Political Autobiography and the Art of the Plausible: R. A. Butler at the Foreign Office, 1938–1939
R. A. Butler has been one of the outstanding figures in twentieth-century British politics. After his death The Times described him as ‘the creator of the modern educational system, the key-figure in the revival of post-war Conservatism, arguably the most successful chancellor since the war and un-questionably a Home Secretary of reforming zeal’. His record of achievement was unequalled by his rivals in the contests for the party leadership in 1957 and in 1963, but on both occasions the leadership eluded him. How and why this happened was understandably of the greatest interest to those who reviewed Rab's memoirs, The art of the possible, which were published in 1971. These memoirs won unanimous praise for their literary excellence, but otherwise met with a rather mixed reception. Enoch Powell, one of Rab's supporters in 1963, described them as ‘a work of astonishing self-revelation [belonging] with the classic Confessions. Augustine and Rousseau were not more unsparing of themselves than Rab…’ The ‘large episodes’ of Rab's career, Powell went on, ‘are treated with a generous vision (including, it need not be added, a generosity to Rab) which leaves the reader with improved understanding and perspective’. Powell's comments were echoed by others on the Right, but the Left was more critical. Anthony Howard noted that ‘what tend…to get wholly left out are the mistakes and blunders’ – the now infamous Villacoublay meeting during the Suez crisis; and Rab's astonishing admission to the journalist George Gale during the 1964 campaign that the election was slipping Labour's way. Harold Wilson, who had offered Rab the mastership of Trinity, was perhaps the least charitable of all. He found The art of the possible disappointing because, he claimed, Rab underwrote the great occasions. Rab's reticence about Suez, however, upset Wilson less than the description of his tribulations at the hands of Labour MPs as government spokesman for the policy of non-intervention during the Spanish Civil War. Here was an issue which could excite the older soldiers of the British Left, and if Wilson was alone among Rab's reviewers in making more than passing reference to Rab's association with appeasement this was why.
'The fools have stumbled on their best man by accident' : an analysis of the 1957 and 1963 Conservative Party leadership selections
This thesis assesses the outcomes of the 1957 and 1963 Conservative Party 
Leadership Selections of Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home. It analyses 
the two selections using an original analytical framework, that demonstrates the 
importance of both individual and situational criteria in determining the outcomes of 
leadership selections. The individual criteria are the party status of the candidates, and 
their actions and conduct during the selections. The situational criteria are the situation 
and circumstances surrounding the selections, the formal and informal aspects of the 
selection procedure used, and the candidates fulfilment of acceptability, electability, 
and governability. Acceptability, (the need to retain or maintain party unity), 
electability, (the need to be electable), and governability, (the ability to govern), are the 
three core situational criteria on which the candidates are judged. This framework was 
developed to offer a full and inclusive explanation of the outcomes of the two 
leadership selections, because the existing analyses of leadership selections has a 
restrictive approach, and does not offer a conclusive and systematic analysis. 
 
 
The thesis demonstrates that the outcomes of the 1957 and 1963 leadership 
selections have clear parallels and distinctions in their outcomes. Both selections 
produced a stop-gap leader in a time of crisis for the Conservative Party. However, the 
situations were clearly distinct, and this was influential in the outcome. The 1957 
selection occurred following a crisis over foreign policy, while the 1963 selection 
occurred during a deep-seated period of domestic crisis and upheaval. In January 
1957, the Conservatives had three years before a general election had to be held, while 
in October 1963, a general election was imminent within twelve months. The selection 
procedure was influential in both selections. The informal aspects of the procedure 
were more influential in 1957, while the procedure had become more formalised in 
1963, and this prepared the way for the establishment of formal leadership elections in 
the Conservative Party in 1965. The choice of Macmillan and Home was made because 
of the circumstances in which the selections occurred, and because they fulfilled the 
three core criteria more conclusively than the other candidates. In both outcomes, 
acceptability was clearly the most important core criteria because the selections 
occurred at a time of severe disunity in the party, and this deemed party unity as the 
crucial task of the new leader. In 1957, Macmillan was selected as he fulfilled the 
requirements of the situation better than R. A. Butler, the other candidate. In 1963, 
Home became leader because of the weaknesses apparent in the other candidates, and 
was the compromise candidate to retain party unity. 
 
 
This thesis concludes that the wider individual and situational criteria set the 
terms of reference on which the core situational criteria of acceptability, electability, 
and governability are judged. The most important wider criteria were the candidates' 
actions during the selection, the selection procedure, and the situation that the 
selection occurred in. This demonstrates the utility of the analytical framework 
developed in the study.
The effect of collimation on image quality and radiation safety in digital radiography of small animals
Collimating the primary x-ray beam to the specific area of anatomic interest has traditionally been strongly recommended to produce high quality radiographic images, even though some small animal patients can fit their entire torso on a single radiographic casette or detector. However, modern digital radiography may allow for whole-body projections for these patients at similar quality to specific collimated projections. Lateral and ventrodorsal projections of 31 small dogs were obtained to evaluate the effect of collimation on the quality of the resulting digital radiograph. Each projection was performed using both a collimated and whole-body technique. Scatter radiation was detected during each exposure as well to determine the effect of collimation on radiation safety for veterinary personnel. The resulting images were cropped to portray only the thorax, and were evaluated by five radiologists blinded to the procedure used for each image. Visual grading characteristics analysis was performed. An overall trend towards higher image quality was found in the collimated approach compared to the whole-body, but in most cases this change was not significant. Overall image quality for the ventrodorsal images was found to be significantly better in the collimated approach compared to the whole-body. Evaluation of image histograms suggests that the application of digital processing and the look-up table differs between them, and this may account for a large portion of any quality difference. Over twice as much scatter radiation was detected during the whole-body images as during the collimated images. Overall image quality was rated as adequate to high for almost all images with both approaches. Adequate collimation remains recommended to provide the highest quality images with the lowest exposure to veterinary personnel.