The Impossible Office?: The History of the British Prime Minister

A treasure trove for trivia buffs. Reviews the history of not just the PM office, but the office of Foreign Minister as well.

Berfield tells an engrossing story of the super rich and those who would reform them. Only rarely does the author get sloppy about defining financial operations. Otherwise for the moderately educated, this book is charming. What a story! What characters!! Amazon should make a tv series to of it. Seriously. In order to ensure that the viewer understands the bizarre methods used by JP Morgan and pals, there would need to be a narrator, one of the characters could do it, who tells us what's behind the snarky methods of the financiers of the Gilded Age. Imagine the sets! The whole starts off with the assassination of a president...hot stuff.

I have a real interest in British politics and this book provides so much information on all those Prime Ministers both good and bad who have influenced our history. Sadly as events have unfolded recently an extensive update will soon be needed and I will hopefully be able to look forward to that.

I must hold my hand up to say that I couldn't read this without taking many breaks of several days. Small chunks at a time seemed to work well for me. It is very well written. Very informative and interesting and at times gripping. Well laid out and easy to follow. Am glad I have read it, and, actually enjoyed it.

This is an extremely interesting book about the office over the British prime minister and how it has developed over 300 years. The author looks at the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the position, at the rise and fall of rivals such as the Foreign Secretary or the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as well as of the monarchy. The only drawback is sloppy proofreading. A king of Prussia, who by the context has to be Frederik I or Frederick William I, is referred to as William I; Winston Churchill’s scientific advisor Lord Cherwell is called Frank, instead of the correct Fred; and King George VI is referred to as Edward, when his name was Albert.

This isn’t a subject that I’ve ever read about before, this book is full of interesting facts and opinion which I’m finding absorbing. It’s not the easiest read, but worth the effort

I found the book interesting in places however felt a bit cheated when it finished just over 50% in, I was using my kindle, and the next 50% was made up of thank you, acknowledgement, index and references