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

    2006 Francis Beckett

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 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 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. A mean of the scores could then be 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. The three Liberal PMs averaged 5.8 and the twelve Conservative PMs 4.8.
#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 Blair1997–2007Labour6.3
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

2010 University of Leeds survey

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.
#Prime MinisterYears in officeParty
1Clement Attlee1945–1951Labour
2Margaret Thatcher1979–1990Conservative
3Tony Blair1997–2007Labour
4Harold Macmillan1957–1963Conservative
5Harold Wilson1964–1970, 1974–1976Labour
6Sir Winston Churchill, 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.
#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, 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.
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 MinisterYears in officePartyMean score
1Margaret Thatcher1979–1990Conservative7.4
2Clement Attlee1945–1951Labour7.3
3Tony Blair1997–2007Labour6.8
4Sir Winston Churchill1940-1945 & 1951–1955Conservative6.5
5Harold Macmillan1957–1963Conservative6.1
6Harold Wilson1964–1970, 1974–1976Labour5.8
7John Major1990–1997Conservative5.3
8James Callaghan1976–1979Labour4.4
9Edward Heath1970–1974Conservative4.4
10Sir Alec Douglas-Home1963–1964Conservative4.0
11Sir Anthony Eden1955–1957Conservative3.7
12Gordon Brown2007–2010Labour3.3

Popular opinion

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.
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.

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, Margaret Thatcher was in 16th place, Tony Blair was 67th and David Lloyd George was 79th.
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%.