Party Leaders
Conservative
2016– (Prime Minister 2016–) |
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Theresa May |
2005–16 (Prime Minister 2010–16) |
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David Cameron |
2003–5: stood down six months after
losing the 2005 general election |
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Michael Howard |
2001–3: self–styled "quiet man" (others detected a lack of charisma) |
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Iain Duncan Smith |
1997–2001: at 36, the youngest ever leader of the Conservative party |
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William Hague |
1990–7 (Prime Minister 1990–7; introduced the TESSA in his only budget speech, 1990, as a
low–risk alternative to the PEP) |
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John Major |
1975–90 (Prime Minister 1979–90) |
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Margaret Thatcher |
1965–75 (Prime Minister 1970–4; Father of the House of Commons 1992–2001) |
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Edward Heath |
1963–4 (Prime Minister 1963–4) |
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Alec Douglas–Home |
1957–63 (Prime Minister 1957–63) |
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Harold Macmillan |
1955–7 (Prime Minister 1955–7) |
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Anthony Eden |
1940–55 (Prime Minister 1940–5 and 1951–5) |
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Winston Churchill |
1937–40 (Prime Minister 1937–40) |
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Neville Chamberlain |
1923–37 (Prime Minister May 1923 – Jan 24, 1924–9, June 35 – May 37) |
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Stanley Baldwin |
1911–23 (Prime Minister Nov 1922 – May 1923 – resigned when diagnosed with cancer) |
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Andrew Bonar Law |
1902–11 (Prime Minister 1902–5) |
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Arthur Balfour |
Labour
2015- |
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Jeremy Corbyn |
2010–15 |
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Ed Miliband |
2007–10 (Prime Minister throughout his leadership) |
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Gordon Brown |
1994–2007 (Prime Minister 1997–2007) |
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Tony Blair |
12 May to 21 July 1994 (following the death of John Smith and pending the election of a successor) |
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Margaret Beckett |
1992–4 (died suddenly in 1994 of a heart attack, aged 55) |
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John Smith |
1983–92 |
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Neil Kinnock |
1980–3: controversially appeared at a Remembrance service at the Cenotaph wearing what was described
in some media outlets as a duffel coat or a donkey jacket |
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Michael Foot |
1976–80 (Prime Minister 1976–9; the only person ever to hold the 4 great offices of state; moved from Chancellor of the Exchequer to Home Secretary after devaluation in 1967) |
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James Callaghan |
1963–76 (Prime Minister 1963–70 and 1974–6) |
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Harold Wilson |
1955–63 (died suddenly 18 January 1963) |
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Hugh Gaitskell |
1935–55 (Prime Minister 1945–51; Labour’s longest serving party leader) |
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Clement Atlee |
1932–5 |
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George Lansbury |
1921–2 |
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John Robert Clynes |
1911–14, 1922–31 (Prime Minister Jan – Nov 1924, 1929–35) |
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Ramsay Macdonald |
1910–11 |
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George Nicoll Barnes |
1908–10, 1914–17 and 1931–32 |
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Arthur Henderson |
1906–8: the first Labour MP (1892); founder and first leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party |
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(James) Kier Hardie |
Liberal Democrats
2017– |
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Vince Cable |
2015–17: resigned after the 2017 General
Election, when the Lib Dems increased their number of Westminster seats from
9 to 12, saying he was "torn between living as a faithful Christian and
serving as a political leader" |
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Tim Farron |
2007–15: Deputy Prime Minister 2010-15;
resigned as Lib Dem leader after the 2015 general election, in which they
lost 49 of their 57 seats |
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Nick Clegg |
2006–7: resigned in the run-up to the 2007
general election amid allegations of ageism – he was 66 |
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Sir Menzies Campbell |
1999–2006: resigned after ITN said it intended to report that
he had been treated for a drinking problem; died in 2015, aged 55 |
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Charles Kennedy |
1988–99 |
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Paddy Ashdown |
March–July 1988 (Social and Liberal Democrats) |
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David Steel |
Social Democratic Party (SDP)
1987–8 (in post at the time of its merger with the Liberals) |
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Robert Maclennan |
1983–7 (stood down in protest against the proposed merger with the Liberals) |
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David Owen |
July 1982 to June 1983 (took over from the joint leadership of the
"Gang of Four") |
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Roy Jenkins |
Liberal
1976–88 (introduced the Private Member’s Bill that led to the Abortion Act, 1967; continued as first
leader of the Social and Liberal Democrats) |
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David Steel |
1967–76: died 2014 aged 85 |
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Jeremy Thorpe |
1956–67, May–July 1976 |
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Jo Grimond |
1945–56 |
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Clement Davies |
1935–45 |
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Sir Archibald Sinclair |
1931–35 |
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Sir Herbert Samuel |
1926–31 (Prime Minister of the Coalition government, 1916–22; last Liberal to be Prime Minister) |
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David Lloyd George |
1908–26 (Prime Minister 1908–16; last Prime Minister of a Liberal government) |
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H. H. Asquith |
1899–1908 (Prime Minister 1905–8) |
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Sir Henry Campbell–Bannerman |
Note: at this time there was no definitive leader of the Liberal party; they had leaders in both the Commons and the Lords. Only
those who served as Prime Minister are named here.
1894–6 (Prime Minister 1894–5) |
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The Earl of Rosebery |
1865–75, 1880–94 (Prime Minister 1868–74, 1880–5, Feb–July 1886, 1892–4) |
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W. E. Gladstone |
1859–65 (Prime Minister 1859–65) |
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Lord Palmerston |
Scottish National Party
2014– |
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Nicola Sturgeon |
1990–2000 and 2004–2014 |
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Alex Salmond |
2000–2004 |
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John Swinney |
Plaid Cymru
2012– |
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Leanne Wood |
2000–2012 |
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Ieuan Wyn Jones |
1991–2000 |
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Dafydd Wigley |
The Green Party (of England and Wales)
2016– (joint leaders) |
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Jonathan Bartley |
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Caroline Lucas |
2012–16 |
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Natalie Bennett |
2008–12 |
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Caroline Lucas |
UKIP
2006–9, 2010–16, and acting leader later in 2016 after Diane James resigned before her status as leader
was formalised |
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Nigel Farage |
Elected in 2016 to succeed Farage (or James); resigned after the party failed to win any seats at Westminster
in the 2017 General Election |
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Paul Nuttall |
Other
Chairman of the British National Party (BNP), 1999–2014 |
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Nick Griffin |
Founder of the Referendum Party, 1997; died two months after losing his deposit in the General Election of that year |
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Sir James Goldsmith |
Succeeded Gerry Adams as Leader of Sinn Fein, in February 2018 |
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Mary Lou McDonald |
© Haydn Thompson 2017–18