Dear Chief Secretary to the Treasury,
I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left.
Signed, Liam Byrne

(Outgoing Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury. May 2010)
.
.

Tuesday 11 May 2010

Youngest Prime Minister for 200 years

And here he is.


Mr Cameron, at 43 years, 7 months, 2 days is a few months younger than Mr Blair was when he took office.

The other young Prime Minister was Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, who was 42 years, 1 day old when he took office on 8th June 1812. He was a Tory.

So, let's have some number crunching.

Mr Blair was 43 years, 11 months, 26 days old when he took office.

The youngest ever British Prime Minister to be appointed was William Pitt the Younger, who was 24 years, 6 months and 21 days old. He was a Tory.

The oldest ever Prime Minister was Henry Temple, Lord Palmerston, who was 71 years, 3 months and 17 days when he took office in 1855. He was Whig and Liberal, and lived at Broadlands, Romsey.

In case you're wondering, the blog/post title was taken from the BBC, who happened to mention the handy fact when they were talking about Mr Cameron.
....

2 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

I make that slightly less than 200 years, actually.

Mrs Rigby said...

A valid excuse? Quoting the BBC, and they're always right, aren't they?

But, it's correct, sort of, because the youngest ever was Wm. Pitt the Younger in 1783.

You probably know more about Prime Ministers than we do, but this list is fascinating for lots of weird reasons, not least because it seems so short.

There have been 53 prime ministers since Walpole in in 1721