British general election of 2010

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Prime ministers of the United Kingdom

inBritish general election of 2010

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Oct 12, 2024 • Article History

The political party and term of office of each British prime minister are provided in the table.

Prime ministers of Great Britain and the United Kingdom*
	name	party**	term
*The origin of the term prime minister and the question of to whom it should originally be applied have long been issues of scholarly and political debate. Although the term was used as early as the reign of Queen Anne (1702–14), it acquired wider currency during the reign of George II (1727–60), when it began to be used as a term of reproach toward Sir Robert Walpole. The title of prime minister did not become official until 1905, to refer to the leader of a government.
**Before the development of the Conservative and Liberal parties in the mid-19th century, parties in Britain were largely simply alliances of prominent groups or aristocratic families. The designations Whig and Tory tend often to be approximate. In all cases, the party designation is that of the prime minister; he might lead a coalition government, as did David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill (in his first term).
	Robert Walpole (from 1725, Sir Robert Walpole; from 1742, earl of Orford)	Whig	1721–42
	Spencer Compton, earl of Wilmington	Whig	1742–43
	Henry Pelham	Whig	1743–54
	Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st duke of Newcastle (1st time)	Whig	1754–56
	William Cavendish, 4th duke of Devonshire	Whig	1756–57
	Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st duke of Newcastle (2nd time)	Whig	1757–62
	John Stuart, 3rd earl of Bute		1762–63
	George Grenville		1763–65
	Charles Watson Wentworth, 2nd marquess of Rockingham (1st time)	Whig	1765–66
	William Pitt, 1st earl of Chatham		1766–68
	Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd duke of Grafton		1768–70
	Frederick North, Lord North (from 1790, 2nd earl of Guilford)		1770–82
	Charles Watson Wentworth, 2nd marquess of Rockingham (2nd time)	Whig	1782
	William Petty-Fitzmaurice, 2nd earl of Shelburne (from 1784, 1st marquess of Lansdowne)		1782–83
	William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd duke of Portland (1st time)	Whig	1783
	William Pitt, the Younger (1st time)	Tory	1783–1801
	Henry Addington (from 1805, 1st Viscount Sidmouth)	Tory	1801–04
	William Pitt, the Younger (2nd time)	Tory	1804–06
	William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville		1806–07
	William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd duke of Portland (2nd time)	Whig	1807–09
	Spencer Perceval	Tory	1809–12
	Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd earl of Liverpool	Tory	1812–27
	George Canning	Tory	1827
	Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich (from 1833, 1st earl of Ripon)	Tory	1827–28
	Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington (1st time)	Tory	1828–30
	Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey	Whig	1830–34
	William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (1st time)	Whig	1834
	Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington (2nd time)	Tory	1834
	Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (1st time)	Tory	1834–35
	William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (2nd time)	Whig	1835–41
	Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (2nd time)	Conservative	1841–46
	John Russell, Lord Russell (from 1861, 1st Earl Russell) (1st time)	Whig-Liberal	1846–52
	Edward Geoffrey Stanley, 14th earl of Derby (1st time)	Conservative	1852
	George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th earl of Aberdeen		1852–55
	Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1st time)	Liberal	1855–58
	Edward Geoffrey Stanley, 14th earl of Derby (2nd time)	Conservative	1858–59
	Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (2nd time)	Liberal	1859–65
	John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (2nd time)	Liberal	1865–66
	Edward Geoffrey Stanley, 14th earl of Derby (3rd time)	Conservative	1866–68
	Benjamin Disraeli (1st time)	Conservative	1868
	William Ewart Gladstone (1st time)	Liberal	1868–74
	Benjamin Disraeli, (from 1876, earl of Beaconsfield) (2nd time)	Conservative	1874–80
	William Ewart Gladstone (2nd time)	Liberal	1880–85
	Robert Cecil, 3rd marquess of Salisbury (1st time)	Conservative	1885–86
	William Ewart Gladstone (3rd time)	Liberal	1886
	Robert Cecil, 3rd marquess of Salisbury (2nd time)	Conservative	1886–92
	William Ewart Gladstone (4th time)	Liberal	1892–94
	Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th earl of Rosebery	Liberal	1894–95
	Robert Cecil, 3rd marquess of Salisbury (3rd time)	Conservative	1895–1902
	Arthur James Balfour, (from 1922, 1st earl of Balfour)	Conservative	1902–05
	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman	Liberal	1905–08
	H.H. Asquith, (from 1925, 1st earl of Oxford and Asquith)	Liberal	1908–16
	David Lloyd George, (from 1945, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor)	Liberal	1916–22
	Bonar Law	Conservative	1922–23
	Stanley Baldwin (1st time)	Conservative	1923–24
	Ramsay Macdonald (1st time)	Labour	1924
	Stanley Baldwin (2nd time)	Conservative	1924–29
	Ramsay Macdonald (2nd time)	Labour	1929–35
	Stanley Baldwin, (from 1937, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley) (3rd time)	Conservative	1935–37
	Neville Chamberlain	Conservative	1937–40
	Winston Churchill (1st time)	Conservative	1940–45
	Clement Attlee, (from 1955, 1st Earl Attlee)	Labour	1945–51
	Winston Churchill, (from 1953, Sir Winston Churchill) (2nd time)	Conservative	1951–55
	Sir Anthony Eden, (from 1961, 1st earl of Avon)	Conservative	1955–57
	Harold Macmillan, (from 1984, 1st earl of Stockton)	Conservative	1957–63
	Sir Alec Douglas-Home, (until 1963, Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, 14th earl of Home; from 1974, Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home)	Conservative	1963–64
	Harold Wilson (1st time)	Labour	1964–70
	Edward Heath	Conservative	1970–74
	Harold Wilson, (from 1976, Sir Harold Wilson) (2nd time)	Labour	1974–76
	James Callaghan	Labour	1976–79
	Margaret Thatcher	Conservative	1979–90
	John Major	Conservative	1990–97
	Tony Blair	Labour	1997–2007
	Gordon Brown	Labour	2007–10
	David Cameron	Conservative	2010–16
	Theresa May	Conservative	2016–19
	Boris Johnson	Conservative	2019–22
	Liz Truss	Conservative	2022
	Rishi Sunak	Conservative	2022–24
	Keir Starmer	Labour	2024–

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.