McMeeking, T, Heppell, T orcid.org/0000-0001-9851-6993 and Roe-Crines, A (2021) Prime Ministerial powers of patronage: Ideology and Cabinet selection under Margaret Thatcher 1979–1990. British Politics. ISSN 1746-918X
Abstract
This article will examine how Margaret Thatcher utilised the Prime Ministerial power of Cabinet ministerial appointment between 1979 and 1990. The article will utilise the Norton taxonomy on the Parliamentary Conservative Party (PCP) to determine the ideological disposition (non-Thatcherite versus Thatcherite) of her Cabinet members across her eleven years in office. It will assess the ideological trends in terms of appointments, promotions and departures from Cabinet and it will use archival evidence to explore the advice given to Thatcher to assist her decision-making. Through this process the article will demonstrate how Thatcher was more ideologically balanced than academics have traditionally acknowledged when discussing her Cabinet selections. Moreover, the article will also demonstrate the significance attached to media presentation skills to her decision-making, thus challenging the emphasis on ideology as a dominant determinant of Cabinet selection.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2021. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). |
Keywords: | Conservative party; Margaret Thatcher; Thatcher government 1979–1990; Ministerial selection; Cabinet ministers |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 04 May 2021 11:30 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:38 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Springer Nature |
Identification Number: | 10.1057/s41293-021-00160-0 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:173205 |
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