Neil Kinnock

Political journalists often refer to Leader of the Opposition as the hardest job in politics, and yet despite this opposition studies has been largely neglected by political academics. To address this gap, this edited book brings together a team of leading British Politics experts to evaluate the performance of each Leader of the Opposition in the post-war era. Each Leader of the Opposition from Churchill to Cameron is assessed in terms of their proficiency as public communicators; their effectiveness in constructing viable public policy platforms; their abilities in party management and their emotional intelligence or how they coped with the demands of the role. Through these evaluations conclusions are drawn on how Leaders of the Opposition are increasingly less experienced when acquiring the position and how in the era of valence politics expectations of them as Leader are higher and tolerance of failure is lower.