300 years of PMS
ROBERT WALPOLE WAS THE UK’S FIRST PRIME MINISTTER 300 YEARS AGO... HERE’S AN A-Z OF OUR LEADERS
A is for… ASSASSINATION: Spencer Perceval is the only Prime Minister to have been assassinated, gunned down aged 49 in 1812 at the House of Commons by disgruntled merchant John Bellingham. Perceval B was the shortest PM at 5ft 4in. is for… BOOZE: Margaret Thatcher liked a whisky and Sir Winston Churchill guzzled champagne, but William Pitt the Younger sunk three bottles of port daily! Liberal PM Herbert Asquith was dubbed “Squiffy” C due to his tippling habits. is for… CELEBS: Film star Helena Bonham Carter is Asquith’s greatgrand-daughter. Comic Al Murray is a distant cousin of ex-pm David D Cameron – as is Kim Kardashian. is for… DEATH: George Canning died in office in 1827 after just 119 days – the shortest stint as PM. Seven premiers died on the job. Henry Campbell-bannerman is the only PM to expire at No10 Downing Street in 1908, having already resigned. His last E words were: “This is not the end of me.” is for… EDUCATION: Twenty PMS went to Eton College. A total of 43 studied at Oxford or Cambridge, but 11 didn’t go to university such as F Jim Callaghan and John Major. is for… FOOD: While Maggie powered up with 28 eggs a week, Gordon Brown famously enjoyed four daily Kitkats before switching to G nine bananas in a bid to get fit. is for… GUTS: In 1829 the Duke of Wellington, victor at Waterloo, fought a duel while PM. The “Iron Duke”, as he was known, also liked to H carry a dagger-tipped umbrella. is for… HOBBIES: Neville Chamberlain loved bird watching, Churchill painting, while Boris builds model buses. Three-time PM Lord Salisbury enjoyed riding a tricycle as premier in a velvet purple poncho. But, at 20st, he needed a footman to I push him up hills! is for… IMAGE: Four-time election winning Labour PM Harold Wilson carefully managed his “common man” image, actually preferring cigars J to a pipe and brandy to beer. is for… JIBES: PMS have always taken a pop at each other. Tory Benjamin Disraeli said 19th Century Liberal rival William Gladstone’s nickname should not be “Grand Old K Man”, but “God’s Only Mistake”. is for… KIDS: PM Earl Charles Grey (183034) had 17 including one with his mistress the Duchess of Devonshire. He called two sons George and another pair William. George Grenville’s lad William later became PM as did William
Pitt the Elder’s son, William
L Pitt the Younger. is for… LOVE
LIFE: Three
PMS married while in office, including The Duke of Grafton (1768-1770) after becoming the first to get a divorce, as both he and his wife were having affairs. Four PMS, including 1970s Tory PM Edward Heath, remained bachelors. M is for… MONIKERS: Cuppa-crazy Earl Grey gave his name to a tea, Pitt the Elder to US city Pittsburgh and Lord Melbourne to the Aussie metropolis. Bobbies became slang for the police after Conservative PM Robert Peel founded the force. N is for… NICKNAMES: Tearful 19thcentury PM Viscoun
WAR HERO: Attlee
nt Goderich was nicknamed “Bluber”. Margaret Thatcher was dubbed “Iron Lady” by the Soviets, Tony ir was known as “Bambi” and resa May as the “Maybot”. is for… ORIGINS: Andrew Bonar Law, PM in the 1920s, hailed from Canada, Boris Johnson was n in New York. The ke of Wellington and Lord lburne, PM in the 1780s, both me from Ireland. is for… PHRASES: The saying “Bob’s your uncle” is said to have ginated when Prime nister Lord Salisbury st name Robert) ointed his nephew
Arthur Balfour, a future PM, to the cabinet. Q is for… QUEEN: There have been 14 PMS during Queen Elizabeth II’S reign. Though she’s never commented publicly, it’s reckoned that Churchill was her favourite. R is for… RICH: Edward Stanley, the Earl of Derby, was the richest PM in history. Serving three times in the 19th Century, he was worth £7million – £500m in today’s money.
S is for… SEX: Bonking Boris isn’t the only lusty PM. Lord Palmerston once had to be told off by
Queen Victoria after trying to seduce a lady-in-waiting. David Lloyd George was dubbed “the Goat” thanks to countless affairs.
T is for… TALENTS: Ted Heath was a top yachtsman and pianist, Sir Alec Douglas-home is the only PM to have played first-class cricket, while Lord Rosebery, premier between 1894-5, bred racehorses and won the Epsom Derby three times. U is for… UNPOPULAR: There have been plenty of hated PMS, but few could beat Lord Bute, premier in the 1760s, who was pelted by mobs in the street for his cider tax. V is for… VALOUR: Labour’s Clement Attlee fought in World War One as did future Tory PM Harold Macmillan, while Conservative Ted Heath was an officer in World War Two and Jim Callaghan served in the Navy. W is for… WORST: Plagued by ill health, Conservative PM Sir Anthony Eden comes bottom of most polls for his controversial handling of the 1956 Suez crisis. X is for… X-RATED: Gladstone would
“rescue” prostitutes by inviting them to No10 for Bible readings – then whipped himself for impure thoughts. Lord Melbourne was blackmailed over an affair while PM in the 1830s and enjoyed spanking sessions. His own wife cheated Y on him with poet Lord Byron. is for… YOUNGEST: William Pitt the Younger became the youngest PM in 1783 aged just 24. Gladstone was the oldest in office, aged 84 when Z he retired in 1894. is for… ZZZZS: In the 18th Century, Prime Minister Lord North sometimes nodded off on the Commons benches. But, once accused of being asleep by a speaker in the chamber, he casually opened one eye and said: “I wish to God I were.”