Whig1721–1742
Sir Robert Walpole
He quietly built the role of Britain’s first prime minister, mastering parliament and patronage while keeping a fragile kingdom stable through war scares and political intrigue.
Lineage
British Prime Ministers in Order (1721 to Present)
Explore the full list of British prime ministers in chronological order, from Sir Robert Walpole in 1721 to the present day.
This timeline shows every premiership, including repeat terms, with party affiliation, key dates, and concise summaries. Switch between a visual timeline and a structured party view to understand how leadership in Britain has evolved over time.
Key facts about British prime ministers
- First prime minister: Sir Robert Walpole (1721–1742)
- Current prime minister: Sir Keir Starmer (2024–present)
- Longest-serving: Sir Robert Walpole (over 20 years)
- Total premierships listed: 78
How the role of prime minister developed
The role of prime minister was not formally defined at first. Sir Robert Walpole is generally considered the first holder of the office, though the position evolved gradually from senior ministers advising the monarch.
Over time, power shifted from the Crown to Parliament, and the prime minister became the central figure in British government. The rise of organised political parties, electoral reform in the nineteenth century, and the expansion of democracy all reshaped the office into its modern form.
This page lists every premiership in order, including multiple terms served by the same individual, to give a complete picture of political leadership in Britain.
Whig
17 prime ministers
Whig1742–1743
Spencer Compton
He spent decades as a steady political operator, becoming prime minister almost by default when royal favour shifted, yet struggled to control the powerful forces around him.
Whig1743–1754
Henry Pelham
He quietly stabilised Britain after years of conflict, balancing royal power and parliamentary control while building financial trust that allowed the state to recover and expand.
Whig1754–1756
Thomas Pelham Holles, Duke of Newcastle
He mastered elections, patronage, and political survival so completely that he could dominate government for decades without ever appearing fully in control.
Whig1756–1757
William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
He inherited immense estates and influence, then quietly steered British politics through patronage and alliances, helping shape power without seeking constant public attention.
Whig1757–1762
Thomas Pelham Holles, Duke of Newcastle
He mastered elections, patronage, and political survival so completely that he could dominate government for decades without ever appearing fully in control.
Whig1763–1765
George Grenville
He tried to tighten Britain’s grip on its American colonies through taxation, and in doing so, helped spark resistance that would eventually lead to revolution.
Whig1765–1766
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
He twice became prime minister during a turbulent imperial crisis, pushing for reconciliation with American colonies while trying to restrain royal influence over British politics.
Whig1766–1768
William Pitt the Elder
He became Britain’s most commanding wartime leader during the struggle for empire, shaping victory against France before illness and politics slowly dimmed his influence.
Whig1768–1770
Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
He became prime minister while still young, struggled to control factional politics, and stepped aside as his government faltered under pressure from both allies and critics.
Whig1782
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
He twice became prime minister during a turbulent imperial crisis, pushing for reconciliation with American colonies while trying to restrain royal influence over British politics.
Whig1782–1783
William Petty-Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelburne
He rose from aristocratic inheritance to become a reform-minded prime minister who steered Britain toward peace with America, yet left office before shaping the settlement’s long-term direction.
Whig1806–1807
Lord Grenville
He led Britain through a tense moment in the Napoleonic era and helped push through the abolition of the slave trade, reshaping both foreign policy and moral direction.
Whig1830–1834
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
He spent decades pressing for political reform, then as prime minister forced through the 1832 Reform Act and helped redraw the rules of British public life.
Whig1834
William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne
He drifted into power almost reluctantly, yet became the steady guide of a young queen, shaping early Victorian politics through calm judgement rather than dramatic ambition.
Whig1835–1841
William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne
He drifted into power almost reluctantly, yet became the steady guide of a young queen, shaping early Victorian politics through calm judgement rather than dramatic ambition.
Whig1846–1852
Lord John Russell
He spent decades pushing Britain toward broader democracy, championing reform laws that reshaped Parliament while twice serving as prime minister during an era of political change.
Tory
12 prime ministers
Tory1762–1763
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
He rose from royal tutor to Britain’s prime minister through personal influence over a young king, only to fall rapidly amid suspicion, hostility, and political isolation.
Tory1770–1782
Lord North
He tried to manage a restless empire through compromise and control, but his decisions during the American conflict ended with Britain losing its colonies.
Tory1783–1801
William Pitt the Younger
He became prime minister at twenty-four, was widely expected to fail within months, and governed Britain for nearly twenty years through revolution, war, and the threat of Napoleon.
Tory1801–1804
Henry Addington
He stepped from the Speaker’s chair into the role of prime minister during wartime uncertainty, negotiated a fragile peace, and later became a firm hand in domestic repression.
Tory1804–1806
William Pitt the Younger
He became prime minister at twenty-four, was widely expected to fail within months, and governed Britain for nearly twenty years through revolution, war, and the threat of Napoleon.
Tory1807–1809
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
He twice served as British prime minister in moments of political strain, acting as a cautious broker between rival factions while never fully commanding the stage himself.
Tory1809–1812
Spencer Perceval
He led Britain through economic strain and war with France, only to become the only British prime minister ever assassinated, shot inside Parliament itself.
Tory1812–1827
Lord Liverpool
He steered Britain through the final defeat of Napoleon and into uneasy peace, balancing reform fears with stability in a society strained by war and change.
Tory1827
George Canning
He climbed from financial insecurity to the highest office in Britain, but his brief time as prime minister ended almost as soon as it began.
Tory1827–1828
Frederick Robinson, Viscount Goderich
He rose through finance and diplomacy to briefly become prime minister, only to preside over a government so fragile it collapsed within months.
Tory1828–1830
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
He built his reputation defeating Napoleon in a final showdown at Waterloo, then carried that authority into politics, shaping Britain long after the cannons fell silent.
Tory1834
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
He built his reputation defeating Napoleon in a final showdown at Waterloo, then carried that authority into politics, shaping Britain long after the cannons fell silent.
Whig Coalition
1 prime minister
Whig Coalition1783
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
He twice served as British prime minister in moments of political strain, acting as a cautious broker between rival factions while never fully commanding the stage himself.
Conservative
28 prime ministers
Conservative1834–1835
Sir Robert Peel
He built modern policing in London and split his own party to repeal grain tariffs, choosing economic stability over political survival in a move that reshaped British politics.
Conservative1841–1846
Sir Robert Peel
He built modern policing in London and split his own party to repeal grain tariffs, choosing economic stability over political survival in a move that reshaped British politics.
Conservative1852
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
He led Britain three times without ever securing lasting control, shaping modern Conservative identity while proving how fragile power could be in a divided political age.
Conservative1858–1859
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
He led Britain three times without ever securing lasting control, shaping modern Conservative identity while proving how fragile power could be in a divided political age.
Conservative1866–1868
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
He led Britain three times without ever securing lasting control, shaping modern Conservative identity while proving how fragile power could be in a divided political age.
Conservative1868
Benjamin Disraeli
He transformed himself from an outsider mocked in Parliament into a dominant prime minister who reshaped British conservatism and expanded imperial ambition with calculated flair.
Conservative1874–1880
Benjamin Disraeli
He transformed himself from an outsider mocked in Parliament into a dominant prime minister who reshaped British conservatism and expanded imperial ambition with calculated flair.
Conservative1885–1886
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
He distrusted democracy yet led Britain repeatedly as prime minister, steering imperial policy with cold realism while quietly shaping the balance of power across Europe.
Conservative1886–1892
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
He distrusted democracy yet led Britain repeatedly as prime minister, steering imperial policy with cold realism while quietly shaping the balance of power across Europe.
Conservative1895–1902
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
He distrusted democracy yet led Britain repeatedly as prime minister, steering imperial policy with cold realism while quietly shaping the balance of power across Europe.
Conservative1902–1905
Arthur Balfour
He led Britain during a restless imperial era, but his name became permanently tied to a single wartime letter that reshaped the politics of the Middle East.
Conservative1922–1923
Bonar Law
He spent years as the hard-edged organiser behind Conservative revival, then finally reached Downing Street only to be driven out almost at once by terminal illness.
Conservative1923–1924
Stanley Baldwin
He guided Britain through political upheaval between two world wars, choosing caution and consensus, yet faced lasting criticism for how his leadership approached the rise of Nazi Germany.
Conservative1924–1929
Stanley Baldwin
He guided Britain through political upheaval between two world wars, choosing caution and consensus, yet faced lasting criticism for how his leadership approached the rise of Nazi Germany.
Conservative1935–1937
Stanley Baldwin
He guided Britain through political upheaval between two world wars, choosing caution and consensus, yet faced lasting criticism for how his leadership approached the rise of Nazi Germany.
Conservative1937–1940
Neville Chamberlain
He staked his reputation on avoiding war through negotiation with Adolf Hitler, only to see his promise of peace collapse within a year.
Conservative1951–1955
Sir Winston Churchill
He spent the 1930s warning about Hitler while his own party tried to sideline him — and then, when the warning came true, they made him prime minister.
Conservative1955–1957
Sir Anthony Eden
He spent decades warning about dictatorship abroad, yet his own premiership collapsed when the Suez Crisis exposed the limits of British power in a changing world.
Conservative1957–1963
Harold Macmillan
He inherited a nervous Britain after crisis, steadied its confidence with calm authority, and quietly accepted that the empire he grew up in was slipping away.
Conservative1963–1964
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
He unexpectedly renounced his aristocratic title to become prime minister, led briefly during a turbulent political shift, and later returned as a steady voice in foreign affairs.
Conservative1970–1974
Sir Edward Heath
He led Britain into the European Economic Community, but crippling strikes and economic turmoil during his premiership ultimately cost him power and reshaped his political legacy.
Conservative1979–1990
Margaret Thatcher
She remade Britain's economy, broke the unions, and won three consecutive elections — and the country has been arguing about what she did ever since.
Conservative1990–1997
Sir John Major
He rose from a modest South London childhood to lead Britain through economic turbulence and peace negotiations in Northern Ireland, shaping a quieter but consequential era of leadership.
Conservative2010–2016
David Cameron
He rebranded Britain’s Conservative Party, led the country through austerity, then gambled on a referendum he thought he would win—and lost everything when voters chose Brexit.
Conservative2016–2019
Theresa May
She stepped into leadership after a political earthquake, spent three years trying to deliver an exit few could agree on, and left office having defined a turbulent era.
Conservative2019–2022
Boris Johnson
He built a career on being underestimated, won a referendum nobody thought he'd win, became prime minister, then resigned over a party he claimed he didn't know had happened.
Conservative2022
Liz Truss
She won the Conservative leadership contest and became prime minister — then announced an economic plan that crashed the pound, collapsed her authority, and ended her premiership in forty-five days.
Conservative2022–2024
Rishi Sunak
He became Britain's first British-Asian prime minister at a moment of profound political instability — and governed long enough to test whether that instability could be managed.
Peelite Coalition
1 prime minister
Peelite Coalition1852–1855
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
He preferred quiet diplomacy to loud politics, yet found himself leading Britain into the Crimean War, a conflict that tested his cautious instincts and ended his premiership.
Liberal
10 prime ministers
Liberal1855–1858
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
He spent decades shaping British foreign policy with bold confidence, becoming prime minister late in life and turning national pride into a political weapon.
Liberal1859–1865
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
He spent decades shaping British foreign policy with bold confidence, becoming prime minister late in life and turning national pride into a political weapon.
Liberal1865–1866
Lord John Russell
He spent decades pushing Britain toward broader democracy, championing reform laws that reshaped Parliament while twice serving as prime minister during an era of political change.
Liberal1868–1874
William Ewart Gladstone
He reshaped British politics through relentless reform, moral conviction, and fierce rivalry, returning to power repeatedly even as age and controversy threatened to end his influence.
Liberal1880–1885
William Ewart Gladstone
He reshaped British politics through relentless reform, moral conviction, and fierce rivalry, returning to power repeatedly even as age and controversy threatened to end his influence.
Liberal1886
William Ewart Gladstone
He reshaped British politics through relentless reform, moral conviction, and fierce rivalry, returning to power repeatedly even as age and controversy threatened to end his influence.
Liberal1892–1894
William Ewart Gladstone
He reshaped British politics through relentless reform, moral conviction, and fierce rivalry, returning to power repeatedly even as age and controversy threatened to end his influence.
Liberal1894–1895
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
He inherited wealth and ambition, briefly became prime minister without strong party backing, and spent the rest of his life reflecting on power he never fully controlled.
Liberal1905–1908
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
He spent decades in politics before unexpectedly leading a landslide victory, becoming prime minister and quietly reshaping British liberalism toward reform and reduced imperial aggression.
Liberal1908–1916
H. H. Asquith
He led Britain into the First World War with calm confidence, yet the strain of total war quietly eroded his authority and ended his political dominance.
Liberal Coalition
1 prime minister
Liberal Coalition1916–1922
David Lloyd George
He guided Britain to victory in the First World War, helped redraw the map of Europe at Versailles, and then watched everything he built come apart in the following decade.
Labour
9 prime ministers
Labour1924
Ramsay MacDonald
He rose from illegitimate birth in rural poverty to lead Britain’s first Labour government, only to split his party and govern with former opponents during crisis.
Labour1929–1931
Ramsay MacDonald
He rose from illegitimate birth in rural poverty to lead Britain’s first Labour government, only to split his party and govern with former opponents during crisis.
Labour1945–1951
Clement Attlee
He quietly reshaped Britain after war, building a welfare state and national health system that changed everyday life more deeply than many louder leaders ever managed.
Labour1964–1970
Harold Wilson
He twice led Britain through turbulent economic and social change, balancing reform with political survival while quietly managing crises that could have ended his premiership much sooner.
Labour1974–1976
Harold Wilson
He twice led Britain through turbulent economic and social change, balancing reform with political survival while quietly managing crises that could have ended his premiership much sooner.
Labour1976–1979
James Callaghan
He rose from a naval rating to Britain’s only leader to hold all four great offices of state, yet his premiership became defined by strikes that eroded public trust.
Labour1997–2007
Sir Tony Blair
He won three elections and modernised his party, passed major reforms, and then committed Britain to a war in Iraq that overshadowed everything else he'd done.
Labour2007–2010
Gordon Brown
He spent a decade controlling Britain’s economy as chancellor before inheriting the premiership mid-crisis, where global financial turmoil defined and ultimately limited his time in power.
Labour2024–present
Sir Keir Starmer
He rebuilt a party that had just suffered its worst election result in a generation, led it to its largest majority in decades, then discovered that winning was only the beginning.
National Labour
1 prime minister
National Labour1931–1935
Ramsay MacDonald
He rose from illegitimate birth in rural poverty to lead Britain’s first Labour government, only to split his party and govern with former opponents during crisis.
Conservative Coalition
1 prime minister
Conservative Coalition1940–1945
Sir Winston Churchill
He spent the 1930s warning about Hitler while his own party tried to sideline him — and then, when the warning came true, they made him prime minister.
Frequently asked questions
Who was the first British prime minister?
Robert Walpole is generally treated as the first British prime minister. He took office in 1721 and set the pattern for the role as it developed in the eighteenth century.
Who is the current British prime minister?
Sir Keir Starmer became prime minister in 2024 following a Labour general election victory.
Why do some prime ministers appear more than once?
Several prime ministers returned to office after losing power, resigning, or heading a new ministry later on. This page lists each separate premiership in chronological order.
Which party has produced the most prime ministers?
Historically, Whig, Tory, Conservative, and Liberal traditions have dominated, with Labour emerging in the twentieth century as a major governing party.
Who served the longest as prime minister?
Sir Robert Walpole is usually counted as the longest-serving British prime minister, with a tenure of more than twenty years.