British Prime Ministers

Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990

Leader of the Conservative Party From 1975 to 1990

• She was the first and only woman to hold either post to date

• She had the longest continuous period in office since Lord Liverpool in the early 18th century

• Her tough talking and stance on the Northern Ireland Situation earned her the nickname "the Iron Lady"

• She made little use of her government, leading a prime ministerial Government

Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997

• Sir John Major, born 29th March 1945

• During his time in office the world went through a period of transition after the end of the Cold War

• He appeared to be quite boring and unlike his predecessor depended upon his cabinet quite a lot leading to a cabinet government. May be described as 'Primus inter pares', Walter Badgehot

• However, after his term in office, scandal was unleashed as if was revealed he had embarked on an affair with Edwina Currie

Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007

• Born 6th May 1953

• He was the Labour party's longest serving Prime Minister

• The only Labour leader to have taken the party to three consecutive general election victories

• Considered to have led a 'kitchen cabinet', whereby he held talks with only a few ministers who regarded as most important and this was where much of the cabinet work took place and meetings of the full cabinet may only have been a formality

• He reduced the time allocated for Prime Ministers question time to half an hour

Prime Minister 2007 to current

• Brown replaced Tony Blair

• Formally Chancellor of the Exchequer

• His time in office is still in its infancy, yet it appears he favours the approach of his predecessor Tony Blair in using the 'kitchen cabinet' method

• His time in office began as Britain was on the brink of a financial crisis and he has had to cope with the credit crunch and now the recession