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A study of leading English politicians from the Tudor period to the time of original publication in 1969. In his introductory chapter Mr Grainger discusses the general nature of the politician's work, the importance of imagination, common-sense and verbal felicity and attempts to pin down what the 'greatness' of 'great' politicians involved. In the main part of this book he presents a series of brilliant interpretative essays on individual politicians. Mr Grainger makes the distinction between 'character' and 'style' as touchstones to identify and evaluate the qualities of those dissident politicians who spoke for country against court in the seventeenth century and those who took a stand in the eighteenth century but were assimilated into the political order. This is followed by a discussion of Victorian political heroes, and of notable leaders, Liberal, Labour and Conservative, of the twentieth century.