This book is a seminal study of political leadership selection using two of the main parties in British politics as case studies.The Conservative Party has held office for much of the 20th century because it was able to project an image of leadership competence and governing credibility. In contrast, the Labour Party's record in government tends to be shorter because of issues of economic management, leadership credibility, and ideological splits between various interpretation of socialism.As an academically informed study this book explores the criteria and the skills needed by political leaders to be selected by their parties. To do this the book explore the ongoing relevance of Stark's criteria of effective leadership by adapting it to identify more skills needed to explain how and why some leaders are able to dominate the political scene.