The Prime Minister

The powers and role of the Prime Minister (PM) have slowly increased and he/she now sets the government’s legislative agenda, appoints and sacks Cabinet Ministers, oversees major policies, speaks for the country and can deploy the UK’s armed forces, though there are Parliamentary checks.

The Glorious Revolution of 1688-9 saw significant power transferred to Parliament by grateful incoming monarchs. Then the German-born Kings, Georges I (reigned 1714-27) and II (reigned 1727-60) delegated even more policy control to Ministers as they had half an eye on their German possessions. This was the opportunity for Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), First Lord of the Treasury, to take more of a leadership position and although he was not titled the PM (Hansard did not use the term until 1885), he is deemed to have been the first one in a line of, now, 58.

Walpole served the longest term at the top, from 1721 to 1742 and was responsible for the PM’s official residence being at 10 Downing Street. William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), the second-longest-serving PM, justifiably asserted that only one Minister should liaise with the monarch, thus securing another power under the PM’s belt. Of the 58 PMs, six have died in office, one was assassinated and eight served less than a year.

(Images LtoR: Number 10 at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 & Walpole at picryl.com)