List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom explained

The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the principal minister of the crown of His Majesty's Government, and the head of the British Cabinet. There is no specific date for when the office of prime minister first appeared, as the role was not created but rather evolved over time through a merger of duties. The term was regularly, if informally, used by Robert Walpole by the 1730s.[1] It was used in the House of Commons as early as 1805, and it was certainly in parliamentary use by the 1880s, although did not become the official title until 1905, when Arthur Balfour was prime minister.

Historians generally consider Robert Walpole, who led the government of the Kingdom of Great Britain for over twenty years from 1721, to be the first prime minister. Walpole is also the longest-serving British prime minister by this definition. The first prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was William Pitt the Younger at its creation on 1 January 1801. The first to use the title in an official act was Benjamin Disraeli who signed the 1878 Treaty of Berlin as "Prime Minister of Her Britannic Majesty".

In 1905, the post of prime minister was officially given recognition in the order of precedence, with the incumbent Henry Campbell-Bannerman the first officially referred to as "prime minister". The first prime minister of the current United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland upon its effective creation in 1922 (when 26 Irish counties seceded and created the Irish Free State) was Bonar Law, although the country was not renamed officially until 1927, when Stanley Baldwin was the serving prime minister.

The incumbent prime minister is Keir Starmer, who assumed the office on 5 July 2024.

Before the Kingdom of Great Britain

Before the Union of England and Scotland in 1707, the Treasury of England was led by the Lord High Treasurer. By the late Tudor period, the Lord High Treasurer was regarded as one of the Great Officers of State, and was often (though not always) the dominant figure in government: Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (lord high treasurer, 1547–1549), served as lord protector to his young nephew King Edward VI; William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (lord high treasurer, 1572–1598), was the dominant minister to Queen Elizabeth I; Burghley's son Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, succeeded his father as Chief Minister to Elizabeth (1598–1603) and was eventually appointed by King James I as lord high treasurer (1608–1612).

By the late Stuart period, the Treasury was often run not by a single individual (i.e., the lord high treasurer) but by a commission of lords of the Treasury, led by the first lord of the Treasury. The last lords high treasurer, Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin (1702–1710) and Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford (1711–1714), ran the government of Queen Anne.

From 1707 to 1721

Following the succession of George I in 1714, the arrangement of a commission of lords of the Treasury (as opposed to a single lord high treasurer) became permanent. For the next three years, the government was headed by Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, who was appointed Secretary of State for the Northern Department. Subsequently, Lords Stanhope and Sunderland ran the government jointly, with Stanhope managing foreign affairs and Sunderland domestic. Stanhope died in February 1721 and Sunderland resigned two months later; Townshend and Robert Walpole were then invited to form the next government. From that point, the holder of the of first lord also usually (albeit unofficially) held the status of prime minister. It was not until the Edwardian era that the title was constitutionally recognised. The prime minister still holds the office of first lord by constitutional convention, the only exceptions being the Earl of Chatham and the Marquess of Salisbury.

Since 1721

Prime ministers

List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom since 1721
PortraitPrime ministerTerm of officeMandateMinisterial offices held as prime ministerPartyGovernmentMonarch
StartEndDuration
class=nowrap rowspan=4 1721class=nowrap rowspan=4 1742Whigclass=nowrap rowspan=2 Walpole–TownshendGeorge I
George II
rowspan=2 Walpole
class=nowrap 1742class=nowrap 1743—Carteret
class=nowrap rowspan=2 1743class=nowrap rowspan=2 1754—Broad Bottom I
Broad Bottom II
class=nowrap 1754class=nowrap 1756Newcastle I
1756 1757 rowspan=2 —Pitt–Devonshire
1757 Caretaker
1757 1762Pitt–Newcastle
Bute–NewcastleGeorge III
class=nowrap 1762class=nowrap 1763—ToryBute
class=nowrap 1763class=nowrap 1765—WhigGrenville
class=nowrap 1765class=nowrap 1766—WhigRockingham I
class=nowrap 1766class=nowrap 1768 rowspan=2 WhigChatham
class=nowrap 1768class=nowrap 1770—Grafton
class=nowrap rowspan=2 1770class=nowrap rowspan=2 1782 rowspan=2 Tory rowspan=2 North
class=nowrap 1782class=nowrap 1782—WhigRockingham II
class=nowrap 1782class=nowrap 1783—WhigShelburne
class=nowrap 1783class=nowrap 1783—WhigFox–North
1783 1801ToryPitt I
1801 1804ToryAddington
class=nowrap 1804class=nowrap 1806—ToryPitt II
class=nowrap 1806class=nowrap 1807WhigAll the Talents
class=nowrap 1807class=nowrap 1809ToryPortland II
class=nowrap 1809class=nowrap 1812—Perceval
1812 1827Liverpool
George IV
class=nowrap 1827class=nowrap 1827—ToryCanning
class=nowrap 1827class=nowrap 1828—ToryGoderich
1828 1830—ToryWellington–Peel
William IV
1830 1834Whig rowspan=2 Grey
class=nowrap 1834class=nowrap 1834—Melbourne I
class=nowrap 1834class=nowrap 1834(—)ToryWellington Caretaker
class=nowrap 1834class=nowrap 1835(—)ConservativePeel I
1835 1841WhigMelbourne II
Victoria
class=nowrap 1841class=nowrap 1846ConservativePeel II
class=nowrap 1846class=nowrap 1852WhigRussell I
class=nowrap 1852class=nowrap 1852ConservativeWho? Who?
class=nowrap 1852class=nowrap 1855(—)PeeliteAberdeen
class=nowrap 1855class=nowrap 1858WhigPalmerston I
class=nowrap 1858class=nowrap 1859(—)ConservativeDerby–Disraeli II
class=nowrap rowspan=2 1859class=nowrap rowspan=2 1865Liberal rowspan=2 Palmerston II
class=nowrap 1865class=nowrap 1866—Russell II
class=nowrap 1866class=nowrap 1868(—)ConservativeDerby–Disraeli III
1868 1868(—)
class=nowrap 1868class=nowrap 1874LiberalGladstone I
class=nowrap 1874class=nowrap 1880ConservativeDisraeli II
class=nowrap 1880class=nowrap 1885LiberalGladstone II
class=nowrap 1885class=nowrap 1886(—)ConservativeSalisbury I
class=nowrap 1886class=nowrap 1886LiberalGladstone III
class=nowrap 1886class=nowrap 1892ConservativeSalisbury II
class=nowrap 1892class=nowrap 1894LiberalGladstone IV
class=nowrap 1894class=nowrap 1895(—)Rosebery
1895 1902ConservativeSalisbury III
Salisbury IV
Edward VII
class=nowrap 1902class=nowrap 1905—Balfour
class=nowrap 1905class=nowrap 1908LiberalCampbell-Bannerman
1908 1916—Asquith I
Asquith IIGeorge V
Asquith III
(—)Asquith Coalition
1916 1922(—)Lloyd George War
Lloyd George II
class=nowrap 1922class=nowrap 1923ConservativeLaw
class=nowrap 1923class=nowrap 1924—ConservativeBaldwin I
class=nowrap 1924class=nowrap 1924LabourMacDonald I
class=nowrap 1924class=nowrap 1929ConservativeBaldwin II
class=nowrap rowspan=3 1929class=nowrap rowspan=3 1935LabourMacDonald II
(—)National LabourNational I
National II
1935 1937ConservativeNational III
Edward VIII
George VI
1937 1940—National IV
Chamberlain War
1940 1945—Churchill War
Churchill Caretaker
1945 1951LabourAttlee I
Attlee II
1951 1955ConservativeChurchill III
Elizabeth II
class=nowrap 1955class=nowrap 1957Eden
1957 1963—Macmillan I
Macmillan II
class=nowrap 1963class=nowrap 1964—ConservativeDouglas-Home
1964 1970LabourWilson I
Wilson II
class=nowrap 1970class=nowrap 1974ConservativeHeath
1974 1976)LabourWilson III
Wilson IV
class=nowrap 1976class=nowrap 1979—Callaghan
1979 1990ConservativeThatcher I
Thatcher II
Thatcher III
1990 1997—Major I
Major II
1997 2007LabourBlair I
Blair II
Blair III
class=nowrap 2007class=nowrap 2010—Brown
2010 2016ConservativeCameron–Clegg
Cameron II
2016 2019—May I
May II
(DUP confidence & supply)
2019 2022(—)Johnson I
(DUP confidence & supply)
Johnson II
2022 2022—Truss
Charles III
class=nowrap 2022class=nowrap 2024—Sunak
2024IncumbentLabourStarmer

Disputed prime ministers

Due to the gradual evolution of the post of prime minister, the title is applied to early prime ministers only retrospectively; this has sometimes given rise to academic dispute. William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath and James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave are sometimes listed as prime ministers. Bath was invited to form a ministry by when Henry Pelham resigned in 1746, as was Waldegrave in 1757 after the dismissal of William Pitt the Elder, who dominated the affairs of government during the Seven Years' War. Neither was able to command sufficient parliamentary support to form a government; Bath stepped down after two days and Waldegrave after four. Modern academic consensus does not consider either man to have held office as prime minister; they are therefore listed separately.

List of disputed prime ministers of the United Kingdom since 1721
PortraitPrime ministerTerm of officeMandateMinisterial offices held as prime ministerPartyGovernmentMonarch
StartEndDuration
class=nowrap 1746class=nowrap 1746–Whigclass=nowrap Short LivedGeorge II
class=nowrap 1757class=nowrap 1757–class=nowrap Waldegrave

List notes

See also

References

Works cited

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Stephen Taylor ODNB.

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