British prime ministers

English prime minister Spencer Perceval being assassinated by bankrupt businessman John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons

Why was Spencer Perceval assassinated? Inside the killing of a Georgian prime minister

British prime minister Harold Wilson, March 1967. (Photo by Michael Stroud/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Harold Wilson: 5 facts about the Labour Party prime minister

10 Downing Street, the residence of the prime minister of the United Kingdom. (Photo by Getty Images)

The ex factor: why David Cameron’s return isn’t unprecedented. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Elizabeth Linley

8 scandals that shocked Georgian Britain

Former British Prime Minister John Major (left) and Johnny Lee Miller as John Major in The Crown

John Major: a brief guide to Britain’s prime minister in the 1990s

Prime minister Edward Heath

A brief history of U-turns. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Prime Minister David Lloyd George, sitting at a desk

The fall of Lloyd GeorgeA dramatic and significant Prime Ministerial downfall. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Front door of No 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British prime minister

From Walpole to TrussLessons from the 300-year history of the British prime minister. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sir Graham Brady (centre), chairman of the 1922 Committee, announces that Theresa May has survived an attempt by Tory MPs to oust her as party leader with a motion of no confidence

1922 CommitteeWhy are the Tory 'men in grey suits' so influential?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The origins of the Conservative Party can be traced to the ‘Tory’ group in parliament which emerged in the last quarter of the 17th century and, led by Lord Bolingbroke (pictured) and Robert Harley, held power during the final years of Queen Anne’s reign. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Why are they called Tories?A brief history of the Conservative Party. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Montage of five British prime ministers: David Lloyd George, Neville Chamberlain, Anthony Eden, James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher

Prime ministersFive of the greatest downfalls of the past 100 years. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

In defence of Neville Chamberlain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Munich: the real history behind the new film. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jeremy Irons as Neville Chamberlain, in Munich – The Edge of War

Second World War

A martyr and a hero? How Munich – The Edge of War tries to soften Neville Chamberlain’s rotten reputation

Neville Chamberlain shows off the Anglo-German Declaration at Heston Aerodrome

Second World War

Q&APeace for our time: what was written on Neville Chamberlain's piece of paper?

Colourful illustration of 12 historical figures's heads (Winston Churchill, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Thomas Cromwell, Richard III, Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Anne Boleyn, William Marshal, Jane Austen, Hatshepsut, Gandhi and Catherine the Great) shown in a grid pattern.

Top historical figures: 100+ of the most famous people through history – in chronological order

British prime minister Clement Attlee reading a document in his office, 27 July 1946. (Photo by Haywood Magee/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Clement Attlee: Labour's postwar leader

Stanley Baldwin in the study at Chequers, the PM's official country residence, c1925

Stanley Baldwin: Britain’s greatest peacetime prime minister?

Robert Walpole, the first prime minister of Great Britain

Robert Walpole: Britain's first prime minister

Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth II: what was their relationship like?

The Crown S4 cast: which real historical figures feature in season four of Netflix’s royal drama – and what did they really look like?

John Profumo in October 1962

Sex, lies and spies: the real history of the Profumo Affair

Harold Wilson in 1971, after his first period as prime minister. He would take power again in 1974. (Photo by Getty Images)

History heroJason Watkins chooses Harold Wilson (1916–95). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ill mannered discussions: Chinese leader General Chiang Kai-shek, US president Franklin D Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill meet at the Cairo Conference in November 1943. (Photo by Getty Images)

VE Day at 75Preparing for peace: why WW2 felt like a war without an end

Ramsay MacDonald, the first British Labour prime minister, pictured after the general election of 1931

A brief history of the Labour Party

Rotten boroughs cartoon

9 general election curiosities through history

James VI and I depicted in Parliament, c1605

Queen Elizabeth I’s ‘Golden Speech’ and 5 more key moments in the history of crown and parliament

Queen Elizabeth II

The differences between UK and US governments: a brief guide

In 1992, Betty Boothroyd was voted in as Speaker of the House of Commons, with cross-party support by 372 votes to 238, asking the House “to elect me for what I am, not for what I was born”. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Getty Images)

A brief history of the Speakers of the House of Commons

A portrait of prime minister Lord Frederick North. His government was the first to be brought down by a vote of no confidence, in 1782. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Vote of no confidence: a brief history