Office Politics: Sir Bill Cash Reviews ‘The Impossible Office?’

Sir Bill Cash | 17th May 2021 | Uncategorised

Sir Bill Cash is impressed by a compelling account of the occupants of Number Ten

Anthony Seldon’s book The Impossible Office? is a work of consolidated scholarship about our prime ministers, based on many sources, ranging across several centuries. It is compelling reading, but leaves seminal questions unanswered, particularly on the relationship of the office itself to democracy.

The book is published to mark the 300th anniversary of the office of the British prime minister, the first claimed to be Robert Walpole, although he did not recognise the title himself. Furthermore, there are serious historians who believe that Walpole was not the first prime minister. Henry Pelham, who was prime minister between 1743 and 1754, owed his power to the confidence of the House of Commons, whereas for the most part Walpole owed his own power to George II and Queen Caroline of Ansbach. Both of these prime ministers, however, did rely heavily on bribing members of parliament. Only since 1902 has the combined office of prime minister and that of First Lord of the Treasury alwa...

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