For every politician who reaches No 10 Downing Street, there is at least one, sometimes more, who was going to be Prime Minister. This account contains three biographical essays about "the best Prime Ministers we never got". R.A. Butler, Denis Healey and Iain Macleod had their faults and made their mistakes, but the author asserts that given their sheer ability and essential good judgement, their reaction (by party misjudgement, intrigue or lack of talent for getting but not doing the job) robbed us of the best men of their time. The author provides a sympathetic account of three fascinating lives. He also looks for the reasons why an obvious high talent is so often rejected for the supreme job.