POLITICAL LEADERSHIP: CHARACTER & PERFORMANCE. A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BRITISH POLITICAL LEADERSHIP, 1997-2010. AMARJIT LAHEL Doctor of Philosophy ASTON UNIVERSITY January 2011 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. 1 Thesis summary Aston University. Political Leadership: Character & Performance. A Comparative Analysis of British Political Leadership, 1997-2010. Amarjit Lahel. Doctor of Philosophy. 2011. Classical and contemporary scholarship on leadership has referred to political performance and the ability of political actors to deploy the self to political purpose. Literature on contemporary British politics (Hennessy, 2001; Marquand, 2008, King, 2009) has highlighted the qualitative shift in political leadership from the mid-1990s towards a focus upon the image, style, celebrity and performance of political leaders, and the shift towards the presidentialisation or semi-presidentialisation of the prime minister (Foley, 2001). However, the literature has lacked a focus upon political performance and a methodology for assessing leadership performance within cultural and institutional contexts. This thesis assesses British political leadership performance from 1997-2010 through the proposal of a framework of political performance to suit comparative purpose. The framework consisting of culture, institutions and performance is used to assess the performance of the case studies (Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, and Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg in the televised Leaders’ Debates of 2010). The application of the framework to the case studies will allow us to a) analyse political performance within given cultural and institutional contexts; b) establish the character traits and other aspects of a politician’s political persona; and c) appraise the role and effects of performance and persona upon the political process. Keywords: Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Leaders’ Debates. 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the School of Languages and Social Sciences at Aston University for their financial support whilst I undertook this research. Also, Professor Pam Moores, Professor William Paterson, Professor Simon Green, Dr Amanda Beattie and Dr Ed Turner for their advice and support, and the library staff at Aston. I am grateful to the staff of the think-tank, Demos, for their generosity in providing me with access to a range of elite interviewees within Westminster when I was doing fieldwork while on placement at Demos; and in particular to Demos’ former Director, Dr Catherine Fieschi. I would also like to thank Henry Miller who read and commented on earlier drafts of chapters, and was extremely helpful with the research into chapters 4 and 5. I am indebted to my supervisor, Professor John Gaffney, whom I have known since an undergraduate at Aston University. Professor Gaffney has been a constant source of inspiration, a fantastic and understanding supervisor, and, above all, a friend. Lastly, I would like to thank my husband Raj for his continuous support throughout the PhD. 3 Contents Thesis summary 2 Acknowledgements 3 Table of contents 4 List of figures 10 List of tables 10 1 INTRODUCTION _______________________________________________________ 11 1a Overview of the thesis ___________________________________________ 12 2 POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AND THE ELABORATION OF A FRAMEWORK OF POLITICAL PERFORMANCE ______________________________________________ 17 2a Overview _____________________________________________________ 18 2.1 Classic and contemporary leadership theories _____________________ 19 2.1.1 Aristotle. (2004). The Art of Rhetoric _____________________________ 19 2.1.2 Machiavelli, N. (2003). The Prince _______________________________ 21 2.1.3 Weber, M. (1947). The Theory of Social and Economic Organization _ 22 2.1.4 Kane, J. (2001). The Politics of Moral Capital _____________________ 24 2.2 Analysing leadership performance ________________________________ 25 2.2.1 Greenstein, F. I. (2000). The Presidential Difference _______________ 27 2.2.2 Skowronek, S. (1993). The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to George Bush ________________________________________ 28 2.2.3 Bell, D. S., Hargrove, E. C. & Theakston, K. (1999). ‘Skill in Context: A Comparison of Politicians’ ___________________________________________ 30 2.2.4 Hennessy, P. (2000). The Prime Minister _________________________ 33 2.3 Proposal of a framework of political performance __________________ 34 2.4 Conclusion ______________________________________________________ 40 3 A FRAMEWORK OF POLITICAL PERFORMANCE: CULTURE, INSTITUTIONS AND PERFORMANCE ____________________________________________________ 41 3a Overview _____________________________________________________ 42 3.1 Culture ______________________________________________________________ 43 3.1a Overview____________________________________________________ 44 3.1b Leadership in the 1970s ________________________________________ 44 3.1c Leadership in the 1980s ________________________________________ 45 3.1d Leadership in the 1990s ________________________________________ 46 3.1.2 Contemporary political culture __________________________________ 49 3.1.2.1 Personalisation of politics _____________________________________ 49 3.1.2.1a Personalisation and celebrity ______________________________ 51 3.1.2.2 Changes in Left/Right political ideology _________________________ 54 3.1.3 Conclusion ____________________________________________________ 57 4 3.2 Institutions __________________________________________________________ 59 3.2a Overview____________________________________________________ 60 3.2.1 New Institutionalism ____________________________________________ 61 3.2.1.1 Constructivist institutionalism __________________________________ 63 3.2.1.1a The role of ideas _________________________________________ 64 3.2.1.1b Structure-agency _________________________________________ 65 3.2.2 British political institutions _____________________________________ 68 3.2.2.1 The core executive __________________________________________ 70 3.2.2.2 The political party ____________________________________________ 74 3.2.2.3 The media __________________________________________________ 78 3.2.3 Conclusion ____________________________________________________ 80 3.3 Performance _________________________________________________________ 81 3.3a Overview____________________________________________________ 82 3.3.1 Political performance ___________________________________________ 83 3.3.1.1 Types of political performance _________________________________ 86 3.3.2 Conclusion ____________________________________________________ 88 4 METHODOLOGY _______________________________________________________ 89 4a Overview _____________________________________________________ 90 4.1 Political performance methodology _______________________________ 91 4.1.1 Discursive performances _______________________________________ 91 4.1.2 Responses to events/performance in crisis moments _______________ 97 4.1.3 Ideological/policy performance __________________________________ 97 4.1.4 Performance specifically to the media ____________________________ 98 4.2 Elite Interviews __________________________________________________ 98 4.2.1 Research Framework __________________________________________ 99 4.2.2 Research Participants ________________________________________ 100 4.2.3 Gatekeepers and access ______________________________________ 101 4.2.4 Semi-structured interview structure _____________________________ 102 4.2.5 Role of the researcher in conducting the research ________________ 105 4.2.6 Ethical Considerations ________________________________________ 106 4.2.7 Data management ___________________________________________ 106 4.3 Case Study Approach ___________________________________________ 107 4.4 Conclusion _____________________________________________________ 108 5 ANALYSIS OF ELITE INTERVIEWS _____________________________________ 109 5a Overview ____________________________________________________ 110 5.1 Former party leaders ____________________________________________ 110 5.1.1 Leadership and the emergence of character _____________________ 110 5.1.2 Leadership and culture ________________________________________ 111 5.1.3 Leadership and institutions ____________________________________ 111 5.1.4 Leadership and circumstance __________________________________ 112 5.2 Speechwriters __________________________________________________ 113 5.2.1 The practice of speechwriting __________________________________ 113 5.2.2 Representation of character ___________________________________ 114 5.2.3 Impact/success ______________________________________________ 115 5.2.4 Relationship to the audience ___________________________________ 115 5.3 Caricaturists ____________________________________________________ 116 5.3.1 Caricature and image _________________________________________ 116 5.3.2 The activity of visual journalism ________________________________ 116 5.3.3 The representation of political leaders ___________________________ 117 5.4 Media __________________________________________________________ 118 5.4.1Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) Editors _______________________ 119 5 5.4.1a PSB and political literacy ___________________________________ 119