act upon all of them to be 'great'. I will also outline some of my own opinions.
To begin with, a 'great' PM needs to be a nice person to work with. The PM's office is the team of people who work directly with the PM. It consists of the; Private Office, who help the PM be the PM, and are generally politically neutral civil servants, Political Office, who connect the PM to the Party and the Members of Parliament, Press Office, who connect the PM with the media, and finally the Policy Unit, who think about the PM's ideas and can give long-term thinking on different policy areas, or alternative views. If their colleagues do not like the PM, the party will vote them out and the party will replace them with a new leader so that the government works more efficiently. Margaret Thatcher (Conservative 1979-1990) was considered by some to be nice to work with [2]. So, a 'great' PM needs to be nice to work with.
Moreover, Parliament has changed widely over time like the introduction of social media and how Tony Blair (Labour 1997-2007) changed the Press Office by following in the footsteps of the US Presidents by hiring a spin doctor [3]. Even though there are many things that have changed, the fundamental elements have remained the same like the House of Lords, and the House of Commons have always been there. So, it is important for a 'great' PM to keep up with the changes that are being made and keep up with the changes in what the people want.
Next, a 'great' PM needs to care for the people of the country. If the people do not feel cared for, they will vote for another party. Thatcher is often seen as uncaring because she shut down the mines which caused many people to lose their jobs. This suggests she did not care for all the people [4]. So, a 'great' PM needs to care for the entire population of the country.
In addition, a 'great' PM must not only be great but also seen to be great. Careless actions can seriously damage a PMs reputation and mean the difference between winning or losing the next election. Rishi Sunak (Conservative 2022-2024) made a careless mistake when he left the 2024 80th anniversary D-Day celebration early so he could go to an ITV interview [5]. The public viewed this as hugely disrespectful. So, a 'great' PM should always be careful with their actions.
Also, a 'great' PM should do what the people want even if they personally disagree. A referendum is a nationwide vote on an issue of public importance [6]. Brexit is a well-known referendum on whether to leave the European Union. The PM at the time, David Cameron (Conservative 2010-2016), did not want to leave the EU but he ran the referendum anyway because others wanted it. When the vote was won to leave the EU, he resigned so a better suited PM could lead the country [7]. So, a 'great' PM should think of the people before themselves.
Moving on, a 'great' PM needs to be Diplomatic. 'Diplomatic' means "skilled in negotiating, esp between states or people" [8]. With the increase of international conferences, being diplomatic is crucial. These conferences may be with Britain's allies as well as other nation such as at COP (Conference of the Parties) which is the decision-making body of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) [9]. So, it is crucial for a 'great' PM to be diplomatic in order to work with other nations.
Furthermore, a 'great' PM would support its allies. An alliance is when two groups of people work together for a variety of reasons, when talking about countries, it is usually military or trade. Britain is in a few alliances including; the Commonwealth, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) & G7 (Group of seven). The Commonwealth, rooted from the British Empire (but now any country can join), is a voluntary organisation of 56 independent and equal countries; NATO is a political and military alliance formed of countries from North America and Europe, NATO members will help each other in any threat; and G7 was founded in 1975 and has "developed into a platform for determining the course of multilateral discourse and shaping political responses to global challenges". [10]. An example of when Britain supported its allies was at the start of WW2 when Britain supported Poland in resisting the Nazi's demands [11]. So, a 'great' PM would support its allies.
The traits and factors above are necessary to be considered as a 'great' PM. Policies are more subjective as different policies effect different people and therefore their opinions on them. In my opinion, a 'great' PM would be inclusive and welcoming, this would mean they actively discourage discrimination and welcome foreign people. While Clement Attlee (Labour 1945-1951) allowed Commonwealth citizens to migrate to Britain to help pick up the economy after WW2 [12], Thatcher said (in 1979) "people are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture" [13]. Citizenship, Migration and Refugees are still issues today. Multiple industries such as Construction, NHS and Care sector still rely on foreign workers, but Brexit made this difficult [14]. Also, the desperation to stop refugees from using the small boats crossing the dangerous English Channel led to the Rwanda Plan. I consider Kier Starmer as a good PM for cancelling it [15]. So, I think, a 'great' PM would deal with these issues in an inclusive and welcoming way.
Finally, some policies have been considered for making a PM 'great' no matter which side they supported. Both Attlee and Thatcher had key nationalisation policies. Nationalisation is when the government takes ownership of a whole industry. Attlee nationalised many industries [16], so people who support nationalisation may look to Attlee and think he was 'great'. Attlee came to power straight after WW2 which probably influenced him to nationalise as it would have helped. Later, Thatcher denationalised some industries because the previous government did not make much money and spent lots on looking after the poor. She also thought that industries being nationalised was stopping them from increasing their profits, so she denationalised some of them [17], so people who are against nationalisation may look up to Thatcher. Knowing why people look to Attlee and Thatcher is particularly important for someone trying to find out what makes a 'great' PM as many people thought they were 'great' PMs. Their policies have inspired future PMs, proof of this is that the Labour party who look to Attlee are doing what he did and have said that in the next five years they will have renationalised all British trains [18]. So, nationalisation, although what to do about it is subjective, should be a consideration for a 'great' PM.
In conclusion, to be 'great', a Prime Minister needs to do what everyone wants and what is best for the country. This however is physically impossible as even if one PM was able to know what everyone wanted and had the ability to grant anything anyone wanted, some things that people want will contradict each other. As a PM cannot do everything, they must instead attempt to balance the needs of different groups to even start to be considered 'great', but as they will still not please everyone, the success of the PM will be based on the individual judging them. Therefore, certain things like being nice to work with, changing with the times, caring for the people of the country, being careful with their actions, putting the country before personal opinions, being diplomatic and supporting allies are necessary to be considered as a 'great' PM, but others are subjective so not everyone can see one individual PM as 'great'. Due to this, I believe there can be no such thing as a truly 'great' Prime Minister.
[1] - Anthony Seldon, 'The ten greatest prime ministers of all time - and the five worst', The Telegraph, 13 May 2016 (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2016/05/12/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-successful-prime-minister/)⤶
[2] - Andy Smith, 'The Leadership Emotional Intelligence of Margaret Thatcher', Coaching Leaders, 15 April 2013 (https://coachingleaders.co.uk/the-leadership-emotional-intelligence-of-margaret-thatcher/)⤶
[3] - Matilda Flora H., 'How is the role of the British Prime Minister changing?', MyTutor https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/48890/A-Level/Politics/How-is-the-role-of-the-British-Prime-Minister-changing/ [ accessed 30 December 2024]⤶
[4] - The Week UK, 'Why the miners' strike was so important', THE WEEK, 24 March 2024 (https://theweek.com/history/why-the-miners-strike-was-so-important)⤶
[5] - Joe Pike, 'Sunak's D-Day absence: How the PM walked into an election blunder', BBC news, 7 June 2024 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn001p1x49ro)⤶
[6] - Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/referendum [accessed 30 December 2024]⤶
[7] - Heather Stewart, Rowena Mason and Rajeev Syal, 'David Cameron resigns after UK votes to leave European Union', The Guardian, 24 June 2016 (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/24/david-cameron-resigns-after-uk-votes-to-leave-european-union)⤶
[8] - Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/diplomatic [accessed 30 December 2024]⤶
[9] - Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/cop-climate-change conference#:~:text=COP%20stands%20for%20Conference%20of,making%20body%20of%20the%20UNFCCC [accessed 30 December 2024]⤶
[10] - G7 - European Commision, https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/international/international-cooperation/international-organisations/g7_en [accessed 30 December 2024]⤶
[11] - IWM - How Europe Went To War In 1939, https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-europe-went-to-war-in-1939#:~:text=Polish%20resistance%20to%20German%20demands,for%20the%20invasion%20of%20Poland [accessed 30 December 2024]⤶
[12] - The Brilliant Club, Scholars handbook, 29⤶
[13] - Gordon Burns, TV Interview for Granada World in Action https://www.margaretthatcher.org//document/103485 [accessed 30 December 2024]⤶
[14] - Non-EU labour plugs post-Brexit skills shortfall in home building sector, new research finds, https://www.hbf.co.uk/news/skills-shortfall-home-building-research-workforce-census/ [accessed 30 December 2024]⤶
[15] - Sam Francis, "Starmer confirms Rwanda deportation plan 'dead'", BBC news, 6 July 2024 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9dn8erg3zo)⤶
[16] - The Brilliant Club, Scholars handbook, 26 ⤶
[17] - The Brilliant Club, Scholars handbook, 22 ⤶
[18] - Jessica Elgot and Gwyn Topham, 'Labour promises rail nationalisation within five years of coming to power', The Guardian, 24 April 2024 (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/24/labour-promises-rail-nationalisation-within-five-years-of-coming-to-power)⤶