"In theory, parliamentary elections are contests between political parties whose leaders do not have a separate identity from their party in the public eye. Drawing on content analysis of newspaper editorials and television broadcasts as well as on copious survey evidence, Anthony Mughan shows that in the case of Britain this theory no longer holds.

The dynamics of parliamentary elections have become more 'presidential' in the sense that the leaders of the major parties now figure more prominently in both media coverage of the campaign and in determining the party that voters choose at the polls.".

"The presidentialization trajectory in both media coverage and electoral impact is mapped, competing explanations of it evaluated against the available evidence, the electoral importance of the personalities of the party leaders established, the role of various media and types of political programming on television in producing leader effects explored, and the type of voter most susceptible to leader effects identified.

A final chapter explores some of the implications of these findings for the practice of parliamentary government and the quality of parliamentary democracy."--BOOK JACKET.