The UK Prime Ministers Ranked 8th-5th (Grenville/Peel/Blair/Grey)

 

8. William Grenville
(1806-7)

William Grenville had one year as Prime Minister. He wanted three achievements. Catholic Emancipation. Peace with France. An end to the British slave trade. You already know Catholic Emancipation was blocked time and again, and peace with France was a way off yet. The third seemed unlikely, given the numbers in the Commons and Lords who directly benefitted financially off the slave trade. William Pitt the Younger claimed to be pro-abolition, only, when the chips were down, to send the troops across the ocean to defend the institution of slavery. William Wilberforce demanded abolition from the back benches. 

The UK Prime Ministers Ranked: 10th/9th place - Gordon Brown/Neville Chamberlain

 

10. Gordon Brown

The latest in a long line of Prime Ministers who were better Chancellors.

I tell you what, Brown’s National Care System would have been bloody useful these days…

The UK Prime Ministers Ranked (Part 5)

 

16. Earl of Shelburne

The Prime Minister who made peace with America. He gave them considerably more territory than either side expected. This cemented the foundations for the US/UK trading alliance. The Father of the Special Relationship. You might not like ever closer union; you might regret some of the decisions made under it. However, it is inarguable that the closeness of the two nations hasn’t been to the UK’s benefit on multiple occasions. And it all stemmed from Shelburne.

The UK Prime Ministers Ranked (Part 4)

Welcome to another edition of "Michael explains historical economics". Dear god...

20. Ted Heath

(1970-74)

"Popularity isn't everything. In fact, it isn't the most important thing. What matters is doing what you believe to be right, and that's what I've always tried to do, and I shall go on doing."
Ted Heath, Panorama 16 October 1967

"Ted Heath had some of the best ideas of a post-war Prime Minister. He was quite a radical person."
David Owen, to Peter Hennessy, Hennessy, Peter. The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945. United Kingdom: St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2001.

Have you ever known a Prime Minister who is bloody hard to rank? The man who brought the UK into the EU, yet also the man who, when the Sunningdale Agreement failed, brought internment to Northern Ireland. The man who orchestrated an arms embargo on all combatants in the Yom Kippur War, yet officially acknowledged Pinochet. The man who brought in the eligibility for free school meals yet ended free school milk in the same instance. He increased welfare spending, pensions and index linked benefits to inflation, yet imprisoned striking dockworkers.

The UK Prime Ministers Ranked (Part 3)

 

39. The Duke of Devonshire

(1756-57)

A brief Prime Minister, who died very young (he was only forty-four). He sent troops to America and increased the war budget, but was almost entirely a figurehead so that William Pitt (the Elder) could govern. Curious how someone who did nothing of note can still be better than so many actively bad Prime Ministers.

The UK Prime Ministers Ranked (Part Two)

 47. David Cameron
(2010-16)

Here we go, the man who said on TV that he wanted to be Prime Minister because he “thought he’d be good at it”. 

Spoiler alert, he was not.

The UK Prime Ministers Ranked (Part 1)

 Ranking the Prime Ministers of the UK is an idea which has been conducted surprisingly few times, compared to the number of articles doing the same for US Presidents. The Times, and a few select political journalists (most recently Iain Dale) have given it a shot. But as these things are reliant on personal bias as much as history, it takes a considerable ego to consider putting a list together. So, take that as read.