Historical rankings of prime ministers of the United Kingdom

Academics, members of Parliament, the general public and journalists alike have attempted to rank prime ministers of the United Kingdom.

[1] In 2004, the University of Leeds and Ipsos Mori conducted an online survey of 258 academics who specialised in 20th-century British history and/or politics.

[4][5] In October 2016, the University of Leeds, in conjunction with Woodnewton Associates, surveyed 82 academics specialising in post-1945 British history and politics, following the Brexit referendum.

Overall, MPs rated Margaret Thatcher as the most successful post-war prime minister, just ahead of Clement Attlee.

Key: The BBC television programme The Daily Politics asked viewers in 2007 to select their favourite prime minister out of a list of ten who served between 1945 and 2007 (excluding Churchill).

[11] In 2008, BBC Newsnight held a poll of 27,000 people, to decide the UK's greatest and worst post-war prime minister.

Winston Churchill is generally considered one of the greatest prime ministers for his leadership during the Second World War .
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool , a Tory prime minister from 1812 to 1827, is ranked highly despite being called "the Arch-mediocrity" by later Conservative prime minister Benjamin Disraeli .
Clement Attlee , who served as Labour Leader for over 20 years, is very highly rated among prime ministers.
Britain's longest serving prime minister in the 20th century and first female prime minister Margaret Thatcher is rated highly by many.