Click any step to jump to it - the lit step is the one showing below. Power rises to a peak, then proves conditional on majority, party and events. Green = strengthened or expanded · Amber = mixed or contested · Red = weakened or curbed.
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What happened. Tony Blair won a 179-seat majority, the largest single-party majority since 1935, and ran a highly centralised Number 10 (the Grid, the Policy Unit and Alastair Campbell's media operation), governing by "sofa government".
What it shows. PM power at its modern peak - a huge majority, weak opposition and media dominance. Presidential peak
What happened. Blair took the UK into the Iraq War; 139 Labour MPs rebelled (the largest backbench rebellion in over 150 years) and Robin Cook resigned from the cabinet.
What it shows. Even with a majority, one decision drained his authority - dominance is conditional, not permanent. Authority drains
What happened. Gordon Brown took over from Blair without a general election; the "election that never was" in 2007 and the financial crisis dominated, and he lost in 2010.
What it shows. Office without a personal electoral mandate is weak. Successor weakness
What happened. David Cameron governed in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, forced into shared decisions rather than single-party command.
What it shows. A hung parliament pulled power back toward collective government. Coalition constraint
What happened. Theresa May, chosen without an election in 2016, called a snap election in 2017 and lost her majority; the Chequers plan triggered the Davis and Johnson resignations and her Brexit deal was rejected three times.
What it shows. Without a majority a PM cannot deliver. Minority paralysis
What happened. Boris Johnson won an 80-seat majority in 2019, then Partygate destroyed his standing; Sunak and Javid resigned on 5 July 2022 and over fifty ministers followed within 48 hours.
What it shows. Power can be vast then vanish - the party can remove a PM no president could be. Majority to revolt
What happened. Liz Truss's mini-budget (September 2022), drawn up by a small inner circle and not put to cabinet, triggered a market crisis; every measure was reversed and she resigned after 49 days.
What it shows. Events overwhelmed office faster than for any modern PM. Fastest collapse
What happened. Keir Starmer won a 174-seat majority on about 34% of the vote, the lowest winning vote share in post-war history; a backbench welfare retreat in his first year showed the limits.
What it shows. Formal authority can be huge yet politically constrained. Large but constrained
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The high point is Blair after 1997: a 179-seat majority, a dominant media operation and centralised decision-making that looked presidential. But Iraq showed even that dominance was conditional - a single decision drained his authority while his majority stayed intact.
The years that follow are mostly constraint. Brown lacked a personal mandate; Cameron was tied into coalition; May lost her majority and could not deliver. Each shows prime-ministerial power resting on a Commons majority and party support rather than the office itself.
Johnson's arc is the sharpest lesson: an 80-seat majority in 2019, then removal by his own ministers in 2022. Truss fell in 49 days. Starmer's 2024 landslide gives formal dominance on a thin vote share - power that looks vast but is politically constrained.
The same events split by side. Build each paragraph around one point from each column, then judge.
Style and office pull apart: the presidential case is about how PMs campaign and present, the conditional case is about what actually removes them - their own MPs.
For "Evaluate the view that the Prime Minister has become more powerful", weigh style against office. Blair's dominance and the personalised modern premiership argue power has grown; the removals of Johnson and Truss, coalition and May's paralysis argue it is conditional on majority and party. End each paragraph with an interim judgement.
Keep the cases precise: Blair 1997, Iraq 2003, Brown 2007-10, the coalition 2010-15, May's 2017 minority, Johnson's 2019 majority then 2022 fall, Truss's 49 days, Starmer 2024.