Anthony Seldon – författare

Britain's decision to leave the European Union was perhaps the most divisive and consequential event of modern British politics. To assess its impact on the tenth anniversary of the referendum, Anthony Seldon assembles an unparalleled list of writers from all sides of the debate - including Brexit MP Steve Baker, ex-Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, election guru John Curtice, economist Paul Johnson, ex-Foreign Secretary David Miliband, ex-Cabinet minister Emily Thornberry, leading lawyers Marina Wheeler and Jonathan Sumption and ex-Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. They analyse why the referendum happened, how Brexit became law and its impact on every corner of British life, concluding with a range of perspectives on how Britain might make the most of the opportunities now available to it. As the dust continues to settle, The Brexit Effect delivers a vital and timely analysis for all who wish to understand Britain's past, present and future.

The Sunday Times bestselling author of Truss at 10 returns with the definitive account of the Conservative Party's collapse and what this means for the future of British politics.'Riveting... This extremely well-sourced account is thorough, judicious and fair-minded' Andrew Rawnsley, Observer'A valuable and insightful account of a period that remains relevant' David Gauke, Financial Times'The leading authority on our contemporary prime ministers' Dominic Grieve, GuardianThe 2024 General Election was the Conservatives' worst ever defeat: their lowest vote share in modern history and smallest parliamentary contingent since 1832. As Boris Johnson's crumbling majority turned to rubble and Nigel Farage's Reform marched into the vacuum, a question hung over British politics that would once have seemedabsurd: is this the end of the Tories as an independent force?From inheriting Liz Truss's collapsed premiership - the pound in freefall, the bond markets and Conservative Partyin revolt - through the domestic battles over the Rwanda Asylum Plan and the agenda-dominating wars in Ukraine and Gaza, to the crushing 2023 local elections, Sunak's time in Downing Street was one of unrelenting turbulence and hard choices. Could a more naturally political or commanding leader have steadied the ship? Was Sunak ultimately sunk by the chaos he inherited, or by his own ill-fated indecision? And as Kemi Badenoch attempts to rebuild and Keir Starmer is already out the door, does any path back to power remain?Drawing on unparalleled access to Sunak's inner circle, and exclusive interviews with Cabinet ministers and senior officials, Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton offer the definitive account of a premiership that began in crisis, and was never able to fully escape it.

‘Kavanagh and Seldon’s view of 20th-century British politics from behind the doors of Number10 should be compulsory reading. “The Powers Behind the Prime Minister” rattles along like some great pageant on the theme of “Yes, Minister”.’ Sue Cameron, Sunday TelegraphIn this exclusive and important book, Dennis Kavanagh and Anthony Seldon reveal, for the first time, the truth about Number 10 Downing Street and how successive Prime Ministers have used the house to consolidate their power. Their book is to Number 10 what Peter Hennessy’s study was to Whitehall – a close examination of a British Prime Minister’s power centre – showing how successive PMs have wielded power within its walls.The authors had unprecedented access to contacts inside 10 Downing Street who agreed to speak to them exclusively and for the first time – civil servants, political advisors, secretaries and politicians. They have also talked to every Prime Minister still living. The book, as a result, contains controversial material never disclosed before. It also looks closely at the workings of power within Number 10 and the importance of geography inside the house for access to the Prime Minister, and to information and influence. ‘The Powers Behind the Prime Minister’ sheds sensational new light on many of our PMs.‘The best account of the Blair inner circle.’ Peter Riddell, The Times Books of the Year

(This edition does not include illustrations.)`Kavanagh and Seldon’s view of 20th-century British politics from behind the doors of Number10 should be compulsory reading. “The Powers Behind the Prime Minister” rattles along like some great pageant on the theme of “Yes, Minister”.’ Sue Cameron, Sunday TelegraphIn this exclusive and important book, Dennis Kavanagh and Anthony Seldon reveal, for the first time, the truth about Number 10 Downing Street and how successive Prime Ministers have used the house to consolidate their power. Their book is to Number 10 what Peter Hennessy’s study was to Whitehall – a close examination of a British Prime Minister’s power centre – showing how successive PMs have wielded power within its walls.The authors had unprecedented access to contacts inside 10 Downing Street who agreed to speak to them exclusively and for the first time – civil servants, political advisors, secretaries and politicians. They have also talked to every Prime Minister still living. The book, as a result, contains controversial material never disclosed before. It also looks closely at the workings of power within Number 10 and the importance of geography inside the house for access to the Prime Minister, and to information and influence. `The Powers Behind the Prime Minister’ sheds sensational new light on many of our PMs.`The best account of the Blair inner circle.’ Peter Riddell, The Times Books of the Year

Five years in the making, `Cameron at 10’ is the gripping inside story of the Cameron premiership, based on over 300 in-depth interviews with senior figures in 10 Downing Street, including the Prime Minister himself.As dusk descended on 11 May 2010, David Cameron entered 10 Downing Street as the youngest prime minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812. He stood at the head of the first Coalition government in 65 years, with the country in dire economic straits following a deep financial crisis.From the early heady days of the Rose Garden partnership with the Liberal Democrats to the most bitterly contested general election in years, `Cameron at 10’ highlights forty dramatic moments in an exceptionally turbulent period in British politics. The book contains all the highs and lows on the domestic front as well as providing revealing insights into the Prime Minister’s relationships with foreign leaders, particularly the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama.With unprecedented access to the `inner circle’ of politicians and civil servants that surround the Prime Minister, from Chancellor George Osborne and former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to all of Cameron’s personal team, this is the most intimate account of a serving prime minister that has ever been published.

The most intimate account of a serving prime minister ever published, this is the gripping inside story of David Cameron’s government as told by senior figures, including the Prime Minister, George Osborne and Boris Johnson.Spanning the early days of the coalition to a bitterly contested general election, and ending with the astonishing EU Referendum story, ‘Cameron at 10’ tells the full story of a momentous premiership. From riots in London to the withdrawal from Afghanistan to the gambles of two seismic referenda – the youngest prime minister since 1812 faced an exceptionally turbulent period in British politics. With insights into his relationships with EU leaders, the Brexit camp and Barack Obama, this is the essential blueprint for understanding the rise and fall of the Cameron government.

Five years in the making, ‘Cameron at 10’ is the gripping inside story of the Cameron premiership, based on over 300 in-depth interviews with senior figures in 10 Downing Street, including the Prime Minister himself.As dusk descended on 11 May 2010, David Cameron entered 10 Downing Street as the youngest prime minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812. He stood at the head of the first Coalition government in 65 years, with the country in dire economic straits following a deep financial crisis.From the early heady days of the Rose Garden partnership with the Liberal Democrats to the most bitterly contested general election in years, ‘Cameron at 10’ highlights forty dramatic moments in an exceptionally turbulent period in British politics. The book contains all the highs and lows on the domestic front as well as providing revealing insights into the Prime Minister’s relationships with foreign leaders, particularly the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama.With unprecedented access to the ‘inner circle’ of politicians and civil servants that surround the Prime Minister, from Chancellor George Osborne and former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to all of Cameron’s personal team, this is the most intimate account of a serving prime minister that has ever been published.

How Tory Governments Fall is a landmark study of the forces that shape – and ultimately destroy – political power. It assesses the factors that are common to the decline and fall of each Conservative administration in British history since the beginnings of the modern, party-based system.Each government is examined by the leading specialist of the political history of the period: Norman Gash on the Wellington-Liverpool era, Martin Pugh on Salisbury; John Turner on the Macmillan years; Jeremy Black on anti-Napoleonic Torydom; John Vincent on Disraeli’s heyday; Dennis Kavanagh on the Heath regime and Ivor Crewe on the Thatcher-Major era.Anthony Seldon, the book’s editor, contends that the party’s supreme weapons are its ability to adapt and its hunger for power, and asks whether these two attributes will be sufficient to ensure continued electoral success. The essays examine the nature of each government, the reasons for their victory at the polls; their unifying themes, the interests they represented, the quality of their leadership, the prevailing ideology and the reasons for their enfeeblement, decay and eventual defeat.How Tory Governments Fall is a unique and controversial work of interest to anyone wishing to understand the occasions when the most successful election-winning force in British political history has been defeated.

The seventy years since the end of the Second World War have seen dramatic changes in Britain’s cultural, intellectual and political climate. Old class allegiances have been challenged by new loyalties to gender, ethnicity, religion or lifestyle and a new sensibility of self-fulfilment – sometimes hedonistic, sometimes altruistic – has been born.There have been equally seismic shifts in political ideology and public policy in this period. The Labour government of 1945 came to power with an ambitious collectivist programme, involving a planned economy and a cradle-to-grave welfare state. By 1979 the welfare state was widely attacked as a nanny state and economic planning had been discredited. The ascendant New Right sought instead to return to the economic liberalism of the last century while the Left seemed divided and in comprehensive retreat. The 1990s have seen yet another shift – away from the unbridled individualism of the Thatcher years towards a new emphasis on community, civic duty and mutual obligation.In 'The Ideas that Shaped Post-War Britain', writers of the stature of James Bulpitt, Peter Clarke, José Harris, Albert Hirschman, David Marquand, Geoff Mulgan, Chris Pierson, Raymond Plant, Anthony Seldon, Robert Skidelsky and Robert Taylor give novel interpretations of this paradoxical evolution. They show how ideas once thought beyond the pale – privatisation, marketization, anti-trade union legislation – came to be seen as the norm in the 1980s, only to be challenged in turn in the 1990s, and relate these changes in the climate of ideas to transformations in the social sphere – the end of ‘jobs for life’, new sexual and cultural identities, the crises in relations between the leaders and the led. Fresh, unique and brilliantly well written, 'The Ideas that Shaped Post-War Britain' is an indispensable companion for anyone seeking to understand the course Britain has plotted in the second half of the twentieth century.

The Conservative Party has been the dominant force in twentieth-century British politics. On its own or as the predominant partner in a coalition it has held power for more than sixty years since 1900. Despite this it has been the most neglected and misunderstood of all the main parties. This book is the first systematic attempt to survey the history and politics of the Conservative Party across the whole of the twentieth century from the `Khaki' election of 1900 to John Major's victory of 1992 and beyond. Traditional boundaries between history and political science have been ignored, with each of the authoritative team of contributors pursuing an important theme within three main areas; the composition and structure of the Party; its ideas, policies and actions in government; and its public image and sources of support in the country. The essays are based upon new research, in particular in the Conservative Party archives. Conservative Century will be essential reading for both students and specialists, and it offers a mine of fascinating information for anyone interested in British politics.

The Conservative Party''s periods in opposition have been of crucial importance. They have seen major changes in direction, and often been the springboard for recovering power. There have also been leadership crises and bitter divisions, and recovery was never inevitable. In the first study to examine the topic as a whole, leading authorities present new evidence and interpretations. The book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the Conservative Party and of opposition in modern British politics.

THE BLAIR EFFECT is a collection of authoritative and (reasonably) unpartisan commentaries on the first administration of Tony Blair as it approaches a General Election. The authors demonstrate that it is possible to write contemporary history about even the most recent past in an accessible yet scrupulously objective manner. How much has changed since the landslide election victory of May 1997? What was prompting the changes, and to what extent were they the fruit of number 10's intentions? How far might they have happened anyway? How effective has the Blair effect been? Peter Riddell, Vernon Bogdanor, Dennis Kavanagh and a host of other star analysts pose these questions and do their best to answer them.

The UK National Curriculum states that schools should reaffirm commitment to the virtues of truth, justice, honesty, trust and a sense of duty. This aim, loosely defined as 'character' education, is widely agreed to be critical to healthy development and a fair, just and democratic society. But what exactly is 'character' and how best to educate for it? This vitally important book, written by five internationally prominent figures and government advisers, aims to answer that question. Accessibly written and brimming with inspirational ideas, it looks at questions of research, education, government policy and societal engagement with character, including in the light of COVID-19 and the huge debt owed to the public services frontline.This book is a fascinating and vital read for parents, teachers and anyone concerned with social justice, developing the energy and passion of young people and working towards a better, stronger, fairer society. This could very well be the most important book you read all year!

The UK National Curriculum states that schools should reaffirm commitment to the virtues of truth, justice, honesty, trust and a sense of duty. This aim, loosely defined as 'character' education, is widely agreed to be critical to healthy development and a fair, just and democratic society. But what exactly is 'character' and how best to educate for it? This vitally important book, written by five internationally prominent figures and government advisers, aims to answer that question. Accessibly written and brimming with inspirational ideas, it looks at questions of research, education, government policy and societal engagement with character, including in the light of COVID-19 and the huge debt owed to the public services frontline.This book is a fascinating and vital read for parents, teachers and anyone concerned with social justice, developing the energy and passion of young people and working towards a better, stronger, fairer society. This could very well be the most important book you read all year!

The chance to begin anew seldom occurs. Yet the nearly complete breakdown of the world economy between 1939 and 1945, together with the dominant position of the United States at the end of the war, provided just this opportunity. A new international economic order was built on the ruins of the old. How this happened - and the role of government in economic performance - is the subject of this important and timely book. Written by political scientists, contemporary historians and economists, it includes ten country studies covering all the major industrialized nations in the West: the USA, USSR, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia. In each chapter readers will find information on the main objectives and instruments of economic policy, the institutional framework, where the country started from at the end of the war, and a summary of what happened thereafter both in terms of policies and outcomes. Each chapter also contains data on the country's economic performance, a list of selected dates of important events, and a guide to further reading. The book begins with an overview of the sytem of international trade and payments since the war, and ends with five commentaries drawing attention to contrasts and similarities between the nations. The commentaries feature David Henderson, Head of the Economics Division of the OECD, on the overall economic performance, Charles Feinstein on the influence of different starting points, David Marquand on the effect of different political and institutional structures, and Sidney Pollard on economic policies and traditions. Learning from other countries' experience as well as understanding how they see their own problems is increasingly important with 1992, glasnost', and the problem of international policy coordination between the USA, Japan, and Germany so high on the agenda. No other book provides such a wide-ranging account of how the industrialized world came to be where it is today.

We are constantly told that New Labour forms an historic departure from the traditions of the Labour Party. This book, written by a distinguished selection of academics and commentators, provides the most detailed comparison yet of old and new Labour in power. It is also the first to offer a comprehensive analysis of the last Labour Government before the rise of Thatcher and the re-emergence of the Labour Party under Tony Blair's leadership. It reveals much about the history of the Labour Party as well as providing a much-needed context from which to judge the current government.

We are constantly told that New Labour forms an historic departure from the traditions of the Labour Party. This book, written by a distinguished selection of academics and commentators, provides the most detailed comparison yet of old and new Labour in power. It is also the first to offer a comprehensive analysis of the last Labour Government before the rise of Thatcher and the re-emergence of the Labour Party under Tony Blair's leadership. It reveals much about the history of the Labour Party as well as providing a much-needed context from which to judge the current government.

Tony Blair's strong start to his third term, with his role in capturing the Olympic Games for Britain, his statesman-like handling of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on London, his promise of a new start to the European Union and his leadership of the G8 summit at Gleneagles, has brought his relatively lacklustre second term into sharp relief. The second term should have been the time when New Labour fulfilled its manifesto promises. So what changed between 2001 and 2005 and what was achieved? How far was Blair himself responsible, and what was Gordon Brown's influence? What was the impact of the Iraq war? And what of Blair's policy towards Europe? Anthony Seldon and Dennis Kavanagh gather together leading academics and journalists to provide an authoritative assessment of Blair's second term, including a review of New Labour in government from 1997 to the present.

Tony Blair has dominated British political life for more than a decade. Like Margaret Thatcher before him, he has changed the terms of political debate and provoked as much condemnation as admiration. At the end of his era in power, this book presents a wide-ranging overview of the achievements and failures of the Blair governments. Bringing together Britain's most eminent academics and commentators on British politics and society, it examines the effect of the Prime Minister and his administration on the machinery of government, economic and social policy and foreign relations. Combining serious scholarship with clarity and accessibility, this book represents the authoritative verdict on the impact of the Blair years on British politics and society.

Tony Blair's strong start to his third term, with his role in capturing the Olympic Games for Britain, his statesman-like handling of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on London, his promise of a new start to the European Union and his leadership of the G8 summit at Gleneagles, has brought his relatively lacklustre second term into sharp relief. The second term should have been the time when New Labour fulfilled its manifesto promises. So what changed between 2001 and 2005 and what was achieved? How far was Blair himself responsible, and what was Gordon Brown's influence? What was the impact of the Iraq war? And what of Blair's policy towards Europe? Anthony Seldon and Dennis Kavanagh gather together leading academics and journalists to provide an authoritative assessment of Blair's second term, including a review of New Labour in government from 1997 to the present.

Tony Blair has dominated British political life for more than a decade. Like Margaret Thatcher before him, he has changed the terms of political debate and provoked as much condemnation as admiration. At the end of his era in power, this book presents a wide-ranging overview of the achievements and failures of the Blair governments. Bringing together Britain's most eminent academics and commentators on British politics and society, it examines the effect of the Prime Minister and his administration on the machinery of government, economic and social policy and foreign relations. Combining serious scholarship with clarity and accessibility, this book represents the authoritative verdict on the impact of the Blair years on British politics and society.

Winston Churchill was seventy-six when the Conservative Party won the 1951 General Election. At the third attempt since the end of the Second World War he had finally been returned to power by the will of the people. A lifetime's ambition had been achieved after nearly half a century in Parliament. In Anthony Seldon's own words, 'the most controversial element in the book is likely to prove the reassessment of Churchill's contribution as a peacetime premier. The title Churchill's Indian Summer is not intended to be sensational, but it is meant to be combative. I do not suggest he was as fit or as brilliant as he had been during the war. He clearly was not. The characteristic of an Indian Summer is that the temperature is cooler than at the height of the season: indeed, a feature one would expect of a man a month off his seventy-sixth birthday on his return to Number Ten. Yet despite his failing powers, he was, I believe, right to remain in office, at least until his major stroke in the summer of 1953, and a good case can be made for his retention of power until the autumn of 1954. Only in his last six months in office was he not fully up to the task.'The book though is not just about Churchill. In an approach more thematic than chronological Anthony Seldon also gives a detailed analysis of each major Government department, its ministers and especially the civil servants who in many cases not merely implemented policies but determined them too. On the whole, it was an emollient administration somewhat to the left of both the Conservative and Labour Parties of today. Nor was it unsuccessful be it on the home front or in foreign policy. Anthony Seldon's book, first published in 1981, was the first to cover this still slightly forgotten Government. 'Mr Seldon has used an historical method which provides flesh and blood: he has talked to some 200 surviving politicians and civil servants and it is remarkable how little their views and recollections diverge. . . It is a gigantic exercise in oral history, and it is a triumph.' John Colville, Sunday Telegraph 'Here is a massive, excellently researched and very readable account of Winston Churchill's only Prime Ministership in peacetime, from 1951 to 1955. . . There is plenty of shrewd analysis, particularly of character and much balanced and generally charitable personalisation. A valuable book, in fact, and a first-class account of those four years in which Britain was still thought of as ''Great'. One is left with a sense of abiding gratitude to the author as well as his subject.' Terence Prittie 'So much has been made of Churchill's infirmities in these years that too little attention has been given to his final, and extraordinary achievement, and it is the outstanding achievement of Mr Seldon that, although no slavish adulator, he recognizes that little of this would have been possible without that spirit of humanity and warmth and faith which radiated from the Prime Minister. . . . There are few histories of a single Government so competent and reasoned as this.' Robert Rhodes James

This concise, accessible, and balanced historical analysis of the Thatcher years and their consequences analyzes many controversial aspects of Margaret Thatcher's premiership, including the Falklands War, the miner's strike, bitter relations with Europe and the ill-fated poll tax. Books in this Seminar Studies in History series bridge the gap between textbook and specialist survey and consists of a brief "Introduction" and/or "Background" to the subject followed by a substantial and authoritative section of "Analysis" focusing on the main themes and issues. There is a succinct "Assessment" of the subject, a generous selection of "Documents" and a detailed bibliography.

This study looks at the influence of ideas and think tanks in Britain, contemplating how ideas have shaped politics and society. The purveyors of ideas for change - the think tanks - are examined, and academics and participants vieww are recorded in a number of interviews.

This study looks at the influence of ideas and think tanks in Britain, contemplating how ideas have shaped politics and society. The purveyors of ideas for change - the think tanks - are examined, and academics and participants views are recorded in a number of interviews.

This study looks at the influence of ideas and think tanks in Britain, contemplating how ideas have shaped politics and society. The purveyors of ideas for change - the think tanks - are examined, and academics and participants views are recorded in a number of interviews.

Marking the third centenary of the office of Prime Minister, this book tells its extraordinary story, explaining how and why it has endured longer than any other democratic political office in world history. Sir Anthony Seldon, historian of Number 10 Downing Street, explores the lives and careers, loves and scandals, successes and failures, of all our great Prime Ministers. From Robert Walpole and William Pitt the Younger, to Clement Attlee and Margaret Thatcher, Seldon discusses which of our Prime Ministers have been most effective and why. He reveals the changing relationship between the Monarchy and the office of the Prime Minister in intimate detail, describing how the increasing power of the Prime Minister in becoming leader of Britain coincided with the steadily falling influence of the Monarchy. This book celebrates the humanity and frailty, work and achievement, of these 55 remarkable individuals, who averted revolution and civil war, leading the country through times of peace, crisis and war.