Gimson's Prime Ministers

"Gimson's Prime Ministers provides the perfect follow-up to Andrew Gimson's best-selling Gimson's Kings and Queens, providing an acerbic and illuminating meditation on the fifty-two men (and one woman) who have led our government for the last three centuries. From Walpole to May (but possibly not for long...), Gimson elucidates with his trademark wit, brevity and brilliant eye for vivid detail the lives and times of the powerful few who have shaped our modern political landscape. Discover the party leaders that have risen to the top, outfought opponents, slipped in silently and upturned precept and principle, and unearth the enduring qualities that unite all prime ministers: those of courage, eloquence, hunger for power, acuity, respectability, financial mastery, the ability to distribute patronage (keep those coffers happy), the capacity for hard work, a different style to the predecessor and of course...vulnerability. For the reader who has heard of such giants as Gladstone and Disraeli, and has drunk in a pub called the Palmerston, but has only the haziest idea of who these people were, Gimson's Prime Ministers offers a short account of them all which can be read for pleasure, and not just for edification. With Gimson's wonderful prose once again complemented by Martin Rowson's inimitable illustrations, this lively and entertaining aide-memoire and work of satirical genius bring our parliamentary history to life as never before."--