Gordon Brown on 2 July 2007 proposed transferring parts of the Prime Minister's traditional authority to Parliament. He has said he intends to yield certain traditional Prime Ministerial powers conferred on the office by royal prerogative, including the ability to declare war, thus giving the Parliament more powers and rights to vet and veto appointments to senior public positions, in a bid to crack down on cronyism.^[6][7]

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Precedence and privileges

Tony Blair and Dick Cheney at the main door to 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's residence in London, on 11 March 2002.

The Prime Minister had no special precedence until the order of precedence first recognized the office in 1905. Throughout the United Kingdom, he or she outranks all others except the Royal Family, the Lord Chancellor, and senior ecclesiastical functionaries (in England and Wales, the Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York; in Scotland, the Lord High Commissioner and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; in Northern Ireland, the Anglican and Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church).

Despite the fact that the Prime Minister is not the Head of State, he or she may carry out some of the duties of that position, for example representing the country in International Affairs.

The Prime Minister draws his or her salary not as Prime Minister, but as First Lord of the Treasury. At present, he or she receives £127,334 (ca. US$250,000), in addition to his or her salary of £60,277 (ca. US$120,000) as a Member of Parliament.^[8] Until 2006 the Lord Chancellor was the highest paid member of the government ahead of the Prime Minister. This reflected the Lord Chancellor's position at the top of the judicial pay scale, as British judges are on the whole better paid than British politicians and until 2005 the Lord Chancellor was both politician and the head of the judiciary. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 stripped the Lord Chancellor of his judicial functions and his salary was reduced below the Prime Minister's.

As of 2007, the Prime Minister's aggregate salary is comparable to the US$400,000 salary of the President of the United States.

The Prime Minister traditionally resides at 10 Downing Street in London, which George II offered to Sir Robert Walpole as a personal gift. Walpole, however, only accepted it as the official home of the First Lord, taking up his residence there in 1735. The Prime Minister only resides in 10 Downing Street in his or her capacity as First Lord; the few nineteenth century Prime Ministers who were not First Lords were forced to live elsewhere. Though most First Lords have lived in 10 Downing Street, some preferred to reside in their private residences. This happened when they were often aristocrats with grand Central London homes of their own, such as Palmerston's Cambridge House and seems unlikely to occur again. Furthermore, some such as Harold Macmillan and John Major have lived in Admiralty House whilst 10 Downing Street was undergoing renovations or repairs.

Adjacent to Downing Street is 11 Downing Street, the home of the Second Lord of the Treasury (who, in modern times, has also filled the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer). After he became Prime Minister in 1997, Tony Blair found 10 Downing Street too small for his large family, and he swapped residences with the Chancellor and Second Lord, Gordon Brown, then a bachelor. However, the Prime Ministerial offices are still maintained in Number 10. 12 Downing Street is the residence of the Chief Whip.

The Prime Minister is also entitled to use the country house of Chequers in Buckinghamshire.

The Prime Minister, like other Cabinet Ministers and senior Members of Parliament, is customarily a member of the Privy Council; thus, he or she becomes entitled to prefix "The Right Honourable" to his or her name. Membership of the Council is retained for life (unless the individual resigns it, or is expelled—both rare phenomena). It is a constitutional convention that only a Privy Counsellor can be appointed Prime Minister, but invariably all potential candidates have already attained this status. The only occasion when a non-Privy Councillor was the natural appointment was Ramsay MacDonald in 1924, but the issue was resolved by appointing him to the Council immediately prior to his appointment as Prime Minister.

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Retirement honours

It is customary for the Sovereign to grant a Prime Minister some honour or dignity when that individual retires from politics. The honour commonly, but not invariably, bestowed on Prime Ministers is membership of the United Kingdom's most senior order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter. The practice of creating retired Prime Ministers Knights of the Garter has been fairly prevalent since the middle-nineteenth century. On the retirement of a Prime Minister who is Scottish, it is likely that the primarily Scottish honour of the Order of the Thistle will be used instead of the Order of the Garter, which is generally regarded as an English honour.

It has also been common for Prime Ministers to be granted peerages upon their retirement as a Member of Parliament, which elevates the individual to the House of Lords. For this reason, the peerage is rarely awarded immediately on the Prime Minister's resignation from that post, unless he or she steps down as an MP at the same time. Formerly, the peerage bestowed was usually an earldom (which was always hereditary), with Churchill offered a dukedom. However, since the 1960s, hereditary peerages have generally been eschewed, and life peerages have been preferred, although in the 1980s Harold Macmillan was created Earl of Stockton on retirement. Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher accepted life peerages. However, neither Edward Heath nor John Major accepted peerages of any kind on stepping down as MPs. Margaret Thatcher's son Mark is a baronet, which he inherited from his father Denis, but this is not a peerage.

Of the nineteen Prime Ministers since 1902, eight have been created both peers and Knights of the Garter; three were ennobled but not knighted; three became Knights of the Garter but not peers; and five were not granted either honour—in two cases due to their death while still active in politics; two others declined honours.

The retired Prime Ministers who are still living are:

• The Rt Hon Baroness Thatcher LG OM PC
• The Rt Hon Sir John Major KG CH
• The Rt Hon Tony Blair

In November 2004, the polling company MORI, in association with the University of Leeds, questioned 258 political science academics in the United Kingdom (139 of whom replied) on the perceived success of twentieth century Prime Ministers. The results showed that Clement Attlee was rated as most successful, followed by Churchill and Lloyd George. Anthony Eden was rated as the least successful.

In August 2006, BBC History Magazine historian, Francis Beckett ranked each 20th century Prime Minister on how well they implemented their policies. Margaret Thatcher and Clement Attlee topped this poll, with Anthony Eden and Neville Chamberlain coming bottom. Beckett said that Lady Thatcher, "took one sort of society, and turned it into another".^[9]

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Form of address

According to the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the Prime Minister is made a Privy Counsellor as a result of taking office and should be addressed by the official title prefixed by "The Right Honourable" and not by a personal name.

This form of address is employed at formal occasions but is rarely used by the media. Tony Blair, the previous Prime Minister, was frequently referred to in print as "the Prime Minister", "Mr Blair", "Tony Blair" or "Blair".^[10] Colleagues sometimes referred to him simply as "Tony".^[10] He was usually addressed as "Prime Minister".

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List of Prime Ministers

See List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom

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See also

• Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Historical rankings of British Prime Ministers
• Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Prime Minister's Questions
• Records of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
• Spouses of the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
• Detailed timeline of UK Prime Ministers from Lord Palmerston to Gordon Brown
• Westminster System

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Notes

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References

v • d • e Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom Robert Walpole · Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington · Henry Pelham · Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle · William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire · Newcastle · John Stuart, Earl of Bute · George Grenville · Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham · William Pitt the Elder · Augustus FitzRoy, Duke of Grafton · Frederick North · William Petty, Earl of Shelburne · William Cavendish-Bentinck, Duke of Portland · William Pitt the Younger · Henry Addington · William Grenville · Spencer Perceval · Robert Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool · George Canning · Frederick John Robinson, Viscount Goderich · Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington · Charles Grey · William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne · Robert Peel · John Russell · Edward Smith-Stanley, Earl of Derby · George Hamilton-Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen · Henry Temple, Viscount Palmerston · Benjamin Disraeli · William Gladstone · Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury · Archibald Primrose, Earl of Rosebery · Arthur Balfour · Henry Campbell-Bannerman · H. H. Asquith · David Lloyd George · Andrew Bonar Law · Stanley Baldwin · Ramsay MacDonald · Neville Chamberlain · Winston Churchill · Clement Attlee · Anthony Eden · Harold Macmillan · Alec Douglas-Home · Harold Wilson · Edward Heath · James Callaghan · Margaret Thatcher · John Major · Tony Blair · Gordon Brown

v • d • e Great Offices of State of the United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling Foreign Secretary David Miliband Home Secretary Jacqui Smith

v • d • e European Council President: Janša (SI) · Gusenbauer (AT) · Leterme (BE) · Stanishev (BG) · Topolánek (CZ) · Christofias (CY) · Merkel (DE) · Rasmussen (DK) · Ansip (ET) · Vanhanen (FI) · Sarkozy (FR) · Karamanlis (GR) · Gyurcsány (HU) · Cowen (IE) · Berlusconi (IT) · Godmanis (LV) · Kirkilas (LT) · Juncker (LU) · Gonzi (MT) · Balkenende (NL) · Tusk (PL) · Sócrates (PT) · Popescu-Tăriceanu (RO) · Fico (SK) · Zapatero (ES) · Reinfeldt (SE) · Brown (UK) · Barroso (EC)