List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom by length of tenure

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This article lists each prime minister of the United Kingdom in order of term length. This is based on the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days, figures would be one day greater for each term served.

The term Prime Minister has been in regular usage since the 1730s.[1] For completeness this list includes all Prime Ministers of the Kingdom of Great Britain, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the modern-day United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Notable lengths

Of the 56 past prime ministers, nine served more than 10 years while eight served less than a year.[2]

Robert Walpole is the only person to have served as prime minister for more than two decades. Liz Truss is the shortest-serving former prime minister, resigning after seven weeks following a government crisis.[3][4][5] The previous shortest time served was George Canning, who served for less than four months before dying in office.[6]

List of office holders by tenure

Note
In this table, "Terms" is the number of separate, discontiguous periods served as prime minister.
Rank Prime Minister Tenure length Terms Party Start Reason
for exit		 Ref.
1 Sir Robert Walpole 20 years, 314 days 1 Whig 1721 Resigned [2]
2 William Pitt the Younger 18 years, 343 days 2 Tory (Pittite) 1783 Died [2]
3 The Earl of Liverpool 14 years, 305 days 1 Tory (Pittite) 1812 Resigned due to illness [7]
4 The Marquess of Salisbury 13 years, 252 days 3 Conservative 1885 Resigned due to illness [7]
5 William Ewart Gladstone 12 years, 126 days 4 Liberal 1868 Resigned [7]
6 Lord North 12 years, 58 days 1 Tory (Northite) 1770 Resigned [7]
7 Margaret Thatcher 11 years, 208 days 1 Conservative 1979 Resigned [7]
8 Henry Pelham 10 years, 191 days 1 Whig 1743 Died [7]
9 Tony Blair 10 years, 56 days 1 Labour 1997 Resigned [7]
10 The Viscount Palmerston 9 years, 141 days 2 Whig / Liberal 1855 Died [2]
11 H. H. Asquith 8 years, 244 days 1 Liberal 1908 Resigned [7]
12 Sir Winston Churchill 8 years, 239 days 2 Conservative 1940 Resigned due to illness [2]
13 Harold Wilson 7 years, 279 days 2 Labour 1964 Resigned [7]
14 The Duke of Newcastle 7 years, 205 days 2 Whig 1754 Replaced [2]
15 Stanley Baldwin 7 years, 82 days 3 Conservative 1923 Resigned [2]
16 Benjamin Disraeli 6 years, 339 days 2 Conservative 1868 Election [2]
17 Ramsay MacDonald 6 years, 289 days 2 Labour / National Labour 1924 Resigned due to illness [2]
18 Harold Macmillan 6 years, 281 days 1 Conservative 1957 Resigned [7]
19 The Viscount Melbourne 6 years, 255 days 2 Whig 1834 Resigned [2]
20 John Major 6 years, 155 days 1 Conservative 1990 Election [2]
21 Lord John Russell 6 years, 110 days 2 Whig / Liberal 1846 Election [2]
22 Clement Attlee 6 years, 92 days 1 Labour 1945 Election [7]
23 David Cameron 6 years, 63 days 1 Conservative 2010 Resigned [7]
24 David Lloyd George 5 years, 317 days 1 Liberal 1916 Resigned [2]
25 Sir Robert Peel 5 years, 57 days 2 Conservative 1834 Resigned [7]
26 The Earl of Derby 3 years, 280 days 3 Conservative 1852 Resigned due to illness [7]
27 Edward Heath 3 years, 259 days 1 Conservative 1970 Election [7]
28 The Earl Grey 3 years, 229 days 1 Whig 1830 Resigned [2]
29 Arthur Balfour 3 years, 145 days 1 Conservative 1902 Resigned [2]
30 The Duke of Portland 3 years, 82 days 2 Whig / Tory (Pittite) 1783 Resigned due to illness [7]
31 Henry Addington 3 years, 54 days 1 Tory (Pittite) 1801 Replaced [7]
32 Boris Johnson 3 years, 44 days 1 Conservative 2019 Resigned [7]
33 James Callaghan 3 years, 29 days 1 Labour 1976 Election [2]
34 Theresa May 3 years, 11 days 1 Conservative 2016 Resigned [7]
35 Neville Chamberlain 2 years, 348 days 1 Conservative 1937 Resigned [2]
36 The Duke of Wellington 2 years, 320 days 2 Tory 1828 Replaced [2]
37 Gordon Brown 2 years, 318 days 1 Labour 2007 Election [2]
38 Spencer Perceval 2 years, 221 days 1 Tory (Pittite) 1809 Assassinated [2]
39 Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman 2 years, 122 days 1 Liberal 1905 Resigned due to illness [2]
40 George Grenville 2 years, 85 days 1 Whig (Grenvillite) 1763 Replaced [7]
41 The Earl of Chatham 2 years, 76 days 1 Whig (Chathamite) 1766 Resigned due to illness [7]
42 The Earl of Aberdeen 2 years, 42 days 1 Peelite 1852 Resigned [2]
43 Sir Anthony Eden 1 year, 279 days 1 Conservative 1955 Resigned due to illness [7]
44 The Earl of Wilmington 1 year, 119 days 1 Whig 1742 Died [7]
45 The Marquess of Rockingham 1 year, 113 days 2 Whig (Rockinghamite) 1765 Died [2]
46 The Earl of Rosebery 1 year, 109 days 1 Liberal 1894 Election [7]
47 The Duke of Grafton 1 year, 106 days 1 Whig (Chathamite) 1768 Resigned [2]
48 The Lord Grenville 1 year, 42 days 1 Whig 1806 Replaced [7]
49 Sir Alec Douglas-Home 363 days 1 Conservative (Scot. Unionist) 1963 Election [7]
50 The Earl of Bute 317 days 1 Tory 1762 Resigned [2]
51 The Earl of Shelburne 266 days 1 Whig (Chathamite) 1782 Replaced [7]
52 The Duke of Devonshire 225 days 1 Whig 1756 Replaced [2]
53 Bonar Law 211 days 1 Conservative (Scot. Unionist) 1922 Resigned due to illness [2]
54 The Viscount Goderich 144 days 1 Tory (Canningite) 1827 Replaced [2]
55 George Canning 119 days 1 Tory (Canningite) 1827 Died [7]
56 Liz Truss 50 days
1 Conservative 2022 Resigned [3][7]
57 Rishi Sunak 5 days
1 Conservative 2022 Incumbent [7]

Disputed

Prime Minister Length served Terms in office Party Start Exit
The Earl Waldegrave 4 days 0 Whig 1757 Unsupported
The Earl of Bath 2 days 0 Whig 1746 Unsupported

References

  1. ^ Stephen Taylor ODNB.[full citation needed]
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab "Past Prime Ministers". gov.uk. Government of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 25 August 2008.
  3. ^ a b "Liz Truss doubles down on disastrous 'growth' plan in farewell speech". The Independent. 2022-10-25. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  4. ^ Marx, Willem (20 October 2022). "British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigns after weeks of criticism and turmoil". NPR. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  5. ^ Landler, Mark; Castle, Stephen (20 October 2022). "Here is the latest on the political turmoil in Britain". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  6. ^ Fortescue, Ali (20 October 2022). "The divided Tories won't find it easy choosing a new PM". Sky News. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad "British Prime Ministers | University of Oxford". www.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-10-20.

See also

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Presented content of the Wikipedia article was extracted in 2022-10-30 based on https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=6092765