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Article: A moon among the lesser stars.(Review)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- September 23, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE PRIME MINISTER: THE OFFICE AND ITS HOLDERS SINCE 1945. By Peter Hennessy. Allen Lane, The Penguin Press; 720 pages; Pounds25
Who was the best of Britain's post-war prime ministers?
FOR almost 40 years students of British politics have been debating the thesis propounded by the late Richard Crossman, an Oxford don and Labour minister, that cabinet government has been superseded by prime ministerial or quasi-presidential rule. Towards the end of his analysis of post-war premierships, Peter Hennessy quotes a senior Whitehall figure as saying (about the Blair administration): "The idea that the prime minister is primus inter pares is wrong. The prime ...