Historical rankings of prime ministers of the United Kingdom

Various polls and surveys of experts and the British public have attempted to rank prime ministers of the United Kingdom on a historical basis. Most have included only a subset of prime ministers, typically those of the 20th century or after the Second World War.

Sir Winston Churchill is a stalwart favourite of scholars and the British public alike for his leadership during the Second World War.

Winston Churchill generally rates highly, except when his wartime leadership is excluded. Clement Attlee and Margaret Thatcher are also often at the top of rankings.

Academic opinion

1999 BBC Radio 4 poll

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.[1]

  1. Winston Churchill (Con)
  2. David Lloyd George (Lib)
  3. Clement Attlee (Lab)
  4. H. H. Asquith (Lib)
  5. Margaret Thatcher (Con)
  6. Harold Macmillan (Con)
  7. Marquess of Salisbury (Con)
  8. Stanley Baldwin (Con)
  9. Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Lib)
  10. Harold Wilson (Lab)
  11. Edward Heath (Con)
  12. James Callaghan (Lab)
  13. Bonar Law (Con)
  14. Ramsay MacDonald (Lab)
  15. Alec Douglas-Home (Con)
  16. Arthur Balfour (Con)
  17. John Major (Con)
  18. Neville Chamberlain (Con)
  19. Anthony Eden (Con)

2006 Francis Beckett
Margaret Thatcher has fared well in popular opinion polls.
Anthony Eden has not fared well in popular opinion polls and historical rankings of 20th-century prime ministers.

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.[2]

2004 Mori / University of Leeds survey

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 (PM) in terms of their success and asking them to assess the key characteristics of successful PMs.

Respondents were asked to indicate on a scale of 0 to 10 how successful or unsuccessful they considered each PM to have been in office (with 0 being highly unsuccessful and 10 highly successful). A mean of the scores could then be calculated and a league table based on the mean scores.[3]

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 Liberal PMs averaged 5.8 (median of 6.2) and the twelve Conservative PMs 4.8 (median of 4.1).

20th-century prime ministers by average scholar rank
#Prime MinisterYears in officePartyMean score
1Clement Attlee1945–1951Labour8.3
2Sir Winston Churchill1940–1945, 1951–1955Conservative7.9
3David Lloyd George1916–1922Liberal7.3
4Margaret Thatcher1979–1990Conservative7.1
5Harold Macmillan1957–1963Conservative6.5
6Tony Blair1997–2007[lower-alpha 1]Labour6.3
7H. H. Asquith1908–1916Liberal6.2
8Stanley Baldwin1923–1924, 1924–1929, 1935–1937Conservative6.2
9Harold Wilson1964–1970, 1974–1976Labour5.9
10Lord Salisbury1895–1902Conservative5.8
11Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman1905–1908Liberal5.0
12James Callaghan1976–1979Labour4.8
13Edward Heath1970–1974Conservative4.4
14Ramsay MacDonald1924, 1929–1935Labour3.7
15John Major1990–1997Conservative3.7
16Bonar Law1922–1923Conservative3.5
17Neville Chamberlain1937–1940Conservative3.4
18Arthur Balfour1902–1905Conservative3.4
19Alec Douglas-Home1963–1964Conservative3.3
20Anthony Eden1955–1957Conservative2.5
  1. Poll taken in 2004, while Blair was still in office.

2010 University of Leeds survey
Clement Attlee is highly rated for his post-war leadership and social reforms.

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.[4][5]

#Prime MinisterYears in officeParty
1Clement Attlee1945–1951Labour
2Margaret Thatcher1979–1990Conservative
3Tony Blair1997–2007Labour
4Harold Macmillan1957–1963Conservative
5Harold Wilson1964–1970, 1974–1976Labour
6Sir Winston Churchill(1940–1945), 1951–1955Conservative
7James Callaghan1976–1979Labour
8John Major1990–1997Conservative
9Edward Heath1970–1974Conservative
10Gordon Brown2007–2010Labour
11Sir Alec Douglas-Home1963–1964Conservative
12Sir Anthony Eden1955–1957Conservative

2016 University of Leeds survey

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. This means that David Cameron is possibly lower than if it was made earlier or later. Due to the date range, Churchill's oft-lauded war and caretaker ministries were not in contention and he was judged solely on his second premiership.[6]

#Prime MinisterYears in officeParty
1Clement Attlee1945–1951Labour
2Margaret Thatcher1979–1990Conservative
3Tony Blair1997–2007Labour
4Harold Macmillan1957–1963Conservative
5Harold Wilson1964–1970, 1974–1976Labour
6Sir John Major1990–1997Conservative
7Sir Winston Churchill(1940–1945), 1951–1955Conservative
8James Callaghan1976–1979Labour
9Sir Edward Heath1970–1974Conservative
10Gordon Brown2007–2010Labour
11David Cameron2010–2016Conservative
12Sir Alec Douglas-Home1963–1964Conservative
13Sir Anthony Eden1955–1957Conservative

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.[7]

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: Tory 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.

# Prime Minister Years in office Party Mean score
1 Margaret Thatcher 1979–1990 Conservative 7.4
2 Clement Attlee 1945–1951 Labour 7.3
3 Tony Blair 1997–2007 Labour 6.8
4 Sir Winston Churchill 1940-1945 & 1951–1955 Conservative 6.5
5 Harold Macmillan 1957–1963 Conservative 6.1
6 Harold Wilson 1964–1970, 1974–1976 Labour 5.8
7 John Major 1990–1997 Conservative 5.3
8 James Callaghan 1976–1979 Labour 4.4
9 Edward Heath 1970–1974 Conservative 4.4
10 Sir Alec Douglas-Home 1963–1964 Conservative 4.0
11 Sir Anthony Eden 1955–1957 Conservative 3.7
12 Gordon Brown 2007–2010 Labour 3.3

2008 Newsnight poll

In September 2008 the BBC Newsnight programme conducted an online poll. Asking voters to decide who they thought was the greatest and worst of post-war prime ministers. 27,000 people responded, and decided that Winston Churchill was the greatest, with Attlee second.[8]

The full results were:

  1. Winston Churchill
  2. Clement Attlee
  3. Margaret Thatcher
  4. Harold Macmillan
  5. Harold Wilson
  6. Tony Blair
  7. Edward Heath
  8. John Major
  9. James Callaghan
  10. Alec Douglas-Home
  11. Anthony Eden

2010 Times poll

The Times constructed a poll for the first time of all British prime ministers in the lead-up to the 2010 general election.

Prime ministers ranked by The Times and its correspondents
Order Name Party Tenure
The Times
overall
[9]		 Parris
[10]		 Riddell
[11]		 MacIntyre
[12]
11Robert WalpoleWhig1721–174209141607
22Earl of WilmingtonWhig1742–1743505142
33Henry PelhamWhig1743–175429193420
44
6		Duke of NewcastleWhig1754–1756
1757–1762		41403241
55Duke of DevonshireWhig1756–175744354447
67Earl of ButeTory1762–176346444940
78George GrenvilleWhig1763–176548514839
89
13		Marquess of RockinghamWhig1765–1766
1782		32304238
910William Pitt the ElderWhig1766–176816251418
1011Duke of GraftonWhig1768–177049425049
1112Lord NorthTory1770–178250493744
1214Earl of ShelburneWhig1782–178326294105
1315
20		Duke of PortlandWhig
Tory		1783
1807–1809		39274337
1416
18		William Pitt the YoungerTory1783–1801
1804–1806		04120503
1517Henry AddingtonTory1801–180439363936
1619Baron GrenvilleWhig1806–180743394035
1721Spencer PercevalTory1809–181236384733
1822Earl of LiverpoolTory1812–182719222215
1923George CanningTory182731083623
2024Viscount GoderichTory1827–1828375251
2125
28		Duke of WellingtonTory1828–1830
1834		24183017
2226Earl GreyWhig1830–183408091006
2327
30		Viscount MelbourneWhig1834
1835–1841		25262132
2429
31		Robert PeelConservative1834–1835
1841–1846		06060808
2532
38		Lord John RussellWhig
Liberal		1846–1852
1865–1866		21152914
2633
36
39		Earl of DerbyConservative1852
1858–1859
1866–1868		18231916
2734Earl of AberdeenPeelite1852–185542413143
2835
37		Viscount PalmerstonWhig
Liberal		1855–1858
1859–1865		13112011
2940
42		Benjamin DisraeliConservative1868
1874–1880		10070609
3041
43
45
47		William Ewart GladstoneLiberal1868–1874
1880–1885
1886
1892–1894		03040204
3144
46
49		Marquess of SalisburyConservative1885–1886
1886–1892
1895–1902		11101225
3248Earl of RoseberyLiberal1894–189545464650
3350Arthur BalfourConservative1902–190530283831
3451Henry Campbell-BannermanLiberal1905–190822242630
3552H. H. AsquithLiberal1908–191611210926
3653David Lloyd GeorgeLiberal1916–192202020302
3754Bonar LawConservative1922–192334473524
3855
57
59		Stanley BaldwinConservative1923–1924
1924–1929
1935–1937		14201113
3956
58		Ramsay MacDonaldLabour
National Labour		1924
1929–1935		33483329
4060Neville ChamberlainConservative1937–194035452852
4161
63		Winston ChurchillConservative1940–1945
1951–1955		01010101
4262Clement AttleeLabour1945–195107050722
4364Anthony EdenConservative1955–195747434548
4465Harold MacmillanConservative1957–196315171321
4566Alec Douglas-HomeConservative1963–196436322734
4667
69		Harold WilsonLabour1964–1970
1974–1976		20331719
4768Edward HeathConservative1970–197423131846
4870James CallaghanLabour1976–197927312427
4971Margaret ThatcherConservative1979–199005030410
5072John MajorConservative1990–199728162328
5173Tony BlairLabour1997–200716341512
5274Gordon BrownLabour2007–201036522545

Other polls

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 (though not featured in contemporary polls as he was a 19th-century politician), Margaret Thatcher was in 16th place, Tony Blair was 67th and David Lloyd George was 79th.[13]

The BBC television programme The Daily Politics asked viewers in 2007 to select their favourite Prime Minister. Margaret Thatcher topped the list with 49% of the vote, with Clement Attlee coming second with 32%.[14]

See also

References
  1. "Churchill, 'Greatest' PM of 20th Century", BBC Politics, 4 January 2000
  2. Thatcher and Attlee top PM list, BBC News, 29 August 2006
  3. Rating British Prime Ministers, Ipsos MORI, retrieved 24 November 2015
  4. Academics rate Brown one of the worst post 1945 PMs, University of Leeds, retrieved 9 January 2011
  5. "Gordon Brown 'third worst PM since 1945', poll of historians finds", The Daily Telegraph, 3 August 2010, retrieved 9 January 2011
  6. "David Cameron rated third worst Prime Minister since end of World War Two", The Independent, 12 October 2016, retrieved 18 December 2016
  7. "The prime ministerial ratings game: a parliamentary perspective", Politics Blog, 5 May 2015, retrieved 27 September 2016
  8. BBC Newsnight poll, BBC News, 1 October 2008, retrieved 23 July 2016
  9. "The Times's Top 50 Prime Ministers", timesonline.co.uk, retrieved 23 July 2016
  10. "Matthew Parris: my top 50 Prime Ministers", timesonline.co.uk, retrieved 23 July 2016
  11. "Peter Riddell: my top 50 Prime Ministers", timesonline.co.uk, retrieved 23 July 2016
  12. "Ben Macintyre: My top 50 Prime Ministers", timesonline.co.uk, retrieved 23 July 2016
  13. "100 Great Britons", BBC History, archived from the original on 14 May 2006, retrieved 23 May 2007
  14. Your Favourite Prime Minister, 13 June 2007

Further reading
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