Leaders of the Conservative Party

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This article is about leaders of the Conservative Party (UK). For leaders of the Conservative Party in Canada, see Leaders of Canadian federal conservative parties.

Leaders of the UK Conservative Party since 1834.

Contents

[edit] Background

Until 1922 there was no formal "Leader of the Conservative Party". The leaders of Conservative MPs and Conservative peers were regarded as coequal unless one of them was either the Prime Minister or a former Prime Minister, or if a particular crisis (as in 1846-1847 or 1916) had resulted in one clearly asserting authority over the other. In the periods when this was not the case (1881 - 1885, 1911 - 1916, 1921 - 1922) there was no clear "Leader of the Conservative Party" - this contributed to some of the internal party conflict at the time. The distinction of the leaders is often overlooked by many and there are lists in circulation that assume the eventual single leader who emerged after a period of coequal leadership was the leader from the outset. However this was not always the case - for example in 1881 it was widely expected that the Commons leader Sir Stafford Northcote would be the next Conservative Prime Minister but by the time the party had returned to government in 1885 political developments had resulted in the Lords leader Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury having the stronger claimant for the premiership.

In 1911 the Parliament Act reduced the power of the Lords and it seemed likely that the leader in the Commons would be preeminent. However, this was not formally recognised for another eleven years, and there were several occasions when members of the Lords were strongly considered for the leadership of the whole party after this time. From 1922 an overall leader has been formally elected by a joint meeting of MPs, Peers and prospective parliamentary candidates, even when the party is in opposition. Until 1965 this election was a rubber-stamp for the individual who had been already asked by the monarch to form a government. The leadership did not fall vacant at any time when the party was in opposition in this period. Since 1965, a succession of ballots have been held in order to chose between competing candidates. This was instigated by Alec Douglas-Home in 1964 after the confused circumstances of his own elevation in 1963.

[edit] Leaders in the House of Lords 1834-present

Those asterisked considered the overall leader of the party.

[edit] Leaders in the House of Commons 1834-1922

[edit] Leader of the Conservative Party 1922-present

Portrait Entered office Left office Date of Birth and Death
Andrew Bonar Law 23 October 1922 22 May 1923 16 September 1858 - 30 October 1923
Stanley Baldwin 22 May 1923 28 May 1937 3 August 1867 - 14 December 1947
Neville Chamberlain 27 May 1937 9 October 1940 18 March 1869 - 9 November 1940
Winston Churchill 9 October 1940 7 April 1955 30 November 1874 - 24 January 1965
Anthony Eden 7 April 1955 9 January 1957 12 June 1897 - 14 January 1977
Harold Macmillan 11 January 1957 19 October 1963 10 February 1894 - 29 December 1986
Alec Douglas-Home 19 October 1963 27 July 1965 2 July 1903 - 9 October 1995
Edward Heath 27 July 1965 11 February 1975 9 July 1916 - 17 July 2005
Margaret Thatcher 11 February 1975 28 November 1990 13 October 1925 - present
John Major 28 November 1990 19 June 1997 29 March 1943 - present
William Hague 19 June 1997 13 September 2001 26 March 1961 - present
Iain Duncan Smith 13 September 2001 6 November 2003 9 April 1954 - present
Michael Howard 6 November 2003 6 December 2005 7 July 1941 - present
David Cameron 6 December 2005 9 October 1966 - present
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