Anthony Teasdale as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1996-97. Later, Teasdale served as head of policy strategy and legislative planning for the EPP Group in the European Parliament, and as deputy chief of staff to Jerzy Buzek MEP, the former Prime Minister of Poland when the latter was President of the European Parliament from 2009-12. In addition to co-authoring (with Timothy Bainbridge) "The Penguin Companion to European Union" (see above), Teasdale has written articles on European and US politics in several academic journals, including "Political Quarterly", "Government and Opposition", "Electoral Studies" and the "Journal of Common Market Studies". His most recent publication
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Sovereign nor the House of Lords had any meaningful influence over who was elected to the Commons in 1997 or in deciding whether or not Blair would become Prime Minister. Their detachment from the electoral process and the selection of the Prime Minister has been a convention of the constitution for almost 200 years. Prior to the 19th century, however, they had significant influence, using to their advantage the fact that most citizens were disenfranchised and seats in the Commons were allocated disproportionately. Through patronage, corruption and bribery, the Crown and Lords "owned" about 30% of the seats (called "pocket"