Different Styles of Recent British Prime Ministers - Essay Example

Different Styles of Recent British Prime Ministers British prime ministers are usually experienced national politicians who have worked their way up in the course of their positions of their party and parliament. They have to be members of the House of Commons and often serve a lengthy apprenticeship before winning leadership of their parties. Britain government has been having prime ministers as the dominant figures in government as early as the seventeenth century. Amongst the most renowned prime ministers in Britain are such as Winston Churchill; who led Britain during the second world war, Margaret Thatcher who is commonly referred to as the iron lady, John Major and Lloyd George (Bennister, 2012). This discussion looks into the similarities and differences in leadership approaches of latest British prime ministers. These are john Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and the incumbent David Cameron. Major John rose to the position of prime minister after serving for 11 years in parliament; Blair became the prime minister after serving for fourteen years. Gordon Brown waited for twenty five years before becoming prime minister, and the current Prime Minister Cameron took nine years before becoming prime minister. Prime ministers govern depending on their styles of management. Major John was accommodative and tolerant, allowing a greater variety of opinion. He stressed on consensus and collegiality, giving the department as much autonomy as possible. He rarely interfered with the decision making of departments during tenure (Bennister, 2012). Tony Blair is known for his authoritative style having developed a standing for enforcing strong discipline both in his party and cabinet. Blair assigned discretion to strong ministers prepared to follow the government without question. His autocratic style attracted criticism of assuming presidential powers. Cameron leadership is characterized by several policies, the Majority of which are propelled by the need to trim down the government expenditure. Having secured office in 2010, Cameron came in office at a time when Britain was grappling with economic downtowns. The following valuables will be the basis of evaluation leadership styles and aptitude. These are proficiency and communication skills, political skills, emotional intelligence, organizational capacity and policy vision. Proficiency and communication skills Tony Blair has an outstanding proficiency in public communication, usually described as an exciting politician, who is able to interact well with the media. His strong control over the government’s message was highly successful in imposing unity and projecting an image of competence. How Blair managed communications during the 1999 Kosovo war, was an illustration of this skill. On the other hand, Major John and Gordon Brown are not proficient and good communicators (Bennister, 2012). Cameron is also known for his communication skills, which is enhanced by background in television. Organizational capacity Cameron noticeable organization skills are his self confidence and inner motivation. He strives to excel and accomplish objectives. He sets intricate goals and works on how the objectives will be accomplished. His strong communication skills enable him to respond positively to setbacks whenever they occur. He is able to remain calm under strenuous circumstances. Cameron organizational capacity has been put under criticism as a result of his judgments with regards to key government appointments. Major John had a strong organizational capacity due to his democratic leadership. His reign had few ad hoc cabinet meetings and fewer ad hoc committees to compete for a central position in policy making. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had less organizational capacities, and usually struggled to find arrangements that suited them. This helped them compensate for their weaknesses. Political skills and Policy vision Gordon Brown is known for his policy and political vision of enriching the lives of British citizens. During his reign, poverty reduced, as well as unemployment levels without increasing borrowings. He achieved his policy of creating employment, reducing the budget deficit and supporting low income families. In addition, he accomplished his objectives of enhancing the standards of publicly offered education and health services (McCormick, 2011). Brown’s policy vision and political skills were ineffective. He was unable to push his program on constitutional changes to make a major change in decision making power from the executive to parliament. John Major reign was characterized by disunity over Europe and poor policy vision and political skills. His personalized politics were less successful compared to Blair and Cameron. Tony Blair was successful in his policy vision and skills as his distinctive and shrewd political skills enabled him promote objectives and shape traditional patterns and institutions to accommodate his needs (Helms, 2012). Cameron and Major are viewed as lacking political skills and policy vision. They are both seen as operating in the shadow of tony Blair with regards to how they handle the office, as well as how they manage administrative and political problems. Emotional intelligence Cameron is a social leader who is intelligent and a quick learner. He employs a logical approach in his decision making and acts on specifics rather than emotions. Enthusiasm, planfulness, intelligence and good social skills indicate that Cameron has emotional intelligence that helps him to create a motivated team. Brown and Gordon had poor social skills, less warmth and little empathy. Both Brown and Gordon had little emotional intelligence, acting on emotions rather than facts. At one point, Blair questioned Brown’s performance as his successor, saying that Brown lacks instincts and that he has zero emotional intelligence. John Major had a collegiate style in his leadership, which is perceived as collective. He was accommodative and less dictatorial as compared to Blair. However, he is perceived as having little intelligence following his sham reasoning with regards to his decision on surveillance war on terror that did not have judicial authority (McCormick, 2011). In conclusion, the recent prime ministers of Britain have diverse leadership skills that have encountered predicaments at comparable phases during their tenure. John Major leadership has been characterized by strengths in his collective leadership but with little emotional intelligence. Gordon Brown and tony Blair have been successful in areas of policy achievement, political skills, but their scores on emotional intelligence have been relatively low. Blair’s communication skills are proficiency are however, strength in his leadership style. David Cameron is the current prime minister who is a work in progress. His leadership style is accommodative, modern, and his score on emotional intelligence are relatively high that that of Major, Blair and Brown. His organizational capacity cannot be distinctively concluded as his tenure in office is on-going. Bibliography Bennister, M. 2012. Prime Ministers in Power: Political Leadership in Britain and Australia. UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Helms, L., 2012. Poor Leadership and Bad Governance: Reassessing Presidents and Prime Ministers in North America, Europe and Japan. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. McCormick, J., 2011. Comparative Politics in Transition. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Read More