British Prime Ministers 1979 2020 1 Name Years
British Prime Ministers 1979 -2020 1 Name Years in Power Elections won Party Seats in the Commons/ % of the vote Background (education, career before PM) 3 Political values and beliefs 4 Key Events while PM: create a timeline 5 2
Personality and popularity Media image 7 Big successes and achievements 8 The Opposition 10 Final Judgement? Legacy? 11 6 Challenges and failures 9
What to include: 1. Key information. Name, Years as PM and the party they belong to (easy, either Conservative or Labour!). Also find out the elections they fought and won (ex Blair won 3!) and how many seats in Parliament the had. Also include the share (%) of the vote. 2. Picture. Find a nice snap so you learn what they look like! 3. Background (education, career before PM). Find out what their career path to becoming a PM. What social background did they have? Rich/Middle class/working class? Did they go to a private school? What university? Did they have job outside of politics (Blair managed rock bands; Thatcher worked in a science lab!)? Were they a minister of a government department? 4. Political values and beliefs. Really important; find out what they stand for politically and if they sign up to a political ideology: e. g socialist, right wing, traditional value, helping the poor or supporting big business. 5. Key Events while PM: Some PMs like Thatcher and Blair were in office for a long time; others only a few years. Create a timeline to show the key events which happened while they were in charge. Include terrorist attacks (7/7 bombings), world events, wars (Iraq), environmental disasters, economic events (2008 banking crisis), social events, cultural events etc. and of course…Brexit! 6. Personality and popularity. Find out what they were like as a person and their style of leadership (Thatcher slept 4 hours a night, was a workaholic and a notorious bully to her ministers) 7. Media image. Very important for our course. How were they seen by the press (TV, newspapers etc. )? Which newspapers supported/ criticised them? Were they good at public speaking and handling reporters? Did they have to work on creating a better image for the media? 8. Big successes and achievements. What went well? Any big reforms? What were their successful achievements and policies? Did they make decisions that were popular with voters? Did they deal with any crisis well? 9. Challenges and failures. Where did they struggle? Did they have to change direction on a policy? Was it unpopular or a failure? Did they handle crisis badly? Did they make a terrible mistake? 10. The Opposition. This is the 2 nd largest party in the Commons (easy; always either Labour or Conservatives!) and their main job is to challenge and oppose the Prime Minister and the government. Did the PM have to worry about an Opposition stopping them carrying out their plans? Who was the leader of the Opposition (or leaders; Blair faced 4 different Conservative leaders!) 11. Final Judgement? Legacy? What is your opinion of the PM? Were they good at their job? Were they powerful? Successful? Or a failure? What do other people say about them? How should they be remembered?
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