UK prime ministers since 1945
Every prime minister of the United Kingdom from Clement Attlee to Andy Burnham, with the dates they held office as listed by GOV.UK.
Who was Andy Burnham?
Labour · 20 July 2026 to present
GOV.UK states that Andy Burnham became Prime Minister on 20 July 2026, after returning to Parliament as MP for Makerfield in June 2026 and being elected Leader of the Labour Party on 16 July 2026. He was Mayor of Greater Manchester from May 2017, and served in government between 2007 and 2010.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Andy Burnham on this site.
Who was Sir Keir Starmer?
Labour · 5 July 2024 to 20 July 2026
GOV.UK states that Sir Keir Starmer was Prime Minister from 5 July 2024 to 20 July 2026. He was elected MP for Holborn and St Pancras in May 2015 and leader of the Labour Party in April 2020, and was earlier Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Sir Keir Starmer on this site.
Who was Rishi Sunak?
Conservative · 25 October 2022 to 5 July 2024
GOV.UK states that Rishi Sunak was Prime Minister between 25 October 2022 and 5 July 2024. He was previously Chancellor of the Exchequer from 13 February 2020 to 5 July 2022, and was elected Conservative MP for Richmond (Yorks) in May 2015.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Rishi Sunak on this site.
Who was Elizabeth Truss?
Conservative · 6 September 2022 to 25 October 2022
GOV.UK states that Elizabeth Truss was Prime Minister from 6 September 2022 to 25 October 2022. She was previously Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs from 15 September 2021, and was elected Conservative MP for South West Norfolk in 2010.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Elizabeth Truss on this site.
Who was Boris Johnson?
Conservative · 24 July 2019 to 6 September 2022
GOV.UK states that Boris Johnson was Prime Minister from 24 July 2019 to 6 September 2022, having previously been Foreign Secretary from 13 July 2016 to 9 July 2018. He was Conservative MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip from May 2015 to June 2023.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Boris Johnson on this site.
Who was Theresa May?
Conservative · 13 July 2016 to 24 July 2019
GOV.UK records that May was elected Conservative leader and appointed Prime Minister on 13 July 2016, after serving as Home Secretary from 2010. GOV.UK says her government set up the UK's first Race Disparity Audit, launched the 25 Year Environment Plan and in 2019 committed the UK to net zero emissions.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Theresa May on this site.
Who was David Cameron?
Conservative · 12 May 2010 to 13 July 2016
GOV.UK records that Cameron became Prime Minister on 11 May 2010 at the head of a Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition, and continued from May 2015 leading a Conservative government. GOV.UK lists the National Living Wage, the Green Investment Bank and reforms in education, welfare and health among his government's policies.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about David Cameron on this site.
Who was Gordon Brown?
Labour · 27 June 2007 to 11 May 2010
GOV.UK records that Brown became Prime Minister on 27 June 2007 after Tony Blair left office, and that the Climate Change Act was implemented in autumn 2008. GOV.UK says the greatest challenge of his time in office was the worldwide financial crisis and recession, and that he hosted the G20 Summit in London in April 2009.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Gordon Brown on this site.
Who was Sir Tony Blair?
Labour · 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007
GOV.UK records that Blair became Prime Minister on 2 May 1997 after Labour won a landslide majority of 179. GOV.UK lists Scottish and Welsh devolution, House of Lords reform, the Human Rights Act, a Freedom of Information Act and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement among the changes made in his time in office.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Sir Tony Blair on this site.
Who was Sir John Major?
Conservative · 28 November 1990 to 2 May 1997
GOV.UK records that Major succeeded Margaret Thatcher, took a leading role alongside US President George HW Bush in the first Gulf War, and won the 1992 general election with a majority of 21. GOV.UK notes that five months into that parliament the UK left the Exchange Rate Mechanism.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Sir John Major on this site.
Who was Margaret Thatcher?
Conservative · 4 May 1979 to 28 November 1990
GOV.UK records that Thatcher became Prime Minister after the Conservative victory at the 1979 general election, and that she led the country into the Falklands war with Argentina before winning the 1983 election. GOV.UK says her government followed a programme of privatisation and deregulation, trade union reform, tax cuts and market mechanisms in health and education.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Margaret Thatcher on this site.
Who was James Callaghan?
Labour · 5 April 1976 to 4 May 1979
GOV.UK records that Callaghan won the Labour leadership after Harold Wilson resigned in 1976, and that his government lost its majority on his first day in office, relying on the Liberal Party in 1977 to 1978 and then the Scottish National Party. GOV.UK lists the Police Act 1976, the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977 and the Education Act 1976 among measures from his time in office.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about James Callaghan on this site.
Who was Sir Edward Heath?
Conservative · 19 June 1970 to 4 March 1974
GOV.UK says Heath won the 1970 general election and served one term during a period of industrial change and economic decline. GOV.UK records that the miners' strikes of 1972 and 1974 occurred during his term, the second leading to the 3-day week.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Sir Edward Heath on this site.
Who was Harold Wilson?
Labour · 16 October 1964 to 19 June 1970; 4 March 1974 to 5 April 1976
GOV.UK says Wilson won 4 of the 5 general elections he contested as Labour leader, including a minority government. GOV.UK records that in 1964 to 1970 his government supported the liberalisation of laws on censorship, divorce, abortion and homosexuality, abolished capital punishment and created the Open University.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Harold Wilson on this site.
Who was Sir Alec Douglas-Home?
Conservative · 18 October 1963 to 16 October 1964
GOV.UK records that Douglas-Home, then Foreign Secretary as the 14th Earl of Home, became Conservative leader when Harold Macmillan resigned in October 1963. He gave up his peerage on 23 October 1963 and won the Kinross and West Perthshire seat on 7 November, so for two weeks he was a Prime Minister who sat in neither House.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Sir Alec Douglas-Home on this site.
Who was Harold Macmillan?
Conservative · 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963
GOV.UK records that Macmillan became Prime Minister after Sir Anthony Eden resigned in January 1957, and that the Conservatives increased their majority at the October 1959 general election. GOV.UK notes that he led the country through the Cuban Missile Crisis and sped up decolonisation after his 1960 'winds of change' speech.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Harold Macmillan on this site.
Who was Sir Anthony Eden?
Conservative · 7 April 1955 to 10 January 1957
GOV.UK says Eden, a three-time Foreign Secretary, took over from Winston Churchill in April 1955 and increased the Conservative majority from 17 to 60 at the general election of May 1955. His premiership focused on foreign affairs, and GOV.UK describes his handling of the 1956 Suez crisis as the episode that ended it.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Sir Anthony Eden on this site.
Who was Sir Winston Churchill?
Conservative · 10 May 1940 to 26 July 1945; 26 October 1951 to 7 April 1955
GOV.UK records that Churchill succeeded Neville Chamberlain in 1940 as Prime Minister of an all-party coalition government during the Second World War, also taking the post of Minister for Defence. He served a second term from 1951 to 1955.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Sir Winston Churchill on this site.
Who was Clement Attlee?
Labour · 26 July 1945 to 26 October 1951
According to GOV.UK, Attlee led Labour to a landslide at the 1945 general election, winning 393 seats to the Conservatives' 213. GOV.UK says practically all of Labour's manifesto pledges were carried out under him, including the creation of the National Health Service.
Source: GOV.UK; dates from GOV.UK Prime Minister role page, read 20 October 2026. More about Clement Attlee on this site.