Is being Prime Minister an impossible job? - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 121

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Is being Prime Minister an impossible job? - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 121

23 Dec 2025

Why do UK Prime Ministers seem to burn out so quickly? We are joined by historian Robert Saunders to examine why the role has become so punishing in recent years. From Brexit and COVID to fractured parties, rigid governing conventions and relentless media scrutiny, the discussion explores what has gone wrong – and what kind of leadership and political culture might be needed to make the job survivable again.

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In this episode, we ask whether being Prime Minister has become an impossible job – and why so many leaders have struggled to survive in office since the Brexit referendum. Joined by historian Robert Saunders of Queen Mary University of London, we explore why the role has always been exceptionally demanding, while arguing that the pressures of the post-2016 era have made it harder than ever. Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic are major political shocks that have destabilised parties and strained the capacity of government, while the rise of new media has created a relentless and unforgiving environment of scrutiny.

We also examine the leadership pipeline, with politicians reaching the top more quickly and with less experience of policy-making, party management and elections. Against this backdrop, we consider whether conventions such as collective cabinet responsibility are now part of the problem rather than the solution – encouraging inauthenticity, stifling legitimate disagreement and making it harder to manage broad political coalitions. The discussion explores the widening gap between public expectations and the realities of governing in a low-growth, post-financial-crisis economy, and concludes by asking whether rebuilding trust will require more honest communication, better political training and a willingness to rethink long-standing assumptions about how power is exercised at the top of British politics.

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Our guest

Dr Robert Saunders

Robert Saunders

Dr Robert Saunders is Reader in Modern British History and Deputy Director of the Mile End Institute at Queen Mary University of London. His work focuses on political history and the history of ideas, including the history of democracy and democratic thought in Britain, the political and intellectual history of Thatcherism, the relationship between Britain and the European Union, and the role of religion in British political culture. Formerly on Twitter as @redhistorian he now posts on Bluesky as @robertsaunders.bsky.social

Transcript

Please note, this transcript is automatically generated. There may consequently be minor errors and the text is not formatted according to our style guide. If you wish to reference or cite the transcript copy below, please first check against the audio version above.

Intro: [00:00:00] You are listening to Parliament Matters, a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Learn more at hansardsociety.org.uk/PM.

Ruth Fox: Welcome to Parliament Matters, the podcast about the institution at the heart of our democracy, Parliament itself. I'm Ruth Fox.

Mark D'Arcy: And I'm Mark D'Arcy. And as this is the last pod we are doing before Christmas, we're allowed by ancient Hansard Society tradition to bring in games. In this particular instance, we're bringing in Cluedo and we're looking at who killed the careers of the succession of Prime Ministers who've occupied Downing Street since the Brexit referendum. Was it the electorate in the library with unrealistic expectations of what could be delivered? Was it their parliamentary parties in the living room with unrealistic expectations of being re-elected? Was it a lack of economic growth that did for them? Was it perhaps the baleful [00:01:00] effects of social media?

Well, joining Ruth and me to consider all those fascinating questions is Robert Saunders of Queen Mary University of London.

Robert, first of all, there's been quite a procession, David Cameron in 2016, Theresa May a few years later, Boris Johnson after winning quite a decent majority in an election, closely followed by Liz Truss, then Rishi Sunak, and now the wolves are circling Sir Keir Starmer. Is this about more than the individual failings of all these rather different Prime Ministers?

Robert Saunders: I was worried you were gonna hit me over the head with the lead piping. I think being Prime Minister has always been a really difficult job, and I think it's really important to say that at the start. That you could pick almost any Prime Minister and you'll find them dancing on the edge of a volcano. Full transcript →

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