The Impossible Office?

Sir Anthony Seldon is the acknowledged national authority on all matters to do with Number 10 and prime ministers. His first book on a prime minister, Churchill's Indian Summer: The Conservative Government, 1951–55 (1981), was published forty years ago, and since then he has written or edited many books, including the definitive insider accounts of the last six prime ministers. He has been the honorary historian at Number 10 Downing Street, chair of the National Archives Trust, and has interviewed virtually all senior figures who have worked in Number 10 in the last fifty years. His BBC Radio 4 series 'The Prime Minister at 300' was broadcast on the 300th anniversary of the office in April 2021. Jonathan Meakin was educated at Royal Holloway, University of London and at the University of St Andrews. He has had a lifelong interest in history. He has worked on many publications with Anthony Seldon, including Cameron at 10 and The Cabinet Office, (1916–2016). Illias Thoms has worked with Anthony Seldon for over ten years and this is their fourth book together, including Cameron at 10 and Brown at 10. He graduated from Balliol College, Oxford with a degree in history and politics in 2014 and works as an assistant director in the UK film and television industries. Tom Egerton has worked with Anthony Seldon on various publications, including Johnson at 10. He is the Editor and founder of The Political Inquiry and was educated in history and politics at the University of Warwick.

• Preface; Note on the revised edition; 1. The 300th Anniversary Bookend Prime Ministers: Walpole and Johnson; 2. A Country Transformed, 1721–2024; 3. The Liminal Premiership: From the Saxons to 1806; 4. The Transformational Prime Ministers, 1806–2024; 5. The Powers and Resources of the Prime Minister, 1721–2024; 6. The Constraints on the Prime Minister, 1721–2024; 7. The Eclipse of the Monarchy, 1660–2024; 8. The Rise and Fall of the Foreign Secretary, 1782–2024; 9. The Rise, and Rise, of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1660–2024; 10. The Impossible Office? The Prime Minister by 2024.

'A tremendous, magisterial book, informed and underpinned by brilliant historical and political insight. A triumph.' William Boyd, Author of Trio, Restless and Any Human Heart