The Re-elected Prime Ministers: Their Reputations Revised?
5 October 2026
2:00-3:30pm
Online or Rewley House 1 Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JA
Event status:
Applications being accepted
Location:
Online or Rewley House 1 Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JA
Dates:
5 October 2026 - 9 November 2026
Study Format:
Online - live
Fees:
From £75.00 to £90.00
This series will evaluate six Prime Ministers as they navigated the exercise of power and sought to retain it at subsequent general elections. It will explore the interplay between leadership style, political strategy, and electoral success.
For Harold Macmillan, this involved a ruthless purging of party rivals combined with the cultivation of a calm and reassuring public image, which proved electorally effective. Harold Wilson, who won four out of five elections, was a master campaigner who, for a time, established Labour as the natural party of government.
Margaret Thatcher’s transformation of the British political economy in favour of marketisation underpinned her re-election victories in 1983 and 1987. John Major, though not regarded as an intellectual heavyweight, demonstrated considerable political skill. After defeating Michael Heseltine to secure the premiership, he led a successful campaign in 1992 by exploiting Labour’s weaknesses. However, his second term proved far more difficult, culminating in a defeat in 1997 that many saw as inevitable.
Tony Blair’s three election victories were built on a strong economy and a strategy of redistributing wealth through increased public spending on health and education. David Cameron, presenting himself as a moderniser, initially underperformed in 2010 and was forced into coalition with the Liberal Democrats. However, he exceeded expectations in 2015 by defeating Ed Miliband’s Labour Party, before the Brexit referendum of 2016 ultimately brought about his downfall.
Overall, the series will highlight how successful Prime Ministers combined political skill, strategic adaptability, and effective public appeal to win and sustain electoral dominance, while also revealing the limits of power in the face of changing political circumstances.
Register for the whole series or individual lectures
For this lecture series, you can register for the entire series by clicking 'Book Now' on this page or you can register for individual lectures via the links below.
Please note: enrolments for the complete series will close at 23:59 BST on 30 September 2026. Enrolments for each individual lecture will close two days before each lecture.
Book this course
You can opt to attend this teaching event either online (via a livestream) or in person at Rewley House, Oxford. You will be given the option of how you wish to attend during the enrolment process. You can only pick one option. If your preferred attendance format is fully booked, you can email us to be put on the waiting list. For those who wish to attend online, please read the IT requirements below before enrolling.
Accommodation
If you wish to stay with us before and/or after the event, please contact our Residential Centre for availability and discounted rates.
Call +44 (0) 1865 270362 or email res-ctr@conted.ox.ac.uk
Our accommodation in Wellington Square has been rated as 4-Star Campus Accommodation under Visit England. All bedrooms are modern, comfortably furnished with tea/coffee making facilities, Freeview television, private bath/shower rooms and free WiFi. For more details see our accommodation information.
IT requirements
We will be using Zoom for the livestreaming of this lecture series. If you’re attending online, you’ll be able to see and hear the speakers, and to submit questions via the Zoom interface. Joining instructions will be sent out prior to the start date. We recommend that you join the session at least 10-15 minutes prior to the start time – just as you might arrive a bit early at our lecture theatre for an in-person event.
Please note that this series will not be recorded.
Programme details
Lectures take place on Mondays, from 2–3.30pm GMT.
Monday 5 October 2026
Harold MacMillan
To the public, Macmillan appeared a benign and avuncular figure, embodying the optimism of the 1950s and the famous claim that Britons had ‘never had it so good.’ His relaxed, unflappable style allowed him not only to persuade voters but to charm them. However, historians and biographers have often presented a contrasting image: that of a calculating and ruthless, even Machiavellian, politician who undermined and disparaged his party rivals. The dismissal of a third of his cabinet in the so-called ‘Night of the Long Knives’ was entirely consistent with this harder-edged approach to power.
Nonetheless, his victory in the 1959 general election was masterful, increasing the Conservative majority to well over one hundred seats. In the end, however, a series of scandals eroded his authority and brought his seven years in power to a close.
Monday 12 October 2026
Harold Wilson
Contesting five general elections, Wilson won four, in the process realising his ambition of making Labour the ‘natural party of government.’ Under his leadership between 1964 and 1979, Labour was in power for twelve out of fifteen years. His governments presided over an era of significant social liberalisation, including reforms to laws on homosexuality, abortion, divorce, and the abolition of capital punishment. However, the extent of Wilson’s personal commitment to these measures remains disputed, not least because his memoirs largely omit them.
In economic policy, Wilson’s record was more troubled. He presided over the devaluation crisis of 1967 and, after returning to office in 1974, oversaw the resolution of the miners’ strike. As a proponent of the mixed economy within the post-war consensus, he was criticised by the Labour left for failing to pursue more extensive nationalisation.
Yet it may be that his greatest achievement lay in foreign policy: his decision to keep the United Kingdom out of the Vietnam War, a stance that many of his biographers regard as a defining success of his premiership.
Monday 19 October 2026
Margaret Thatcher
Often underestimated by both her sceptical colleagues and the Labour opposition, Margaret Thatcher secured three consecutive general election victories and remained Prime Minister for eleven years. Both intensely admired and deeply divisive, her political success lay in persuading voters beyond her core support to place their trust in her over opponents such as Jim Callaghan, Michael Foot, and Neil Kinnock.
Domestically, she reformed trade union law and decisively confronted organised labour, most notably during the 364-day miners’ strike led by Arthur Scargill. Her governments privatised around 75% of nationalised industries and championed free-market economics. Low inflation and fiscal discipline were prioritised, albeit alongside rising unemployment.
In foreign policy, she achieved a significant boost to her authority through victory in the Falklands War, engaged constructively with Mikhail Gorbachev in support of reform in the Soviet Union, and strengthened the ‘special relationship’ with the United States. Ultimately, however, her increasing commitment to Euroscepticism contributed to her downfall at the hands of her own cabinet colleagues.
Monday 26 October 2026
John Major
Although not regarded as an intellectual, John Major was a highly intelligent and politically astute operator. Benefiting from Margaret Thatcher’s downfall, he skilfully outmanoeuvred Michael Heseltine to secure the premiership. Widely expected to lose the 1992 general election, Major instead outfoxed Labour—and particularly its overconfident leader, Neil Kinnock—through a campaign that emphasised economic stability.
However, just months later, his central economic policy—Britain’s membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM)—collapsed dramatically on ‘Black Wednesday’ in 1992. Major’s political standing never fully recovered. Furthermore, his failure to resolve divisions over whether Britain should join the Eurozone or retain the pound sterling frustrated both sides of the debate.
By 1997, his deeply divided government was unable to resist the momentum of Tony Blair’s New Labour, resulting in a decisive electoral defeat.
Monday 2 November 2026
Tony Blair
Labour’s self-proclaimed moderniser, Tony Blair, secured three consecutive general election victories—an achievement unprecedented in the party’s history and one that had eluded even Harold Wilson. Promoting the ‘New Labour’ brand as a social and economic renewal for the 21st century, Blair capitalised on a strong economy and an initial budget surplus to support redistribution through increased public spending.
Child benefits rose significantly in real terms, the NHS received its largest funding boost since its foundation in 1948, nursery provision expanded substantially, and the pledge to place a computer in every classroom—central to the mantra of ‘Education, Education, Education’—was fulfilled. Constitutional reform also featured prominently, with devolution for Scotland and Wales and reform of the House of Lords.
However, Blair’s ambition to take the United Kingdom into the Eurozone encountered both public scepticism and resistance from within government, not least Gordon Brown’s change of position, highlighting the limits of his authority despite repeated electoral success.
Monday 9 November 2026
David Cameron
Despite holding a substantial opinion poll lead in the run-up to the 2010 general election, David Cameron’s Conservatives underperformed and were ultimately forced into a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. In the televised debates, Cameron performed less effectively than both Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown, which contributed to the inconclusive result.
By contrast, in 2015 Cameron exceeded expectations, securing a working majority after a hard-fought campaign that targeted Labour’s economic credibility and its leader, Ed Miliband. This success followed the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, in which the union was preserved by a margin of 55% to 45%.
However, the issue of Europe proved decisive, as it had for several of his predecessors. Cameron’s failure to achieve significant concessions in his renegotiation with the European Union—particularly from German Chancellor Angela Merkel—undermined his position. The 2016 EU referendum resulted in a vote to leave, precipitating his resignation the following day.
How and when to watch
Each lecture will last approximately 1 hour, followed by questions.
Please join in good time before each lecture to ensure that you have no connection problems. We recommend joining 10-15 minutes before the start time.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| In-person event fee (includes tea/coffee and a pastry) | £90.00 |
| Virtual event fee | £75.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, or are a care-leaver in the UK, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Concessionary fees for short courses
Payment
Please see the terms and conditions for our open-access courses.
Module code: O26P101DSL
Please use the ‘Book’ button on this page. Alternatively, please contact us to obtain an application form.
You can also register for individual lectures if you do not wish to attend the whole series.
You can opt to attend this teaching event either online (via a livestream) or in person at Rewley House, Oxford. You will be given the option of how you wish to attend during the enrolment process. You can only pick one option. If your preferred attendance format is fully booked, you can email us to be put on the waiting list. For those who wish to attend online, please read the IT requirements below before enrolling.
