Records of prime ministers of the United Kingdom
The prime minister with the longest single term was Robert Walpole, lasting 20 years and 315 days from 3 April 1721 until 11 February 1742.
She was appointed by Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle on 6 September 2022, and officially resigned as prime minister to Charles III at Buckingham Palace on 25 October 2022.
William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath technically assumed office for only two days (10–12 February 1746), but was unable to find more than one person who would agree to serve in his cabinet.
A satirist of the time wrote: "the minister to the astonishment of all wise men never transacted one rash thing; and, what is more marvellous, left as much money in the Treasury as he found in it."
The only prime minister to serve four terms under that definition was William Ewart Gladstone: Three prime ministers have served three terms: Thirteen prime ministers have served two terms: Winston Churchill, Benjamin Disraeli, Ramsay MacDonald, The Viscount Melbourne, The Duke of Newcastle, Lord Palmerston, Robert Peel, William Pitt the Younger, The Duke of Portland, The Marquess of Rockingham, Lord John Russell, The Duke of Wellington, and Harold Wilson.
Prior to this the longest-living prime minister was Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, who was born on 10 February 1894 and died on 29 December 1986 (aged 92 years, 322 days).
In the last 100 years, the prime minister who lived the longest after leaving office was Edward Heath, whose term ended on 4 March 1974.
The oldest prime minister to be defeated without returning to office was Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, who was 75 when the Conservative Party lost the 1880 general election.
In contrast, 18 prime ministers preceding the current (Keir Starmer) have never become members of the House of Lords, including six of his eight immediate predecessors.
He also had the shortest period as an MP enjoyed by a prime minister, nearly five months, representing two successive seats (the first of which he only held for 11 days before being elected for his second) until going to the House of Lords when he succeeded his father as the 3rd Duke of Grafton on 6 May 1757, eleven years before his term of office began.
Winston Churchill served the longest as MP, for a total of 63 years and 360 days, for five successive seats, between 1 October 1900 and retirement on 25 September 1964, excluding two intervals out of parliament (in 1908 and in 1922–1924).
David Lloyd George had the longest unbroken career as an MP, for one seat, Carnarvon Boroughs, from a by-election on 10 April 1890 until his death on 26 March 1945, a period of 54 years and 350 days.
He gained his next Commons seat at Kinross and Western Perthshire in a by-election on 7 November 1963, after becoming prime minister and disclaiming his hereditary peerage.
It is rare for veteran prime ministers sitting in the Commons to lose seats through electoral defeat at subsequent general elections.
Seven prime ministers have died in office: Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Bonar Law each resigned during their respective final illnesses.
The most recent prime minister to be an armed forces veteran was James Callaghan (1976–1979), who served in the Royal Navy in the Second World War, from 1942 to 1945, seeing action with the East Indies Fleet and reaching the rank of Lieutenant.
The following lost close relations in their lifetimes as a result of war: Also: The most decorated British prime minister was Winston Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, who received a total of 38 orders, decorations and medals,[note 2] from the United Kingdom and thirteen other states (on continents of Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America).
Ten were awarded for active service as an Army officer in Cuba, India, Egypt, South Africa, the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium.
The only prime minister to have received a British gallantry award was Anthony Eden, who won the Military Cross (MC) while serving in the army in the First World War, before entering parliament.
[5][6] The longest-married prime minister was James Callaghan, who was married to his wife Audrey for 66 years from 28 July 1938 until her death on 15 March 2005.
[10] David Lloyd George possibly had a daughter with his mistress Frances Stevenson after leaving office, but the historical consensus is that it is unlikely that he was her father.
The most popular degree course with future prime ministers is Classics, read by 7 PMs (Robert Peel to Boris Johnson).
One British prime minister did not speak English as a first language – David Lloyd George, who was raised in a Welsh-speaking family.
[22][23] Before becoming prime minister, Robert Walpole was impeached and convicted in 1712 for "a high breach of trust and notorious corruption" and sentenced to six months imprisonment in the Tower of London.
[24] In 2006 and 2007, Tony Blair became the first sitting prime minister to be questioned as part of a criminal investigation, following the Cash-for-Honours scandal, but this was not under caution.
[25][26] In 2022, Boris Johnson received a fixed-penalty notice relating to violations of the COVID-19 lockdown regulations in the Partygate scandal, becoming the first prime minister found to have broken the law in office.
[27] In January 2023, during his period in office, Rishi Sunak was issued a fixed penalty notice by Lancashire Police for failing to wear a seatbelt in his ministerial car while filming an Instagram video to promote his government's levelling up policy.
[56] The shortest prime minister to take office was believed to be Spencer Perceval who stood at around 5 feet 3 inches (160.0 cm) in height,[55] becoming nicknamed "Little P." for his stature.
[57] When prime minister Liz Truss took office on 6 September 2022, she drew equal with this record, being also 5 feet 3 inches in height.
[67] Prior to taking office, and while serving as an MP, Alec Douglas-Home was immobilised from 1940 to 1943 following an operation to treat spinal tuberculosis.
