Introduction

Abstract

It is a generally-held belief that politics and politicians are afforded a low measure of public esteem.¹ Opinion polls suggest that a majority of the population take the view that there is too much television airtime devoted to politics, especially at election or party conference times, with party political broadcasts often registering (since they now no longer go out simultaneously on all networks) a change of TV channel. The letter columns of the newspapers frequently contain criticism (and almost never praise) of political leaders, criticism which ranges from the morally indignant in the serious press to the venomous in the tabloids. Even more apparently unpopular than politicians are political parties themselves. In the late 1960s, the unpopularity of Harold Wilson and, to a lesser extent, Ted Heath, was caricatural. In the early 1980s, Michael Foot, as Labour Party leader, bore the brunt of public hostility and, on occasions, ridicule. Margaret Thatcher, one of the most successful leaders in the political history of the United Kingdom, has suffered the label ‘the most unpopular British Prime Minister ever’. Mrs Thatcher, however, like Harold Wilson before her, has been variously, and at times simultaneously, not only the least liked of politicians but also the most admired.