Political ideology and policy govern the external agenda which nurse leaders are trying to influence, thus these factors are driving forces behind professional, and therefore leadership, agendas (Antrobus & Kitson, 1999). Arguably,because they inhabit workplaces and contexts still imbued with pre-1990 concepts of ‘workers’ and ‘employers’ (and which have had neoliberal conceptions of management,‘stakeholders’, ‘consumers’, and the language and ideology of economic rationalism imposed upon them from outside),the ideology and language used by nurses differs from that used in policy and by policy-makers. This therefore createsa policy-practice divide in which nurse leaders are required,to provide an essential interpretation role to enable nursing to be understood and considered a priority, and to communicate external, ideological and policy concerns to their colleagues (Antrobus & Kitson, 1999).