It is a wise author who states clearly what his book is about and what it hopes to achieve. Some do this at the beginning of a book, some do it at the end. In either case it avoids the possibility of a reviewer or reader blaming the book for not being what it was never intended to be.

The author of this book gets over this difficulty by setting out clearly in the last chapter, headed ‘Is there a job description?’ that “the comparative approach adopted in this book has thrown into relief the strengths and weaknesses, formal and informal, of prime ministers in four countries. Factors often taken for granted in single-country studies have become more apparent when compared to others. For instance, Australian and New Zealand prime ministers are more vulnerable than the British, and far more than the Canadians.”