make the weather

present singular third person makes the weather · participle present making the weather · participle past made the weather · past made the weather

1. UKidiomaticTo be extraordinarily effective, especially when in a position of authority.

   To try to imagine what the country would have looked like without the dominant politician of the past 60 years is a dizzying exercise. Margaret Thatcher made the weather.

   2013 April 9, Philip Hensher, “Britain without Margaret Thatcher”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 27 Aug 2018

   3 more examples

   And at three o'clock this afternoon: Eureka! He had it in his hand, a flimsy brown file plucked from the catacombs of the public prosecutor's office. It was marked for destruction but by a miracle had escaped the flames. Bachmann had once more made the weather.

   2008, John le Carré, A Most Wanted Man, →ISBN, page 303

   Winston Churchill recalled Joseph Chamberlain as "incomparably the most live, sparkling, insurgent, compulsive figure in British affairs" at the end of the nineteenth century. He was "the one", said Churchill, "who made the weather".

   2016, Peter Marsh, “Did Joseph Chamberlain Really ‘Make the Weather’?”, in I. Cawood, C. Upton, editors, Joseph Chamberlain, →ISBN, page 1

   "You cannot get away from the fact that they have made the weather, politically, on two issues, on forcing the referendum and on the question of migration," he said. "They’ve had more of an influence than you would expect from a party that only won one parliamentary election."

   2018 April 9, Ellen Barry, “Europe: A Drifting UKIP Ousts Leader at Center of Racism Row”, in New York Times, retrieved 27 Aug 2018