PRIME MINISTER 1
Sir Robert Walpole
1721–1742 · Whig
Generally regarded as Britain’s first prime minister, Walpole dominated early Georgian politics and brought long-lasting stability after financial crisis.
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List of British Prime Ministers in Order
Explore all 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.
PRIME MINISTER 2
Spencer Compton
1742–1743 · Whig
The Earl of Wilmington succeeded Walpole, but his short premiership was limited by ill health and stronger figures around him.
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PRIME MINISTER 3
Henry Pelham
1743–1754 · Whig
Pelham presided over a relatively stable period, managing war finance and preserving a broad governing coalition.
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PRIME MINISTER 4
Thomas Pelham Holles, Duke of Newcastle
1754–1756 · Whig
Newcastle inherited office in a period of mounting imperial rivalry, but his first ministry struggled as global war loomed.
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PRIME MINISTER 5
William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
1756–1757 · Whig
Devonshire headed a brief wartime ministry that depended heavily on the energy and popularity of William Pitt the Elder.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 6
Thomas Pelham Holles, Duke of Newcastle
1757–1762 · Whig
In his second spell, Newcastle governed alongside Pitt during the Seven Years’ War, when Britain expanded its global position.
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PRIME MINISTER 7
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
1762–1763 · Tory
Bute was closely associated with George III and made peace with France, but his ministry quickly became unpopular.
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PRIME MINISTER 8
George Grenville
1763–1765 · Whig
Grenville tightened imperial administration after war, including new taxation in America that sharpened colonial anger.
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PRIME MINISTER 9
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
1765–1766 · Whig
Rockingham repealed the Stamp Act but struggled to build a durable ministry in a fragmented political system.
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PRIME MINISTER 10
William Pitt the Elder
1766–1768 · Whig
William Pitt the Elder entered office with immense prestige, but illness and division weakened his ministry.
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PRIME MINISTER 11
Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
1768–1770 · Whig
Grafton presided over growing unrest in Britain’s American colonies and persistent instability in parliament.
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PRIME MINISTER 12
Lord North
1770–1782 · Tory
North led Britain through most of the American War of Independence and fell after defeat reshaped imperial politics.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 13
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
1782 · Whig
Rockingham returned during crisis after Yorktown, but his second ministry ended quickly with his death in office.
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PRIME MINISTER 14
William Petty-Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelburne
1782–1783 · Whig
Shelburne negotiated the peace that recognised American independence, though his government lacked broad support.
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PRIME MINISTER 15
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
1783 · Whig Coalition
Portland’s first ministry was a coalition of convenience and was swiftly dismissed by George III.
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PRIME MINISTER 16
William Pitt the Younger
1783–1801 · Tory
Pitt reshaped finance and executive government, and led Britain into the upheavals of the French Revolutionary era.
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PRIME MINISTER 17
Henry Addington
1801–1804 · Tory
Addington governed during a brief peace in the Napoleonic era, but his ministry was overshadowed by renewed war.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 18
William Pitt the Younger
1804–1806 · Tory
Pitt returned as war with France resumed, but died before Britain reached the turning point of the conflict.
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PRIME MINISTER 19
Lord Grenville
1806–1807 · Whig
Grenville led the Ministry of All the Talents, remembered especially for abolishing the British slave trade.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 20
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
1807–1809 · Tory
Portland’s second ministry was marked by wartime strain and internal conflict between leading ministers.
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PRIME MINISTER 21
Spencer Perceval
1809–1812 · Tory
Perceval led Britain through the Napoleonic Wars until he was assassinated in the House of Commons lobby.
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PRIME MINISTER 22
Lord Liverpool
1812–1827 · Tory
Liverpool oversaw victory over Napoleon and then the difficult politics of postwar unrest, reform pressure, and recovery.
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PRIME MINISTER 23
George Canning
1827 · Tory
Canning’s short premiership revealed the fragmentation of old Tory unity, but his death cut short any broader realignment.
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PRIME MINISTER 24
Frederick Robinson, Viscount Goderich
1827–1828 · Tory
Goderich proved unable to hold together a coherent ministry and resigned after only a few months.
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PRIME MINISTER 25
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
1828–1830 · Tory
The hero of Waterloo passed Catholic Emancipation but struggled with rising pressure for political reform.
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PRIME MINISTER 26
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
1830–1834 · Whig
Grey’s government passed the Great Reform Act of 1832, a major turning point in British political history.
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PRIME MINISTER 27
William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne
1834 · Whig
Melbourne’s first ministry was brief, though he soon returned as a major political influence in the early Victorian age.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 28
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
1834 · Tory
Wellington briefly led a caretaker government before Robert Peel returned to take office.
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PRIME MINISTER 29
Sir Robert Peel
1834–1835 · Conservative
Peel’s first ministry was short, but it helped define the modern Conservative Party and its political outlook.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 30
William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne
1835–1841 · Whig
Melbourne governed through reform-era politics and became closely associated with the early reign of Queen Victoria.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 31
Sir Robert Peel
1841–1846 · Conservative
Peel modernised administration and repealed the Corn Laws, splitting his party but changing Britain’s economic direction.
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PRIME MINISTER 32
Lord John Russell
1846–1852 · Whig
Russell’s ministry confronted the Irish Famine, European revolution, and the growing pressures of reform politics.
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PRIME MINISTER 33
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
1852 · Conservative
Derby’s first government was brief, but he remained central to Conservative politics across a turbulent generation.
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PRIME MINISTER 34
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
1852–1855 · Peelite Coalition
Aberdeen led a broad coalition, but the Crimean War fatally weakened confidence in his government.
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PRIME MINISTER 35
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
1855–1858 · Liberal
Palmerston embodied energetic national confidence, combining liberal politics with a forceful foreign policy image.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 36
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
1858–1859 · Conservative
Derby returned, but his minority government struggled to manage parliament and widening reform pressure.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 37
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
1859–1865 · Liberal
Palmerston’s second ministry dominated the late 1850s and early 1860s with stability and imperial confidence.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 38
Lord John Russell
1865–1866 · Liberal
Russell’s second premiership fell over reform, showing how rapidly the old political order was changing.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 39
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
1866–1868 · Conservative
Derby’s third government passed the 1867 Reform Act, extending the franchise and reshaping electoral politics.
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PRIME MINISTER 40
Benjamin Disraeli
1868 · Conservative
Disraeli’s first spell was brief, but he soon emerged as one of the defining Conservative leaders of the century.
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PRIME MINISTER 41
William Ewart Gladstone
1868–1874 · Liberal
Gladstone’s first ministry pursued major reform in Ireland, education, the army, and the civil service.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 42
Benjamin Disraeli
1874–1880 · Conservative
Disraeli’s second ministry linked conservatism with empire, social reform, and a more theatrical national politics.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 43
William Ewart Gladstone
1880–1885 · Liberal
Gladstone returned as questions of Ireland, empire, and democracy moved closer to the centre of politics.
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PRIME MINISTER 44
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
1885–1886 · Conservative
Salisbury’s first government began a long Conservative ascendancy in late Victorian politics.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 45
William Ewart Gladstone
1886 · Liberal
Gladstone’s third ministry was consumed by Irish Home Rule, a cause that split the Liberal Party.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 46
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
1886–1892 · Conservative
Salisbury’s second ministry benefited from Liberal division and reinforced Conservative strength across the union.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 47
William Ewart Gladstone
1892–1894 · Liberal
In his final premiership, Gladstone returned once more to Home Rule before retiring from front-rank politics.
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PRIME MINISTER 48
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
1894–1895 · Liberal
Rosebery struggled to unite Liberal priorities and lacked Gladstone’s authority inside party and parliament.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 49
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
1895–1902 · Conservative
Salisbury’s third ministry spanned imperial conflict, including the Boer War, and the height of late Victorian power politics.
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PRIME MINISTER 50
Arthur Balfour
1902–1905 · Conservative
Balfour inherited office from Salisbury but saw his party weakened by education, tariff, and imperial controversies.
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PRIME MINISTER 51
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
1905–1908 · Liberal
Campbell-Bannerman led the Liberals to a landslide and opened a reforming Edwardian era in British politics.
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PRIME MINISTER 52
H. H. Asquith
1908–1916 · Liberal
Asquith governed through constitutional conflict, social reform, and the first traumatic years of the First World War.
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PRIME MINISTER 53
David Lloyd George
1916–1922 · Liberal Coalition
Lloyd George led Britain to victory in the First World War and then into an unstable and difficult peace.
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PRIME MINISTER 54
Bonar Law
1922–1923 · Conservative
Bonar Law ended the wartime coalition era, but ill health meant his premiership lasted only a short time.
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PRIME MINISTER 55
Stanley Baldwin
1923–1924 · Conservative
Baldwin’s first ministry fell after seeking a tariff mandate, opening the way for Labour’s first government.
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PRIME MINISTER 56
Ramsay MacDonald
1924 · Labour
MacDonald became Britain’s first Labour prime minister, marking a profound shift in party politics.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 57
Stanley Baldwin
1924–1929 · Conservative
Baldwin returned with a stronger mandate and presided over a calmer, though still uneasy, interwar politics.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 58
Ramsay MacDonald
1929–1931 · Labour
MacDonald’s second government began under Labour but was overwhelmed by the crisis of the Great Depression.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 59
Ramsay MacDonald
1931–1935 · National Labour
MacDonald stayed in office at the head of a National Government, a move that split Labour and reshaped politics.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 60
Stanley Baldwin
1935–1937 · Conservative
Baldwin returned again and managed the abdication crisis of Edward VIII before retiring from politics.
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PRIME MINISTER 61
Neville Chamberlain
1937–1940 · Conservative
Chamberlain is inseparable from appeasement, though his fall came in the first desperate phase of the Second World War.
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PRIME MINISTER 62
Sir Winston Churchill
1940–1945 · Conservative Coalition
Churchill’s wartime leadership made him one of the central political figures in British and global history.
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PRIME MINISTER 63
Clement Attlee
1945–1951 · Labour
Attlee’s government built the postwar welfare state, founded the NHS, and oversaw reconstruction and decolonisation.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 64
Sir Winston Churchill
1951–1955 · Conservative
Churchill returned in old age, symbolising continuity and prestige in the early Cold War era.
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PRIME MINISTER 65
Sir Anthony Eden
1955–1957 · Conservative
Eden’s reputation was badly damaged by the Suez Crisis, which exposed the limits of Britain’s postwar power.
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PRIME MINISTER 66
Harold Macmillan
1957–1963 · Conservative
Macmillan projected calm prosperity at home while steering Britain through decolonisation and strategic change abroad.
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PRIME MINISTER 67
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
1963–1964 · Conservative
Douglas-Home renounced his peerage to sit in the Commons, but could not stop Conservative decline.
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PRIME MINISTER 68
Harold Wilson
1964–1970 · Labour
Wilson presented Labour as the party of modernisation, technology, and social change in the 1960s.
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PRIME MINISTER 69
Sir Edward Heath
1970–1974 · Conservative
Heath took Britain into the European Economic Community but was weakened by industrial conflict and economic crisis.
View full profilePRIME MINISTER 70
Harold Wilson
1974–1976 · Labour
Wilson returned in a divided decade, governing amid inflation, union pressure, and economic strain.
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PRIME MINISTER 71
James Callaghan
1976–1979 · Labour
Callaghan struggled through austerity and unrest, ending with the Winter of Discontent and Labour’s defeat.
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PRIME MINISTER 72
Margaret Thatcher
1979–1990 · Conservative
Thatcher transformed the economy, the state, and the tone of British politics more radically than any postwar prime minister.
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PRIME MINISTER 73
Sir John Major
1990–1997 · Conservative
Major combined unexpected electoral success with deep party division over Europe and the strains of a long Conservative era.
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PRIME MINISTER 74
Sir Tony Blair
1997–2007 · Labour
Blair led New Labour to three election victories, pairing domestic reform with the divisive Iraq War.
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PRIME MINISTER 75
Gordon Brown
2007–2010 · Labour
Brown’s premiership was dominated by the global financial crisis and the politics of recession and recovery.
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PRIME MINISTER 76
David Cameron
2010–2016 · Conservative
Cameron governed first in coalition and then alone, but his legacy was transformed by the Brexit referendum.
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PRIME MINISTER 77
Theresa May
2016–2019 · Conservative
May tried to deliver Brexit while managing a divided parliament, but could not secure support for her withdrawal deal.
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PRIME MINISTER 78
Boris Johnson
2019–2022 · Conservative
Johnson won a large majority, completed Brexit, and led through the pandemic before scandal drove him from office.
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PRIME MINISTER 79
Liz Truss
2022 · Conservative
Truss’s premiership collapsed with extraordinary speed after market turmoil followed her government’s mini-budget.
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PRIME MINISTER 80
Rishi Sunak
2022–2024 · Conservative
Sunak sought to restore stability after Truss, but the Conservatives suffered a heavy defeat at the 2024 general election.
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PRIME MINISTER 81
Sir Keir Starmer
2024–present · Labour
Starmer entered Downing Street after Labour’s 2024 victory, promising stability, reform, and a reset in government.
View full profileFrequently 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.
