Prime Ministers and Personality

Michael Barber on Government

This course takes the form of a series of questions put to Sir Michael Barber, a senior government advisor who has worked with governments under a variety of UK Prime Ministers (from John Major to Boris Johnson) as well as with governments elsewhere in the world. In the first module we ask, “In your experience, how important is the individual personality of a Prime Minister to the character of UK politics and the delivery of good government?”. We follow this in the second module with a question on Barber’s experience delivering government under Blair with the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (PMDU). In the third module, we ask about Barber’s experience as Chief Adviser to the Secretary of State for Education on School Standards, before moving on in the fourth module to ask about quasi-markets in health and education (and the academisation project) under New Labour. In the fifth module, Michael Barber answers the question: “In your opinion, what is the greatest challenge currently facing the new Prime Minister?”, speaking at the time of filming about Liz Truss. In the sixth module, we ask “Does your experience working alongside politicians bear out the widely held belief that politicians are untrustworthy?”, before in the seventh module turning to the subject of whether modern governments are sufficiently equipped to coordinate a response to the climate crisis. In the eighth module, Barber considers whether a Prime Minister is like a CEO, before turning in the ninth module to discuss the extent to which Parliament holds influence over government. In the tenth module, Barber advances the argument that cynicism is a dangerous force in UK Politics and in politics elsewhere. In the eleventh module, Barber draws directly on his experience under the Blair governments to answer the question: “How collective is Cabinet decision-making?”, before turning in the twelfth module to offer some suggestions for the improvement of the UK Civil Service. Finally, we conclude with some comments on how we can ensure that governments stay accountable both to their citizens and to their own stated policy objectives. This course provides both conceptual knowledge and a variety of helpful real-life examples for the “UK Politics” and “UK Government” sections of the A Level exam specifications.

Prime Ministers and Personality

In this module Michael Barber answers the question: “In your experience, how important is the individual personality of a Prime Minister to the character of UK politics and the delivery of good government?”, focusing in particular on: (i) his experience working for Tony Blair in the Department of Education and in No. 10; (ii) the importance of the individual Prime Minister’s management style; (iii) the importance of good interpersonal relationships at the highest levels of UK politics.