Leader of the Conservative Party (UK) explained

Post:	Leader
Insignia:	Conservatives logo.svg
Insigniasize:	250px
Insigniacaption:	Logo for the Conservative Party
Type:	Party leader
Status:	Chief executive officer
Incumbentsince:	24 October 2022
Formation:	1834 (de facto) 1922 (de jure)
Inaugural:	Robert Peel (de facto) Bonar Law (de jure)
Body:	the Conservative and Unionist Party

The leader of the Conservative Party (officially the leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the highest position within the United Kingdom's Conservative Party. The current holder of the position is Rishi Sunak, who was elected to the position on 24 October 2022, following his unopposed victory in the party's leadership election.^[1] Sunak announced his pending resignation as Conservative leader on 22 July 2024, and will remain party leader until a successor is elected. ^[2] From the party's formation in 1834 until 1922, the leader of the Conservative Party was not a formal position; instead, there was a party leader in each chamber of Parliament, and they were considered equal unless one took precedence over the other, such as when one was serving as prime minister. Following the passage of the Parliament Act 1911, the reduction of power in the House of Lords suggested that the Conservative leader in the House of Commons would be preeminent, but this fact was not formalised until 1922.

Since 1922, a leader of the Conservative Party has been formally elected, even when the party is in opposition. Originally, the party leader was appointed opaquely by other high-ranking members of the party. This process was gradually democratised in the late 20th century; in 1965, the appointment was linked to a vote by party MPs, and in 1998, the process was opened to all party members to decide between the last two candidates selected by parliamentarians.^{[3] [4]} Under the party's rules, a member can vote in its leadership elections even if they are not a British citizen, do not reside in the UK, and do not have the right to vote in British elections.^{[5] [6]}

When the Conservative Party is in opposition, as it currently is, the leader of the Conservative Party usually acts (as the second-largest party) as the Leader of the Opposition, and chairs the shadow cabinet. Concordantly, when the party is in government, the leader would usually become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Minister for the Union, as well as appointing the Cabinet. Three of the party's leaders have been women: Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May, and Liz Truss, all of whom have served as prime minister. Rishi Sunak is the first British Asian party leader and prime minister.^[7] The only Conservative leaders not to contest a general election (excluding temporary acting leaders) are Iain Duncan Smith and Truss (both of whom resigned before an election was called).

Selection process

Under the party's constitution, leaders are elected by serving MPs and party members whose membership started at least three months prior to the closing of a ballot. Candidates must be serving MPs. A former leader who has resigned may not stand in the contest triggered by their departure.

Those who wish to stand must notify the 1922 Committee, a body representing backbench Conservative Party MPs, which has broad powers to set the rules of the leadership race (e.g. the minimum number of nominees candidates need).

The party's practice is for MPs to eliminate candidates through multiple rounds of voting until two remain, from whom the winner is then chosen by a ballot of party members.

The 1922 Committee's chairman acts as the returning officer for all stages of the leadership election process.

Overall leaders of the party (1834–1922)

Overall leader	Portrait	Constituency or title	Took office	Left office	Government
					Party		Prime Minister	Term
Sir Robert Peel		Tamworth	18 December 1834	29 June 1846			himself
							himself
		Baron Stanley	29 June 1846	27 February 1868
		14th Earl of Derby					himself
							himself
							Palmerston
							Russell
							himself
Benjamin Disraeli		Buckinghamshire	27 February 1868	19 April 1881			himself
							himself
		1st Earl of Beaconsfield					Gladstone
	colspan="2" data-sort-value="Z-1881"
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil		3rd Marquess of Salisbury	23 June 1885	11 July 1902			himself
							Gladstone
							himself
							Gladstone
							himself
Arthur Balfour		Manchester East	11 July 1902	13 November 1911			himself
		City of London
rowspan=2 colspan="2" data-sort-value="Z-1881"
Bonar Law					Bootle	10 December 1916	21 March 1921
					Glasgow Central
				colspan="2" data-sort-value="Z-1881"

Leaders of the party (1922–present)

Leader	Portrait	Constituency or title	Took office	Left office	Government
					Party		Prime Minister	Term
data-sort-value="Law"			data-sort-value="Glasgow"	Glasgow Central	23 October 1922	28 May 1923			himself
		Bewdley	28 May 1923	31 May 1937			himself
							himself
							MacDonald
							himself
		Birmingham Edgbaston	31 May 1937	9 October 1940			himself
							Churchill
			9 October 1940	21 April 1955			himself
							himself
		Warwick and Leamington	21 April 1955	22 January 1957			himself
		Bromley	22 January 1957	11 November 1963			himself
		Earl of Home	11 November 1963	27 July 1965			himself
			27 July 1965	11 February 1975
							himself
							Wilson
		Finchley	11 February 1975	27 November 1990
							herself
		Huntingdon	27 November 1990	19 June 1997
							himself
		Richmond (Yorks)	19 June 1997	13 September 2001
		Chingford and Woodford Green	13 September 2001	6 November 2003
		Folkestone and Hythe	6 November 2003	7 October 2005^[8]
		Witney	6 December 2005	11 July 2016
							himself
		Maidenhead	11 July 2016	7 June 2019			herself
		Uxbridge and South Ruislip	23 July 2019	5 September 2022			himself
		South West Norfolk	5 September 2022	24 October 2022			herself
		Richmond (Yorks)	24 October 2022	22 July 2024			himself
		Richmond and Northallerton	22 July 2024	Acting until 2 November 2024			Starmer

Houses of Lords and Commons leaders

See also: Leader of the House of Lords and Leader of the House of Commons.

Leaders in the House of Lords (1834–present)

Those asterisked were considered the overall leader of the party.

• The Duke of Wellington

1834–1846

• Lord Stanley (14th Earl of Derby from 1851): 9 March 1846 – 27 February 1868*, elected at a party meeting

• The Earl of Malmesbury

1868–1869, appointed by Prime Minister Disraeli

• The Lord Cairns

1869–1870, elected at a party meeting

See also: House of Lords.

Portrait	Leader	Term of office		LOTO
	The Duke of Richmond and Lennox	1870	1876	1870–1874
	The Earl of Beaconsfield	1876	1881	1880–1881
	The Marquess of Salisbury	1881	1902	1881–1885 1886 1892–1895
	The Duke of Devonshire	1902	1903
	The Marquess of Lansdowne	1903	1916	1905–1915
	The Earl Curzon of Kedleston	1916	1925	1924
	The Marquess of Salisbury	1925	1931	1929–1931
	The Viscount Hailsham	1931	1935	1931
	The Marquess of Londonderry	1935	1935		– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
	The Viscount Halifax	1935	1938
	The Earl Stanhope	1938	1940
	The Viscount Caldecot	1940	1940		– Dominions Secretary
	The Viscount Halifax	1940	1940
	The Lord Lloyd	1940	1941
	The Lord Moyne	1941	1942		– Colonial Secretary
	Viscount Cranborne	1942	1957	1945–1951
	The Earl of Home	1957	1960
	The Viscount Hailsham	1960	1963		– Lord President of the Council – Minister for Science
	The Lord Carrington	1963	1970	1964–1970
	The Earl Jellicoe	1970	1973		– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
	The Lord Windlesham	1973	1974		– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
	The Lord Carrington	1974	1979	1974–1979	–
	The Lord Soames	1979	1981		– Lord President of the Council
	The Baroness Young	1981	1983
	The Viscount Whitelaw	1983	1988		– Lord President of the Council
	The Lord Belstead	1988	1990		– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
	The Lord Waddington	1990	1992		– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
	The Lord Wakeham	1992	1994		– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
	Viscount Cranborne	1994	1998	1997–1998
	The Lord Strathclyde	1998	2013	1998–2010
	The Lord Hill of Oareford	2013	2014		– Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
	The Baroness Stowell of Beeston	2014	2016		– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
	The Baroness Evans of Bowes Park	2016	2022		– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
	The Lord True	2022	Incumbent		– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal

Leaders in the House of Commons (1834–1922)

Those asterisked were considered the overall leader of the party.

• Sir Robert Peel

18 December 18341846*

• Lord George Bentinck

1846–1847

• The Marquess of Granby

9 February 1848 – 4 March 1848, elected at a party meeting

• None: 1848–1849
• Jointly Benjamin Disraeli, the Marquess of Granby, and John Charles Herries: 1849–1852, elected at a party meeting

See also: House of Commons.

• Benjamin Disraeli

185221 August 1876 (overall leader from 27 February 1868)

• Sir Stafford Northcote

21 August 1876 – 24 June 1885, appointed by Prime Minister Beaconsfield

• Sir Michael Hicks Beach

24 June 1885 – 3 August 1886, appointed by Prime Minister Salisbury

• Lord Randolph Churchill

3 August 1886 – 14 January 1887, appointed by Prime Minister Salisbury

• William Henry Smith

17 January 1887 – 6 October 1891, appointed by Prime Minister Salisbury

• Arthur Balfour

189113 January 1906, appointed by Prime Minister Salisbury (overall leader from 1902)

• Joseph Chamberlain

1906

• Arthur Balfour

190613 November 1911*

• Bonar Law

13 November 1911 – 21 March 1921, elected at a party meeting

See also: House of Commons. (overall leader from 1916)

• Austen Chamberlain

21 March 1921 – 23 October 1922, elected at a party meeting

See also: House of Commons.

Elections of Conservative leaders by party meeting

House of Commons

	Date of meeting	Name of leader elected	Category attending meeting	Location of meeting	Chair	Proposer	Seconder	Refs
1	9 February 1848	The Marquess of Granby	Protectionist commoners	Residence of George Bankes				^[9] ^[10]
2	1 February 1849	Benjamin Disraeli	Residence of the Lord Stanley of Bickerstaffe	^[11]
		The Marquess of Granby
		John Charles Herries
3	13 November 1911	Bonar Law	Unionist Members of Parliament	Carlton Club, Pall Mall	Henry Chaplin, senior Privy Councillor on the Unionist benches (appointed 1885)	Walter Long	Austen Chamberlain	^[12]
4	21 March 1921	Austen Chamberlain	Unionist Members of Parliament	Carlton Club, Pall Mall	Lord Edmund Talbot, Conservative Chief Whip	Captain Ernest George Pretyman	Sir Edward Coates "a back bencher and one of the rank and file"	^[13]
5	23 October 1922	Bonar Law	Unionist peers, MPs, and candidates	Hotel Cecil, The Strand	The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Leader of the House of Lords	The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston	Stanley Baldwin "chosen ... to be the spokesman for the House of Commons"	^[14]
6	28 May 1923	Stanley Baldwin	"Conservative Party"	Hotel Cecil, The Strand	The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Leader of the House of Lords	The Earl of Derby	Captain Ernest George Pretyman "a member of the House of Commons who [had] been a colleague in that House of Mr Bonar Law for something over 25 years"	^[15]
7	31 May 1937	Neville Chamberlain	"peers and MPs who receive the Conservative whip, ... prospective candidates who have been adopted by constituency associations, and ... members of the executive committee of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist associations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland."	Caxton Hall, Caxton Street	The Viscount Halifax, Leader of the House of Lords	The Earl of Derby	Winston Churchill (Privy Councillor since 1907)	^[16]
8	9 October 1940	Winston Churchill	"Peers and MPs who receive the Conservative whip, ... prospective candidates who have been adopted by constituency associations, and ... members of the Executive Committee of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland."	London	The Viscount Halifax, Leader of the House of Lords	The Viscount Halifax	Sir George Courthope "one of the senior back benchers of the party"	^[17]
9	21 April 1955	Sir Anthony Eden	"Conservative and National Liberal members of the two Houses of Parliament, Conservative and National Liberal parliamentary candidates and members of the executive committee of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations"	Church House, Dean's Yard, Westminster	The Marquess of Salisbury, Leader of the House of Lords	The Marquess of Salisbury	Rab Butler (Privy Councillor since 1939)	^[18]
10	22 January 1957	Harold Macmillan	"Conservative and Unionist members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, ... prospective parliamentary candidates and ... members of the executive committee of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations. National Liberal members of both Houses of Parliament and adopted prospective candidates were also present"		The Marquess of Salisbury, Leader of the House of Lords	The Marquess of Salisbury	Rab Butler (Privy Councillor since 1939)	^[19]
11	11 November 1963	Sir Alec Douglas-Home	"members of both Houses of Parliament taking the Conservative whip, prospective candidates who [had] been adopted by constituency associations, members of the executive of the mass party, and National Liberal MPs and adopted prospective candidates"	Church House, Dean's Yard, Westminster	The Lord Carrington, Leader of the House of Lords	The Lord Carrington	Geoffrey Lloyd "the senior Conservative Privy Councillor in the Commons next in line to Sir Winston Churchill" (appointed 1943)	^[20]

House of Lords

	Date of meeting	Name of leader elected	Category attending meeting	Location of meeting	Chair	Proposer	Seconder	Notes
1	9 March 1846	The Lord Stanley of Bickerstaffe	Peers	Residence of the Duke of Richmond	The Earl of Eglinton			^[21]
2	15 February 1869	The Earl Cairns	23 peers		The Earl of Malmesbury	The Earl of Malmesbury		^[22]
3	26 February 1870	The Duke of Richmond	Peers	Carlton Club		The Marquess of Salisbury	The Earl of Derby	^[23]
4	9 May 1881	The Marquess of Salisbury	Conservative members of the House of Lords	Residence of the Marquess of Abergavenny	The Marquess of Abergavenny	The Duke of Richmond	The Earl Cairns	^[24]

Deputy Leaders of the Conservative Party

Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party is sometimes an official title of a senior Conservative politician of the United Kingdom.

Some are given this title officially by the party, such as Peter Lilley,^[25] while others are given the title as an unofficial description by the media, such as William Hague.^[26] The first politician to hold the office as such was Reginald Maudling, appointed by Edward Heath in 1965.^[27] Distinct from being "second-in-command", there is formally no current position of deputy party leader in the party's hierarchy.^[28]

The term has sometimes been mistakenly used to refer to the party's deputy chair.^[29]

List of deputy leaders

Name	Term began	Term ended	Concurrent office(s)	Leader
Reginald Maudling	4 August 1965^[30]	18 July 1972^[31]		Edward Heath
colspan=5
The Viscount Whitelaw	12 February 1975^[33]	7 August 1991^[34]	Deputy Leader of the Opposition ^[35] Shadow Home Secretary Home Secretary Leader of the House of Lords ^[36]	Margaret Thatcher
				John Major
colspan=5
Peter Lilley	2 June 1998^[37]	15 June 1999	Deputy Leader of the Opposition ^[38]	William Hague
colspan=5
Michael Ancram	18 September 2001^[39]	6 December 2005		Iain Duncan Smith
				Michael Howard

See also

• 1922 Committee
• Leader of the Labour Party (UK)
• Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2022-10-26. Rishi Sunak, UK's next PM, faces major economic problems. 2022-10-26. AP NEWS. en.
2. Web site: 2022-10-26. Tory leadership race triggered as Rishi Sunak formally steps down. 2024-07-22. Athena Standard. en.
3. Web site: January 2021 . Constitution of the Conservative Party . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210920212357/https://public.conservatives.com/organisation-department/202101/Conservative%20Party%20Constitution%20%20as%20amended%20January%202021.pdf . 20 September 2021 .
4. Web site: Alexandre-Collier . Agnès . 2018-11-01 . Brexit reveals the fractures of the British Conservatives . 2022-09-05 . Le Monde diplomatique . fr.
5. News: Nevett. Joshua. 2022-08-12. Tory leadership election: Meet the overseas voters picking the next PM. BBC News .
6. Web site: Smith. Hannah. 2022-08-10. Who can vote in the Conservative leadership contest? .
7. News: 2022-10-24 . Rishi Sunak: A quick guide to the UK's new prime minister . en-GB . BBC News . 2022-10-27.
8. Web site: Leadership elections: Conservative Party . House of Commons Library (UK) . Johnston . Neil . 5 September 2022 . 14 September 2022.
9. "A Cabinet Council was held at half-past 2 o'clock." Times [London, England] 10 Feb. 1848: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 25 July 2014.
10. Book: Malmesbury, The Right Hon. [James Howard Harris,] the [3rd] Earl of . Memoirs of an Ex-Minister . 1885 . Longmans, Green, and Co . London . 151–2.
11. Book: Monypenny . William Flavelle . The life of Benjamin Disraeli, earl of Beaconsfield, Volume III . Buckle . George Earle . 1914 . The Macmillan Company . New York . 138–9.
12. "The Unionist Leadership." Times [London, England] 14 Nov. 1911: 9. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 19 July 2014.
13. "Unionist M.P.s' New Leader." Times [London, England] 22 Mar. 1921: 12. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 19 July 2014.
14. "Unionists Elect Mr. Bonar Law." Times [London, England] 24 Oct. 1922: 18. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 25 July 2014.
15. "Conservative Leader." Times [London, England] 29 May 1923: 19. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 19 July 2014.
16. "The New Leader And The Old." Times [London, England] 1 June 1937: 17+. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 19 July 2014.
17. "Conservative Leader." Times [London, England] 10 Oct. 1940: 2. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 19 July 2014.
18. Our Political Correspondent. "Sir A. Eden as Leader." Times [London, England] 22 Apr. 1955: 12. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 19 July 2014.
19. News: 23 January 1957 . Mr. Macmillan states Party philosophy . London . The Times.
20. News: Our Political Correspondent. . 12 November 1963 . Prime Minister is Ageless . London . 12 . The Times.
21. Book: Malmesbury, The Right Hon. [James Howard Harris,] the [3rd] Earl of . Memoirs of an Ex-Minister . 1885 . Longmans, Green, and Co . London . 124.
22. Book: Malmesbury, The Right Hon. [James Howard Harris,] the [3rd] Earl of . Memoirs of an Ex-Minister . 1885 . Longmans, Green, and Co . London . 645.
23. "We are enabled to state that, in compliance with." Times [London, England] 28 Feb. 1870: 9. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 26 July 2014.
24. "Meeting Of The Conservative Peers." Times [London, England] 10 May 1881: 10. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 25 July 2014.
25. Web site: Peter Lilley, Member of Parliament for Hitchin and Harpenden . . 17 July 2016 . He stood for the Conservative Leadership in 1997; becoming Shadow Chancellor then Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party Responsible for Policy Renewal until 2000. . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160806200733/https://www.conservatives.com/OurTeam/Members-of-Parliament/Lilley-Peter . 6 August 2016 .
26. News: David Cameron anoints William Hague as his deputy . The Telegraph . Andrew Porter. 14 January 2009 . 17 July 2016.
27. News: Blake. Robert. The Illustrated London News. 247. 14 August 1965. 20. A Watershed in English Politics. The most striking feature, however, of Mr. Heath's reconstruction is the appointment of a Deputy Leader. This is the first time that such a position has been created in the Conservative hierarchy [...].
28. News: The Guardian view on party deputy leaders: a job about nothing . The Guardian . Guardian editorial . 17 June 2015 . 17 July 2016.
29. News: David Cameron's 2015 cabinet: Meet the ministers appointed in all Conservative post-election reshuffle . Daily Mirror. Ann Gripper . 11 May 2015 . 17 July 2016 . Robert Halfon will become deputy leader of the Conservative Party..
30. Book: Ball, Stuart. 1998. The Conservative Party Since 1945. Manchester. Manchester University Press. 187.
31. Web site: Heath Faces Cabinet Reshuffle . 1972-07-24 . 2019-07-03.
32. Book: A Matter of Weeks Rather Than Months: The Impasse between Harold Wilson and Ian Smith . 1966-12-24 . 9781466934092 . 2019-07-03. Wood . J. R. T. .
33. Book: Report on World Affairs. 1975. 56. 71. Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
34. News: Press Association . Willie Whitelaw dies aged 81 . 1 July 1991 . The Guardian . 28 June 2017.
35. Book: The Hugo Young Papers: Thirty Years of British Politics – Off the Record . 2008-11-18 . 9780141903606 . 2019-07-03. Young . Hugo .
36. Web site: Thatcher's No. 2 Cabinet minister resigns . Upi.com . 1988-01-10 . 2019-07-03.
37. Web site: Parliamentary career for Lord Lilley. parliament.uk. 15 May 2021.
38. Web site: Mark D'Arcy . Democracy Live – Peter Lilley MP . BBC News . 2019-07-03.
39. Web site: Parliamentary career for The Marquess of Lothian. parliament.uk. 15 May 2021.
40. Web site: Peerage for the Rt Hon Michael Ancram . Gov.uk . 2010-10-21 . 2019-07-03.