First AMONG EQUALS

This year marks the 300th anniversary of Robert Walpole taking office as Britain’s first Prime Minister. We delve into the history of this prestigious post, and reveal how it has evolved through the centuries

- NEIL JONES

In 1841, early in Queen Victoria’s reign, her mentor and Prime Minister Viscount Melbourne explained truthfully if opaquely to Her Majesty: “How the power of Prime Ministry grew up into its present form it is difficult to trace precisely.”

It’s certainly a tangled tale, the office having largely evolved through a mix of opportunism, necessity and convention. Sir Robert Walpole is generally reckoned to be the country’s first Prime Minister, holding sway 300 years ago from 1721 to 1742, a lengthy service that led him to quip: “My great crime is my long continuance in office, and the exclusion of those who now complain against me.”

So how did Walpole pioneer the role of PM and how did it subsequently develop into today’s post of leader of Her Majesty’s Government, ultimately responsible for its policy and decisions?

The tussle between monarch and parliament for control over government, and particularly the nation’s purse strings, was centuries old but the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688–1689 ushered in a definite shift in the balance of power towards ministers. George I, having arrived from Hanover in 1714, then inadvertently provided the opening for what would grow into the office of Prime Minister when, uninterested in British affairs and struggling to speak English, he ceased to attend Cabinet meetings. Instead he let a minister represent him – Robert Walpole.