This is a list of nicknames of prime ministers of the United Kingdom. Since Sir Robert Walpole, most prime ministers have had a nickname which was in common usage at the time they were in office. Many nicknames can be perceived as disparaging although others are complimentary or affectionate.
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. As modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, they sit as members of Parliament.
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the senior decision-making body of the Government of the United Kingdom. A committee of the Privy Council, it is chaired by the Prime Minister and its members include Secretaries of State and senior Ministers of State. Members of the Cabinet are appointed by the Prime Minister and are by convention chosen from members of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
11 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 11, is the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The residence, in Downing Street in London, was built alongside the official residence of the Prime Minister at Number 10 in 1682.
The article lists the records of prime ministers of the United Kingdom since 1721.
The Downing Street chief of staff is the most senior political appointee in the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, acting as a senior aide to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The holder of the office retains a highly powerful, non-ministerial position within His Majesty's Government.
To date, forty-seven women and three men have been married to the British prime minister in office. There have also been four bachelor and nine widower prime ministers; the last bachelor was Edward Heath (1970–1974) and the last widower was Ramsay MacDonald. The Duke of Grafton (1768–1770) and Boris Johnson (2019–2022) are the only prime ministers to have divorced and remarried while in office.
The modern political history of the United Kingdom (1979–present) began when Margaret Thatcher gained power in 1979, giving rise to 18 years of Conservative government. Victory in the Falklands War (1982) and the government's strong opposition to trade unions helped lead the Conservative Party to another three terms in government. Thatcher initially pursued monetarist policies and went on to privatise many of Britain's nationalised companies such as British Telecom, British Gas Corporation, British Airways and British Steel Corporation. She kept the National Health Service. The controversial "poll tax" to fund local government was unpopular, and the Conservatives removed Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1990, although Michael Heseltine, the minister who did much to undermine her, did not personally benefit from her being ousted.
The Prime Minister's Resignation Honours in the United Kingdom are honours granted at the behest of an outgoing prime minister following their resignation. In such a list, a prime minister may ask the monarch to bestow peerages, or lesser honours, on any number of people of their choosing. In 1997, an additional 47 working peers were created at the behest of the three main parties.
SirKeir Rodney Starmer is a British politician and barrister who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously served as Leader of the Opposition from 2020 to 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015, and was Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.
Until 2023, British manufactured cars had always been used as prime ministerial cars by the prime ministers of the United Kingdom. The cars currently used are armoured, custom built Range Rover Sentinel supercharged 5.0 litre V8 models and armoured Audi A8L models.
Larry is a British domestic tabby cat who has been Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office at 10 Downing Street since 2011. He is cared for by Downing Street staff, and is not the personal property of the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Larry has lived at 10 Downing Street during the premierships of six prime ministers: David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer.
The Downing Street director of communications is the post of director of communications for the prime minister of the United Kingdom. The position is held by an appointed special adviser.
At various dates in the run up to the 2024 United Kingdom general election on 4 July 2024, various organisations have carried out opinion polling to gauge the opinions that voters hold towards political leaders. The polling companies listed are members of the British Polling Council (BPC) and abide by its disclosure rules. The date range for opinion polls is from the 2019 United Kingdom general election, held on 12 December, to the eve of the 2024 election.
In early July 2022, 62 of the United Kingdom's 179 government ministers, parliamentary private secretaries, trade envoys, and party vice-chairmen resigned from their positions in the second administration formed by Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, culminating in Johnson's resignation on 7 July. Johnson's premiership had been considered in danger for months after several scandals, but it was the Chris Pincher scandal that was identified to have spurred on the resignations. Considered the "last straw" for the Prime Minister, the scandal arose after it was revealed that Johnson had promoted his Deputy Chief Government Whip Chris Pincher, who was publicly facing multiple allegations of sexual assault, to the position despite knowing of the allegations beforehand.
Liz Truss's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 6 September 2022 when she accepted an invitation of Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding Boris Johnson, and ended 49 days later on 25 October upon her resignation. As prime minister, she served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Minister for the Union and Leader of the Conservative Party.
The October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered by Liz Truss's announcement that she would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, amid an economic and political crisis.
On 14 October 2022, the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Star began a livestream of an iceberg lettuce next to a framed photograph of Liz Truss, who was appointed prime minister of the United Kingdom the previous month. This act followed an opinion piece in The Economist that compared the expected brevity of Truss's premiership to the shelf life of a head of lettuce, with the October 2022 United Kingdom government crisis occurring weeks into her tenure and leading many political commentators to opine that Truss's resignation was imminent. She announced her resignation as prime minister on 20 October 2022, before the lettuce had wilted; the Daily Star subsequently declared the lettuce "victorious" over Truss.
Out of the Blue: The Inside Story of the Unexpected Rise and Rapid Fall of Liz Truss is a non-fiction book about the British politician Liz Truss, written by Harry Cole and James Heale, published as an ebook on 1 November 2022 and in print and audio on 24 November.
In recent times, a standardised lectern has been used by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, typically outside the door of 10 Downing Street, for addresses to the nation, the announcement of general elections, and resignation speeches.
His delicacy of appearance and manners earned him the nickname 'pretty Fanny'.
Prime Minister Herbert "squiffy" Asquith used to sway on his feet when speaking or answering questions in the House of Commons.
And the best case ever to be made for that most notorious philanderer of them all, David Lloyd George (not for nothing known as "the Welsh Goat") has always seemed to me to lie in the fact that his wife, Margaret, was asking for trouble when, from the moment of his election for Caernarvon Boroughs in 1890, she insisted on staying in north Wales and not accompanying her husband to London.
Churchill responded with alacrity and mild humor, choosing the transparent code name "Naval Person," that he would later change to "Former Naval Person" once he had left the Admiralty and moved to the Prime Minister's Residence at number 10 Downing Street.
I had grown up with the Grocer Heath image from Private Eye, and marched against his industrial relations reforms in the 1970s - although his proposals would have left unions legally stronger than they are today under the EU Social Charter.
Denis Healey, with characteristic charm, once referred to her as "Attila the Hen".
It means actually "That bloody woman!" factor in fact.
And it is why he will tender his resignation from the office of Prime Minister on 27 June this year rather than at the end of next year, which would have given him a longer stretch at the top than the Great She-Elephant herself.
A Spitting Image sketch had a waiter asking her what she wanted for dinner. 'Steak,' replied the Great She Elephant. 'And what about the vegetables?' Withering the cabinet, she delivered the punchline: 'They'll have the same.'
Years before she entered Number 10 as prime minister was the one that left her dubbed "Thatcher, Thatcher Milk Snatcher".
Well, Mrs Finchley—Mrs Finchley!—I'm terribly sorry, Mrs Thatcher! Mrs Thatcher of Finchley[.]
Major had been considered a decent but uninspiring person who was known as the 'grey man' of politics.
Mr Blair walked into Downing Street as the youngest prime minister since 1812. His political nickname, at the time, was "Bambi".... The suspicion that Mr Blair misled voters over Iraq has become an accusation of bad faith that has been impossible to shake off. By now a common nickname for the prime minister was "Bliar".
"America's Poodle" is the insult of choice hurled by critics of Tony Blair for his support for President Bush.
TONY BLAIR no longer commands. Teflon Tony is dead. [...] Yesterday's defeat in the Commons is a serious blow for Labour's credibility as a governing party.(subscription required)
Some detractors have jokingly compared him to the fantasy film hero - and partial namesake - Flash Gordon, who rescued earth from attack by Martians.
The next election will be a flyweight versus a heavyweight. However much the right hon. Gentleman may dance around the ring beforehand, at some point, he will come within the reach of a big clunking fist, and you know what, he will be out on his feet, carried out of the ring
Shortly before Tony Blair stepped down as prime minister, he warned David Cameron to beware Gordon Brown's "great clunking fist"
The Tories will try to stick him with the nickname 'Bottler Brown'. That's a soubriquet he is going to hate, not least because it is a label with history.
The chancellor has a Macavity quality. He is not there when there is dirty work to be done.... You can choose whether you are impressed or depressed by that, but you cannot help admire the sheer Stalinist ruthlessness of it all.
So who is the Boris behind the clown? Not Boris at all, actually. The prime minister's first name is Alexander, or 'Al' to friends and family. Boris, his middle name, is effectively the stage name.