Cameron in turn, should expect to enjoy less power as he had to form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, in order to achieve a majority. This would mean that the likes of the Prime Minister would in many situations have to be compromised. Another essential factor which would influence the degree of Prime Ministerial power is the unity of the ruling party or coalition. In Blair’s situation, he enjoyed an exceptionally united group, therefore being able to enjoy several years of complete domination. When Blair resigned, Brown was said to enjoy similar power, at least when he still enjoyed popularity.
How successful was Macmillan as leader of the Conservatives? The success of Macmillan's leadership of the Conservatives is defined by the electoral support the party had during his time of leadership, as his decisions in policy and his image affected the party's election victories altogether. Furthermore, another success factor may be his ability to stay as leader of the party itself, as an unsuccessful leader would be urged to step down. Most importantly, the initial success of Macmillan as leader of the Conservatives could be because of his ability to manipulate the media and create a positive personal image in his early years, leading to a successful election victory in 1959. Macmillan was able to bolster the image of the party by handling criticism and potentially turning it around.
Anti – democratic figures had seen the Nazi party as potential allies to provide popular support for an authoritarian regime. From this we can learn that the increase of support in which the Nazi party had gained, Hitler had also gained too. However the Nazi party were only ever capable of receiving 37% of the vote, this implicates that despite the increase in popularity, the level of support was not as significant as Hitler had hoped and therefore he could not had been elected by popular support alone. On the one hand, it must not be diminished that the Nazi party created a new outlook for most Germans. They were beginning to doubt that Germany had any pride left.
There are several reasons as to why Lloyd George won the general election in 1918 such as his personal popularity, the success of the wartime coalition government in winning the war, the increased number of votes from the public and David Lloyd Georges decisions and promises made during the election campaign. Lloyd Georges personal popularity was mainly based on his achievements of leading the country successfully through the Great War after the collapse of Asquith's government. Although Lloyd George was a liberal himself, he became head of the coalition government, mainly of unionists or conservatives with Liberals and Labours support. He was increasingly seen as having the necessary energy to drive and achieve victory becoming the 'man who won the war'. The 1918 election subsequently became known as the coupon election in reference to the signed letter of endorsement that selected coalition candidates received from Lloyd George and the conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law.
How far do you agree that Alexander II was the most successful of the Tsars? Although Alexander II was the most successful in modernising Russia, the most successful in achieving their aims, closest to their ideology, was Alexander III. He improved the economy of Russia quite substantially, as well as upholding the autocracy. His reign, unlike both Alexander II and Nicholas II’s reign, saw virtually no open opposition, The reason why he was so successful is partly due to the fact that his reign was the most repressive of the three, and war and revolution did not hinder the development of Russia or jeopardise the traditional autocratic system of government. Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II all had similar ideologies and wanted to uphold the traditional values, “Autocracy, Orthodoxy, Nationality”.
Oliver Cromwell became the most important general on the Parliamentarian side and Prince Rupert on the Royalist side. Oliver Cromwell was famous for his well thought out tactics and his well disciplined army, where as Rupert, the kings nephew, made decisions without thinking them through and was not always in full control of his men. Before the war, Oliver Cromwell was worrying whether or not his army would want to fight the king because in those days it was said that the king is Gods representative. The king also had much more money because he was supported by some very wealthy men, so he had more money. However, as the war went on, the king’s money dwindled away, and Parliament raised taxes, therefore they had more money than the king.
In many respects, there is no doubt that Alexander III was the most effective Tsar in such the short reign that he had. He was referred to as a reactionary, unlike his father Alexander II who was known as a reformer. He managed to please the people with his Russian figure and attitude, he changed their attitude and he made tsarism look all the better, all in a short period of time. Despite their different policies, they had the same ambitions inside their head in the long run, and that was to strengthen autocracy in the Russian empire but Alexander III did this by reversing what his father had done as he felt he knew better ways of dealing with the situation and strengthening the Tsarist position. The first thing that Alexander III did when he came into power to contradict his fathers’ reforms was to recall the decision of creating the constitution.
Henry had several advantages that came with becoming King of England, England had well established laws and customs that were in place, despite them being under strain through Stephens reign, they were still in place and waiting to be used. Henry’s own character traits could have been an additional factor that led to Henry being able to establish himself quickly in England. He was a very intelligent, witty and well liked man. People would have trusted him and liked him because of his personality and because he spent the first few years of his reign trying to straighten out the mess that Stephen had left behind and restore the support of the people in the monarchy. Henry spent the first year of his reign settling disputes and grievances that the people of England had.
The election of the leader is very important part of political parties as people now vote more for a prime minster than governing party, for example conservative’s won over Labour because David Cameron was seen as more enthusiastic and inspirational then Gordon brown, where he was seen as dull and boring. This means individual members in Labour have a significant role and power in the party. However in the conservative the individual members don’t have as much power as the Labour members. The election of the party leader is different to the Labour party, the MP's select the two final candidates for leader through numerous votes, and the members only get to vote at the end of the process for party leader. This means that individual members don’t have the same amount of power than the MP's.
William Pitt came to power in December 1783, becoming the youngest prime minister in British history. Pitt’s authoritative nature right from the outset served him in good stead, and he exercised a dominance over both parliament and his monarch which very few subsequent Prime Ministers have managed. Pitt also supported parliamentary reform right from the off, and he believed that parliament at that moment in time had become too resistant to reform and the King held too much power. He was a brave man, knowing that the King detested parliamentary reform, he submitted a general proposal for which it was easier to get support for than a specific scheme. He also wanted to increase the British electorate by 30%.