What Prime Ministers could the UK have had? What made them potential leaders and what stopped them from getting to their ultimate goal? These are the questions explored in depth in this book. It’s that eye for a deal that makes Always Red (OR), McCluskey’s own juicy, take-no-prisoners memoir, so riveting. The former Unite leader has a reasonable claim to be the architect of Corbynism, having supported the rule changes under Ed Miliband that later helped the left break through in a leadership election, and then supplied funding, staff and strategic nous to an inexperienced Corbyn operation. The book is slippery on the intertwined nature of his private and political lives (Jennie Formby, the mother of one of his four children, ended up as Labour’s general secretary, while his partner Karie Murphy became Corbyn’s chief of staff) and arguably on antisemitism within Labour. But the final chapter on how unions can best exert leverage should be required reading for anyone in politics (or business). The remaining 17 changeovers happened outside of elections. Of those 17, three were followed by an election called within 50 days of the new Prime Minister taking office. Boris Johnson replaces Theresa May as the UK's new prime minister". BBC News. 25 July 2019. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022 . Retrieved 6 September 2022.

The Annual Register 1946, p.11; Butler & Butler 2010, pp.17–21, 77; Eccleshall & Walker 2002, p.295; Englefield, Seaton & White 1995, pp.276–282; The London Gazette 1924. Evans, Eric J. (2001). "Compendium of Information". The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain, 1783–1870 (3rded.). Routledge (published 2013). ISBN 978-1-317-87371-6. I felt the author’s unique contributions to this book were their interesting in-person encounters with many of the book’s subjects, their casual observations about the behaviours of these actors and their shrewd observations about trends in modern British politics. The latter in particular included some observations so well made that I have even had to re-examine some of my own preconceptions. The author stated that in British politics we often see what we want to see. He may be right about that.The Annual Register 1941, p.11; Eccleshall & Walker 2002, p.289; Englefield, Seaton & White 1995, pp.270–274.

I had just opened up and the first customer in told me the news. I just could not believe it - I was stunned. As a life-long Labour supporter, as were the majority of my friends, we were just stood around in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Ultimately, while I enjoyed this book I felt that there was something missing. The author purposefully made this book to focus on why these figures did not become Prime Ministers. But by doing this exclusively he left out perhaps the most intriguing question to be answered; what would they have been like as Prime Ministers? Quinault, Roland (2011). British Prime Ministers and Democracy: From Disraeli to Blair. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4411-1105-0. What would Britain be like today if we’d had Michael Portillo, Barbara Castle or Jeremy Corbyn as our prime ministers? Over the course of political journalist Steve Richards’s fascinating and, at times, revelatory series of potted biographies of some of the most prominent politicians who never made it to No 10, he considers afresh the leaders who could have been transformative – and those who may just have been disastrous. Whatever your political stance, Richards’s thorough and admirably even-handed account will make you think again about the might-have-beens of contemporary politics. First Lord of the Treasury". Gov.uk. UK Government. Archived from the original on 20 May 2013 . Retrieved 3 September 2017.

The Prime Ministers We Never Had

Eccleshall & Walker 2002, p.54; Englefield, Seaton & White 1995, pp.45–50; Kebbel 1864, p.143; Venning 2005, p.93. Hennessy, Peter (2001). "The Platonic Idea and the Constitutional Deal". The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-29313-0. I thought: "That is also the death of the Labour Party as we know it." How tragically correct I was.