Name | From | To | Political party | Notes and key events | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arthur Balfour | 11 July 1902 | 5 December 1905 | Conservative | Had poor relations with Edward VII; his cabinet was split over free trade; establishment of the Committee of Imperial Defence; Entente Cordiale. | |
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman |
5 December 1905 | 7 April 1908 | Liberal | Restored autonomy to Transvaal and the Orange Free State; Anglo-Russian Entente; first Prime Minister to be referred to as such in Parliamentary legislation. | |
H. H. Asquith | 7 April 1908 | 7 December 1916 | Liberal | Liberal Welfare Reforms; People's Budget; Parliament Act 1911; National Insurance and pensions; Home Rule Act 1914; World War I; Easter Rising. | |
David Lloyd George | 7 December 1916 | 19 October 1922 | Liberal | End of World War I; Paris Peace Conference; attempted to extend conscription to Ireland during the First World War; granted women over 30 the vote; formation of the Irish Free State; the only Prime Minister, as of 2007, whose mother tongue was not English (it was Welsh). | |
Andrew Bonar Law | 23 October 1922 | 20 May 1923 | Conservative | Resigned due to ill health; died six months after leaving office. | |
Stanley Baldwin (1st term) |
23 May 1923 | 16 January 1924 | Conservative | Called a general election to gain a mandate for protectionist tariffs but failed to gain a majority; resigned after losing a vote of confidence. | |
Ramsay MacDonald (1st term) |
22 January 1924 | 4 November 1924 | Labour | First Labour prime minister; did not have a majority so could not introduce radical legislation; settled reparations with Germany following World War I. | |
Stanley Baldwin (2nd term) |
4 November 1924 | 5 June 1929 | Conservative | Treaty of Locarno; signatory of the Kellogg-Briand Pact; Pensions Act; enfranchisement of women over 21; UK General Strike of 1926. | |
Ramsay MacDonald (2nd term) |
5 June 1929 | 24 August 1931 | Labour | Appointed the first female minister, Margaret Bondfield; economic crises following the Wall Street Crash of 1929. | |
Ramsay MacDonald (3rd term) |
24 August 1931 | 7 June 1935 | National Labour | Unable to retain the support of the Labour Party, MacDonald officially resigned and was then re-appointed to form a National Government with the support of the Conservative and Liberal parties. He was expelled from the Labour Party. | |
Stanley Baldwin (3rd term) |
7 June 1935 | 28 May 1937 | Conservative | Managed the abdication crisis of Edward VIII; started rearmament but later criticised for failing to rearm more when Adolf Hitler broke Germany's Treaty of Versailles obligations. | |
Neville Chamberlain | 28 May 1937 | 10 May 1940 | Conservative | Attempted to prevent World War II through appeasement of Germany; widely criticised following the invasion of Poland; resigned after failing to form a Coalition Government. | |
Winston Churchill (1st term) |
10 May 1940 | 23 May 1945 | Conservative | World War II; led a Coalition Government; foundation of the United Nations; proposed what would eventually lead to the European Union. | |
Winston Churchill (2nd term) |
23 May 1945 | 27 July 1945 | Conservative | Following the ending of his all-party coalition, Churchill formed a "caretaker" government out of Conservatives, Liberal Nationals and non-party figures. However after two months it was defeated in the 1945 general election. | |
Clement Attlee | 27 July 1945 | 26 October 1951 | Labour | Initiated the post-war consensus; introduced nationalisation of utilities; foundation of the National Health Service; extended national insurance scheme; independence of India and the end of the British role in Palestine; foundation of NATO. | |
Winston Churchill (3rd term) |
26 October 1951 | 7 April 1955 | Conservative | Domestic policy interrupted by foreign disputes (Operation Ajax, Mau Mau Uprising, Malayan Emergency). | |
Anthony Eden | 7 April 1955 | 10 January 1957 | Conservative | Failed to prevent the Egyptian nationalisation of the Suez Canal; invaded Egypt leading to the Suez Crisis. | |
Harold Macmillan | 10 January 1957 | 19 October 1963 | Conservative | The UK applied to join the European Economic Community for the first time, the application split the Conservatives and was rejected by Charles de Gaulle, President of France; Profumo Affair. | |
Alec Douglas-Home | 19 October 1963 | 16 October 1964 | Conservative | Was the Earl of Home when he became Prime Minister, and renounced his peerage on 23 October 1963 in order to stand for the House of Commons. | |
Harold Wilson (1st term) |
16 October 1964 | 19 June 1970 | Labour | Social reforms, including legalisation of abortion and decriminalisation of homosexuality; Rhodesian U.D.I.; adopted, then abandoned, the National Plan for the economy; Devaluation of the pound; foundation of the Open University; dispute over In Place of Strife trade union reforms. | |
Edward Heath | 19 June 1970 | 4 March 1974 | Conservative | U-turned over intervention in industry; negotiated Britain's entry to the European Community; Violence due to Northern Ireland's 'Troubles' peaked; the Sunningdale Agreement agreed; Three-Day Week; called early election in backfiring attempt to confront striking miners. | |
Harold Wilson (2nd term) |
4 March 1974 | 5 April 1976 | Labour | Ended dispute with miners; Social Contract with trade unions over the economy; Health and Safety at Work Act; Renegotiated terms for EC membership, then 1975 referendum validated entry; North Sea oil, Cod War. | |
James Callaghan | 5 April 1976 | 4 May 1979 | Labour | International Monetary Fund loan to support the pound; the Lib-Lab pact; enacted devolution to Scotland and Wales but referendums stopped them; relations with trade unions broke down in the Winter of Discontent. | |
Margaret Thatcher | 4 May 1979 | 28 November 1990 | Conservative | First female Prime Minister of the UK; Falklands War; sold council housing to tenants (right to buy) without replacement; miners' strike 1984-5; privatisation of many previously government-owned industries; decreased the power of trade unions; Anglo-Irish Agreement; Section 28; abolition of GLC; negotiation of the UK rebate towards the European Community budget; the "Poll tax". | |
John Major | 28 November 1990 | 2 May 1997 | Conservative | Global recession; Gulf War; ratification of the Maastricht Treaty and the Maastricht Rebels; forced exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism ("Black Wednesday"); the Downing Street Declaration (initiating the Northern Ireland peace process); Citizen's charter; "Back to Basics" campaign; Cones Hotline; Dangerous Dogs Act. | |
Tony Blair | 2 May 1997 | 27 June 2007 | Labour | Independence for the Bank of England; Belfast Agreement; Human Rights Act; devolution to Scotland and Wales; House of Lords Reform; minimum wage; Kosovo War; Mayor of London and GLA; war in Afghanistan; Iraq War; university tuition fees; Civil Partnership Act; July 7th Bombing; Cash for Peerages; Ecclestone scandal; Iraq Dossier; Kelly suicide | |
Gordon Brown | 27 June 2007 | Incumbent | Labour | London car bombs; Glasgow Airport attack; foot-and-mouth outbreak (2007); national floods; child benefit data misplaced; Donorgate ; Northern Rock; Treaty of Lisbon |