Professor Iain McLean on why England does not love coalitions

A journal article by Iain McLean entitledEngland Does Not Love Coalitions: The Most Misused Political Quotation in the Book has been praised in a comment piece byJohn Rentoul of The Independent (16 September).

In John Rentoul's article, entitled 'Public opinion is running the country', he mentions Benjamin Disraeli's famous quotation, and goes on to say, "Since that quotation has come up, allow me to draw your attention to a superb academic paper about it by Iain McLean, professor of politics at Nuffield College, Oxford, in a journal called Government and Opposition. In it, he explains how a "passing remark" by Disraeli – the Matthew Hancock of his time (Hancock, a new Tory minister in Vince Cable's department, compared himself to Pitt, Disraeli and Churchill in an unguarded interview last week) – "delivered at the end of a stream of coruscating abuse, has been taken by some to be a foundation stone of the British Constitution"."

This journal article can be read online here.

To watch a videocast of the 2011 Government and Opposition Leonard Schapiro lecture, given by Iain McLean on this topic, simply click on the image below.