Historical rankings of prime ministers of the United Kingdom

Several academics, Members of Parliament, the general public, and journalists alike have attempted to rank prime ministers of the United Kingdom. Those included below generally consist of only a subset of prime ministers, typically those of the 20th century or those who served after the Second World War.

Academic opinion

In December 1999, a BBC Radio 4 poll of 20 prominent historians, politicians and commentators for The Westminster Hour produced the verdict that Churchill was the best British prime minister of the 20th century, with Lloyd George in second place and Clement Attlee in third place. As Blair was still in office he was not ranked. The worst prime minister in that survey was judged to be Anthony Eden.

In 2004, the University of Leeds and Ipsos Mori conducted an online survey of 258 academics who specialised in 20th-century British history and/or politics. There were 139 replies to the survey, a return rate of 54% – by far the most extensive survey done so far. The respondents were asked, among other historical questions, to rate all the 20th-century prime ministers in terms of their success and asking them to assess the key characteristics of successful ones. Respondents were asked to indicate on a scale of 0 to 10 how successful or unsuccessful they considered each prime minister to have been in office (with 0 being highly unsuccessful and 10 highly successful). A mean of the scores was calculated and a league table based on the mean scores. The five Labour prime ministers were, on average, judged to have been the most successful, with a mean of 6.0 (median of 5.9). The three Liberals averaged 5.8 (median of 6.2) and the twelve Conservatives 4.8 (median of 4.1).

In a 2006 issue of BBC History, historian Francis Beckett ranked the 20th-century prime ministers with points out of five in 2006, based on how well the leaders implemented their policies – not on the policies themselves. Margaret Thatcher and Clement Attlee shared the highest ranking.

In 2010, the University of Leeds and Woodnewton Associates carried out a survey of 106 academics who specialised in British politics or British history, to rank the performance of all 12 prime ministers who served between 1945 and 2010. Churchill's ranking was thus determined from his second term only.

In October 2016, the University of Leeds, in conjunction with Woodnewton Associates, surveyed 82 academics specialising in post-1945 British history and politics, following the Brexit referendum. Due to the date range, Churchill's oft-lauded war ministry and caretaker ministry were not in contention and he was judged solely on his second premiership.

In June 2021, the University of Leeds, again with Woodnewton Associates, surveyed 93 academics specialising in British politics and modern British history to rank the performance of post-war prime ministers from Churchill to Theresa May.

The following table collects these surveys, although they are not all comparable.

Key:

+Rankings of prime ministers by academics Prime Minister Party TenureThe Marquess of SalisburyConservative1885–18861886–18921895–190207Ranking might only cover the Marquess of Salisbury's premiership after 1900 or between 1895 and 1902, not between 1885 and 1886 or 1886 and 1892.1003 – – –Arthur BalfourConservative1902–1905161804 – – –Henry Campbell-BannermanLiberal1905–1908091102 – – –H. H. AsquithLiberal1908–1916040703 – – –David Lloyd GeorgeLiberal1916–1922020303 – – –Bonar LawConservative1922–1923131605 – – –Stanley BaldwinConservative1923–19241924–19291935–1937080803 – – –Ramsay MacDonaldLabourNational Labour19241929–1935141405 – – –Neville ChamberlainConservative1937–1940181706 – – –Winston ChurchillConservative1940–19451951–1955010202060707=Clement AttleeLabour1945–1951030101010101Anthony EdenConservative1955–1957192006121313=Harold MacmillanConservative1957–1963060502040405Alec Douglas-HomeConservative1963–1964151905111212Harold WilsonLabour1964–19701974–1976100903050504Edward HeathConservative1970–1974111302090910James CallaghanLabour1976–1979121204070807=Margaret ThatcherConservative1979–1990050401020202John MajorConservative1990–1997171505080607=Tony BlairLabour1997–2007 –06 03030303Gordon BrownLabour2007–2010 – – –101006David CameronConservative2010–2016 – – – –1111Theresa MayConservative2016–2019 – – – – –13=

Seldon, Meakin, Thoms and Egerton In the book The Impossible Office?: The History of the British Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Seldon, Jonathan Meakin, Illias Thoms and Tom Egerton categorised premiers into six tiers:

Agenda Changers: Walpole, Pitt Jr., Peel, Palmerston, Gladstone, Lloyd George, Churchill, Attlee and Thatcher Major Contributors: Pitt Sr., Liverpool, Disraeli, Grey, Asquith, Baldwin, Macmillan, Wilson, Heath and Blair Positive Stabilisers: Pelham, Newcastle, Perceval, Wellington, Salisbury, Balfour, Campbell-Bannerman, MacDonald, Callaghan, Major, Brown, Cameron and Sunak Noble Failures: North, Russell, Derby, Chamberlain and May Ignoble Failures: Grenville Sr., Portland, Addington, Melbourne, Eden, Johnson and Truss Left on the Starting Line: Devonshire, Shelburne, Compton, Bute, Grafton, Rockingham, Aberdeen, Rosebery, Grenville Jr., Canning, Goderich, Bonar Law and Douglas-Home.

The latter category is for prime ministers whose tenures were too short to be properly evaluated (though Truss, with the shortest tenure of all, was not placed here).

Opinion of members of Parliament

In 2013, a group of academic staff and students at Royal Holloway, University of London, conducted a postal survey of British members of Parliament, asking them to evaluate the success of post-war British prime ministers. Some 158 MPs replied to the survey, a response rate of 24%. The respondents were 69 Conservatives, 67 Labour MPs, 14 Liberal Democrats and 8 MPs from other parties.

The survey used the same question employed in the 2004 and 2010 University of Leeds studies: MPs were asked how successful or unsuccessful they considered each prime minister to have been using a 0 to 10 scale, where 0 meant highly unsuccessful and 10 meant highly successful.

Overall, MPs rated Margaret Thatcher as the most successful post-war prime minister, just ahead of Clement Attlee. With the exception of Edward Heath, who was judged more favourably by Labour MPs than by Conservatives, evaluations were split along party lines: Conservative MPs tended to consider Conservative prime ministers to be more successful than did Labour MPs, and Labour MPs generally gave Labour prime ministers higher scores than did Conservative MPs.

In 2023, the survey was redone with 65 correspondences.

Key:

+Rankings of prime ministers by members of Parliament Prime Minister Party TenureWinston ChurchillConservative(1940–1945)1951–195504Ranking only covers Winston Churchill's premiership between 1951 and 1955, not between 1940 and 1945.04Clement AttleeLabour1945–19510202Anthony EdenConservative1955–19571115Harold MacmillanConservative1957–19630506Alec Douglas-HomeConservative1963–19641014Harold WilsonLabour1964–19701974–19760605Edward HeathConservative1970–19740912James CallaghanLabour1976–19790810Margaret ThatcherConservative1979–19900101John MajorConservative1990–19970708Tony BlairLabour1997–20070303Gordon BrownLabour2007–20101209David CameronConservative2010–2016 –07Theresa MayConservative2016–2019 –13Boris JohnsonConservative2019–2022 –11Liz TrussConservative2022 –16

Popular opinion BBC polls 2007 and 2008 The BBC television programme The Daily Politics asked viewers in 2007 to select their favourite prime minister out of a list of ten who served between 1945 and 2007 (excluding Churchill). In 2008, BBC Newsnight held a poll of 27,000 people, to decide the UK's greatest and worst post-war prime minister.

Key:

+Rankings of prime ministers by the general public Prime Minister Party TenureWinston ChurchillConservative(1940–1945)1951–1955 –01Clement AttleeLabour1945–19510202Anthony EdenConservative1955–19570911Harold MacmillanConservative1957–19630604Alec Douglas-HomeConservative1963–19640810Harold WilsonLabour1964–19701974–19760405Edward HeathConservative1970–19740707James CallaghanLabour1976–19791009Margaret ThatcherConservative1979–19900103John MajorConservative1990–19970508Tony BlairLabour1997–200703Ranking completed while the prime minister was in office.06Gordon BrownLabour2007–2010 –12 While the poll indicated that respondents should only consider the period from 1945 onwards, whether or not respondents opted to separate Churchill's first term (1940–45) from his second in their evaluation should be weighed in this evaluation versus other polls (e.g. of academics), who generally rate Churchill's second term as being substantially worse than his first by comparison. Additionally, in a BBC poll to find the 100 Greatest Britons in 2002, five prime ministers were ranked in the top 100. Winston Churchill was voted greatest Briton, the Duke of Wellington was in 15th place, Margaret Thatcher was in 16th place, Tony Blair was 67th and David Lloyd George was 79th.

Journalistic opinion Both The Times and broadcaster Iain Dale have specifically ranked all (or almost all) British prime ministers. The results are shown below:

Key:

+Rankings of prime ministers by journalists Prime Minister Party TenureRobert WalpoleWhig1721–17420914160710Earl of WilmingtonWhig1742–1743 –50514252Henry PelhamWhig1743–17542919342019Duke of NewcastleWhig1754–17561757–17624140324122Duke of DevonshireWhig1756–17574435444753Earl of ButeTory1762–17634644494042George GrenvilleWhig1763–17654851483944Marquess of RockinghamWhig1765–176617823230423827William Pitt the ElderWhig1766–17681625141825Duke of GraftonWhig1768–17704942504938Lord NorthTory1770–17825049374440Earl of ShelburneWhig1782–17832629410541Duke of PortlandWhigTory17831807–18093927433743William Pitt the YoungerTory1783–18011804–18060412050303Henry AddingtonTory1801–18043936393626Baron GrenvilleWhig1806–18074339403536Spencer PercevalTory1809–18123638473337Earl of LiverpoolTory1812–18271922221520George CanningTory18273108362354Viscount GoderichTory1827–1828 –37525155Duke of WellingtonTory1828–183018342418301733Earl GreyWhig1830–18340809100613Viscount MelbourneWhig18341835–18412526213224Robert PeelConservative1834–18351841–18460606080812Lord John RussellWhigLiberal1846–18521865–18662115291418Earl of DerbyConservative18521858–18591866–18681823191616Earl of AberdeenPeelite1852–18554241314339Viscount PalmerstonWhigLiberal1855–18581859–18651311201117Benjamin DisraeliConservative18681874–18801007060908William Ewart GladstoneLiberal1868–18741880–188518861892–18940304020402Marquess of SalisburyConservative1885–18861886–18921895–19021110122509Earl of RoseberyLiberal1894–18954546465046Arthur BalfourConservative1902–19053028383131Henry Campbell-BannermanLiberal1905–19082224263023H. H. AsquithLiberal1908–19161121092607David Lloyd GeorgeLiberal1916–19220202030206Bonar LawConservative1922–19233447352449Stanley BaldwinConservative1923–19241924–19291935–19371420111311Ramsay MacDonaldLabourNational Labour19241929–19353348332930Neville ChamberlainConservative1937–19403545285247Winston ChurchillConservative1940–19451951–19550101010101Clement AttleeLabour1945–19510705072205Anthony EdenConservative1955–19574743454851Harold MacmillanConservative1957–19631517132121Alec Douglas-HomeConservative1963–19643632273448Harold WilsonLabour1964–19701974–19762033171915Edward HeathConservative1970–19742313184635James CallaghanLabour1976–19792731242734Margaret ThatcherConservative1979–19900503041004John MajorConservative1990–19972816232828Tony BlairLabour1997–20071634151214Gordon BrownLabour2007–201036Ranking may have been completed while the prime minister was in office.52 25 45 32David CameronConservative2010–2016 – – – –29Theresa MayConservative2016–2019 – – – –50Boris JohnsonConservative2019–2022 – – – –45

See also 100 Greatest Britons List of current heads of government in the United Kingdom and dependencies

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