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| Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | |
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| Style |
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| Type | Head of government |
| Status | Chief Minister of the Crown
Great Office of State |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | |
| Residence |
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| Appointer | The Monarch (with their choice limited to the person who can command the confidence of the House of Commons)[1] |
| Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure |
| First holder | Sir Robert Walpole |
| Deputy | No fixed position; often held by: |
| Salary | £166,786 per annum (2024)[2] (including £91,346 MP salary)[3] |
| Website | 10 Downing Street |
| Political offices in the UK government |
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| List of political offices |
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. As modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, they sit as members of Parliament.
The office of prime minister is not established by any statute or constitutional document, but exists only by long-established convention, whereby the monarch appoints as prime minister the person most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons.[4] In practice, this is the leader of the political party that holds the largest number of seats in the Commons. The prime minister is ex officio also First Lord of the Treasury (prior to 1905 also the official title of the position), Minister for the Civil Service, the minister responsible for national security,[5]: p.22 and Minister for the Union.[6] The prime minister's official residence and office, by virtue of being the First Lord of the Treasury, is 10 Downing Street in London.[7]
58 people (55 men and 3 women) have served as prime minister, the first of whom was Robert Walpole taking office on 3 April 1721. The longest-serving prime minister was also Walpole, who served over 20 years, and the shortest-serving was Liz Truss, who served seven weeks. The current prime minister is Keir Starmer, who succeeded Rishi Sunak on 5 July 2024, following the 2024 general election.[8]
- ^ Andersson, Jasmine (31 August 2022). "Queen to appoint new prime minister at Balmoral". BBC News.
- ^ "Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23" (PDF). 15 December 2022.
- ^ "Pay and expenses for MPs".
- ^ "The principles of government formation (Section 2.8)". The Cabinet Manual (1st ed.). Cabinet Office. October 2011. p. 14. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
Prime Ministers hold office unless and until they resign. If the prime minister resigns on behalf of the Government, the sovereign will invite the person who appears most likely to be able to command the confidence of the House to serve as prime minister and to form a government.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
manualwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Minister for the Union". GOV.UK. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
- ^ "About us - Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ^ Culbertson, Alix (5 July 2024). "'Our work is urgent and we begin it today': Sir Keir Starmer says in first address as prime minister". Sky News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.