About the editors

Dr Anthony Seldon MA, PhD, FRSA, MBA, FRHisS, Master Elect, Wellington College

Anthony Seldon is a leading authority on contemporary British history and one of the country's more high profile independent school headmasters. He has been Headmaster of Brighton College since September 1997, which has over 1200 pupils, and goes to Wellington in January 2006. He is also author or editor of over 25 books.

Anthony Seldon's books include Churchill's Indian Summer, which won a Best First Work Prize, The Thatcher Effect, Major, A Political Life, the authorised biography of the former Prime Minister, published in 1997 and Conservative Century, published by Oxford University Press, and the standard academic history of the Conservative Party.

After gaining an MA at Worcester College, Oxford, and a PhD at the London School of Economics, he qualified as a teacher at King's College, London - winning the top teaching prize in his year. He also has an MBA. His first teaching appointment was at Whitgift School in Croydon in 1983, where he was Head of Politics and in 1989 he returned to his old school, Tonbridge, and became Head of History and General Studies. In 1993, Dr Seldon was appointed Deputy Headmaster and, ultimately, Acting Headmaster of St Dunstan's College in South London.

His latest books are The Powers Behind the Prime Minister, co-written with Professor Dennis Kavanagh, Britain Under Thatcher, Number 10: The Illustrated History, and the Foreign Office : A History of the Place and its People. In 2001, The Blair Effect was published, which is the standard academic work on the first Blair government. His book on Brighton and Hove, Brave New City was published in September 2002. His biography Blair was published (June 2004), and was accompanied by a television series on Channel 4, and the new edition appeared in 2005.

Dr Seldon appears frequently on television and radio, and writes for several national newspapers. He also founded, with Peter Hennessy, the Institute of Contemporary British History, the internationally respected body whose aim is to promote research into, and the study of, British history since 1945. His recent education booklets include Public and Private Education, The Divide Must End (SMF, 2001) and Partnership Not Paternalism (IPPR, 2002).

Professor Dennis Kavanagh

Dennis Kavanagh is Professor of Politics at the University of Liverpool, and a senior scholar of British politics. He has written 30 books, including the Nuffield series of British general election studies. The latest in the series is The British General Election of 2005 (with David Butler). He and Anthony Seldon have also co-authored The Powers Behind the Prime Minister and co-edited The Major Effect and The Thatcher Effect.