Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, they sit as members of Parliament. The current prime minister is Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party, who assumed the office on 25 October 2022.[4]
For the list, see List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom.Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Prime Minister
(informal) - The Right Honourable
(within the UK and Commonwealth) - His Excellency
(diplomatic)
- 10 Downing Street (official)
- Chequers (country house)
The Monarch
(with their choice limited to the person who can command the confidence of the House of Commons)[1]
No fixed position; often held by:
The office of prime minister is not established by any statute or constitutional document, but exists only by long-established convention, whereby the monarch appoints as prime minister the person most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons.[5] In practice, this is the leader of the political party that holds the largest number of seats in the Commons.
The prime minister is ex officio also First Lord of the Treasury (prior to 1905 also the official title of the position), Minister for the Civil Service and the minister responsible for national security.[6]: p.22 In 2019, the office of Minister for the Union was established; Boris Johnson became the first prime minister to hold this title.[7] The prime minister's official residence and office is 10 Downing Street in London.[8]
Fifty-seven people (fifty-four men and three women) have served as prime minister, the first of whom was Robert Walpole taking office on 3 April
1721. The longest-serving prime minister was also Walpole, who served over 20 years, and the shortest-serving was Liz Truss, who served seven weeks.
Modern premiership
Appointment
In modern times, much of the process involving prime ministerial appointments is informally governed by constitutional conventions and authoritative sources, like The Cabinet Manual, paragraphs 2.7 to 2.20 and 3.1 to 3.2.
The prime minister is appointed by the monarch, through the exercise of the royal prerogative.[19] In the past, the monarch has used personal choice to dismiss or appoint a prime minister (the last time being in 1834), but it is now the convention that the monarch should not be drawn into party politics.[6]: 3
The prime minister "...holds that position by virtue of his or her ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, which in turn commands the confidence of the electorate, as expressed through a general election."[6]: 3.1 By convention, the prime minister is also an MP and is normally the leader of the political party that commands a majority in the House of Commons.[6]: 3.1 [n 2]
Retirement honours
Upon retirement, it is customary for the sovereign to grant a prime minister some honour or dignity. The honour bestowed is commonly, but not invariably, membership of the UK's most senior order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter. The practice of creating a retired prime minister a Knight Companion of the Garter (KG) has been fairly prevalent since the mid-nineteenth century. Upon the retirement of a prime minister who is Scottish, it is likely that the primarily Scottish honour of Knight of the Thistle (KT) will be used instead of the Order of the Garter, which is generally regarded as an English honour.[n 4]
Historically it has also been common to grant prime ministers a peerage upon retirement from the Commons, elevating the individual to the Lords. Formerly, the peerage bestowed was usually an earldom.[n 5] The last such creation was for Harold Macmillan, who resigned in 1963. Unusually, he became Earl of Stockton only in 1984, over twenty years after leaving office.
Macmillan's successors Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron all accepted life peerages (although Douglas-Home had previously disclaimed his hereditary title as Earl of Home). Edward Heath did not accept a peerage of any kind and nor have any of the prime ministers, other than Cameron (having done so to re-join the Cabinet, rather than as an honour per se), who have retired since 1990. Edward Heath (in 1992), John Major (in 2005) and Tony Blair (in 2022) were later appointed as Knights Companion of the Garter, although Blair had previously disclosed that he did not want honours bestowed for himself or future prime ministers.
The most recent former prime minister to die was Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990) on 8 April 2013. Her death meant that for the first time since 1955 (the year in which the Earldom of Attlee was created, subsequent to the death of Earl Baldwin in 1947) the membership of the House of Lords included no former prime minister, a situation which remained the case until David Cameron was appointed to the House in November 2023.
Public Duty Costs Allowance (PDCA)
All former prime ministers are entitled to claim for salary or office expenses incurred in fulfilling public duties in that role. The allowance may not be used to pay for private or parliamentary duties. It is administered by the Cabinet Office Finance Team.
The maximum amount which may be claimed per year is £115,000, plus 10% towards any staff pension costs. This limit is reviewed annually, and at the start of each Parliament, by the prime minister. The maximum level may be adjusted downwards if the former prime minister receives any public funds for fulfilling other public appointments.[49] Downing Street confirmed in November 2023 that former prime minister David Cameron would not claim from the PDCA while he is Foreign Secretary.[50]