Today it's 300 years since Robert Walpole was appointed First Lord of the Treasury, making him what would later come to be seen as Britain's first Prime Minister. There have been 54 since, of varying repute, leading up to the current <insert adjective here> incumbent.
To commemorate the tercentenary I thought I'd knock up a colourful strip history depicting the parties those Prime Ministers belonged to, divided up into three separate centuries to keep things manageable. It'a bit approximate in places.
100 years of Prime Ministers (1721-1821)
1721
1763
1770
1783
1807
For the first 100 years the PMs were either Whigs or Tories. The Whigs maintained power for almost all of the first five decades (thanks to royal patronage) and the Tories for almost all of the second fifty. Simpler, but less democratic, times.
100 years of Prime Ministers (1821-1921)
1821
1835
1846
1852
1859
1868
1874
1886
1895
1905
Politics got more turbulent in the 1830s, and regular flip-flopping between parties began. In 1834 the Tories evolved into Conservatives (if you don't mind me simplifying hugely), and in 1859 the Whigs evolved into Liberals. Disraeli, Gladstone and the Marquis of Salisbury repeatedly replaced each other between 1868 and 1902.
100 years of Prime Ministers (1921-2021)
1929
1935
1945
1951
1964
1979
1997
2010
There hasn't been a Liberal PM since Lloyd George 99 years ago. Ramsay McDonald became the first Labour PM in 1924, and since then it's been red versus blue all the way. Over the last century Conservative PMs have been in Number 10 for 62 years and Labour PMs for 37. During the last four decades there have been seven Prime Ministers but the party in power has only changed twice.
300 years of Prime Ministers
Conservative
95 yrs
Whig 70 yrs
Tory 61 yrs
Lib 38 yrs
Lab 37 yrs
The Conservatives are the most successful party of the last three centuries with 19 Prime Ministers serving a total of 95 years. The Whigs are next (16 PMs), then the Tories (9 PMs), with the Liberals (5 PMs) and Labour (6 PMs) bringing up the rear.
300 years of Prime Ministers
37 yrs
107 yrs
155 yrs
Finally, if you shuffle everything onto a left/right continuum it's a long-term victory for the right. The Tories and Conservatives have been in power for just over half of the last three centuries, and the Whigs weren't exactly what we'd describe as liberal either.
Best not predict what the next century will look like, just remember that the current Prime Minister will eventually be replaced.
