 | 'What makes a 'Scottish' prime minister? Good question. For instance, does it refer to where a prime minister was born? Alec Douglas-Home was unequivocally a Scottish lord, but was born in Mayfair. Perhaps ancestry is the key? But William Gladstone, Harold Macmillan (not to mention the present Tory leader, David Cameron) had Scottish roots. But no one would seriously consider them Scottish.' Ben Chu in the Independent, 30 th June 2007. |  |
In the days when the Liberals dominated Scottish politics, several Prime Ministers represented Scottish constituencies. However, since the Liberal decline in 1916, and before the appointment of Dr J. Gordon Brown in 2007, Scottish contituencies provided the UK with Prime Ministers only briefly, from 1922 - 1923 and from 1963 - 1964.
The Rt Hon John Smith, who was Labour MP for North Lanarkshire from 1970 until 1983 and Monklands East from 1983 until 1994 would almost certainly have become Prime Minister had he not died prematurely of a heart attack on 12 th May 1994.
| Photo | Date | Prime Minister | Party | Constituency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
1868 - 1874, 1880 - 1885, 1886, 1892 - 1894 | Rt Hon William Ewart Gladstone | Conservative, Whig and Liberal | Conservative MP for Newark 1832 - 1845 Conservative MP for the University of Oxford 1847 - 1859 Whig MP for the University of Oxford 1859 - 1865 Liberal MP for South Lancashire 1865 - 1868 Liberal MP for Greenwich 1868 - 1880 Liberal MP for Edinburghshire (Midlothian) 1880 - 1895 (Gladstone was also elected MP for Leeds in 1880, but chose to sit for Midlothian. He was initially elected as a Conservative in 1832 but supported repeal of the Corn Laws. He joined the Whig government of Lord Palmerston in June 1859 as Chancellor of the Exchequer.) |
 |
1905 - 1908 | Rt Hon Henry Campbell Bannerman | Liberal | MP for Stirling Burghs 1868 - 1908 |
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1908 - 1916 | Rt Hon Herbert Henry Asquith, later first Earl of Oxford & Asquith | Liberal | MP for East Fife 1886 - 1918 MP for Paisley 1920 - 1924 |
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1922 - 1923 | Rt Hon Andrew Bonar Law | Conservative & Unionist | MP for Glasgow Blackfriars 1900 - 1906 MP for Dulwich 1906 - 1910 MP for Bootle 1911 - 1918 MP for Glasgow Central 1918 - 1923 |
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1963 - 1964 | Rt Hon Sir Alec Douglas-Home, previously Lord Dunglass, previously 14 th Earl of Home, later Lord Home of the Hirsel | Conservative & Unionist | MP for Lanark 1931 - 1945 & 1950 - 1951 MP for Kinross & West Perthshire 1963 (by) - Oct 1974 |
 |
June 2007 - May 2010 | Rt Hon Dr James Gordon Brown | Labour | MP for Dunfermline East 1983 - 2005 MP for Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath 2005 - |
Three other Prime Ministers have represented Scottish constituencies, but not while they were in office:
William Lamb, Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria's first Prime Minister was MP for Haddinton Burghs from October 1806 to May 1807.
Ramsay MacDonald, who was born at Lossiemouth, was Labour Prime Minister in 1924 and from 1929 to 1931 and leader of the Naional Government from 1931 until 1935. He was an MP for Scottish Universities from a by-election in 1936 until his death in 1937.
Sir Winston Churchill, leader of the wartime coalition from 1940 - 1945 and Conservative Prime Minister from 1951 - 1955, was Liberal MP for Dundee from a by-election in 1908 until his defeat in 1922.
| Photo | Date | Prime Minister | Party | Constituency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
16 July 1834 -14 November 1834 18 April 1835 - 30 August 1841 |
Hon William Lamb, Lord Melbourne, later 2 nd Viscount Melbourne | Whig | Whig MP for Leominster 1806 MP for Haddington Burghs October 1806 - May 1807 MP for Portarlington 1807 - 1812 MP for Peterborough 1816 - 1819 MP for Hertfordshire 1819 - 1826 MP for Newport, Isle of Wight 1827 MP for Bletchingley 1827 - 1828 |
 |
1924 (Labour) 1929 - 1931 (Labour) 1931 - 1935 (National Labour) |
Rt Hon James Ramsay Macdonald | Labour and National Labour | Labour MP for Leicester 1906 - 1918 Labour MP for Aberavon November 1922 - 1929 Labour MP for Seaham 1929 - 1931 National Labour MP for Seaham 1931 - 1935 National Labour MP for Scottish Universities January 1936 - 9 November 1937 |
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May 1940 - July 1945 1951 - 1955 |
Rt Hon Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG | Conservative Constitutionalist and Liberal | Conservative MP for Oldham 1900 - 1904 Liberal MP for Oldham 1904 - January 1906 Liberal MP for North West Manchester January 1906 - April 1908 Liberal MP for Dundee May 1908 - November 1922 'Constitutionalist' MP for Epping October 1924 - 1925 Conservative MP for Epping October 1925 - 1945 Conservative MP for Woodford 1945 - 1964 |
John Stuart, 3 rd Earl of Bute, was the first Scottish and first Conservative Prime Minister. He served from May 1762 until April 1763.
The 4 th Earl of Aberdeen was Conservative Prime Minister from December 1852 until January 1855.
Arthur Primrose, 5 th Earl of Rosebery, was Prime Minister from March 1894 until June 1895. He was born in London.
Arthur James Balfour, later the 1 st Earl of Balfour, who was born at Whittinghame in East Lothian, was Conservative Prime Minister from 1902 - 1905.
The previous Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was born in Edinburgh in 1953.
| Photo | Date | Prime Minister | Party | Constituency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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May 1762 - April 1763 | Rt Hon John Stuart, 3 rd Earl of Bute | Conservative | Elected Scottish representative peer 1738 - 1741 & 1761 - 1780 |
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December 1852 - January 1855 | Rt Hon George Hamilton Hamilton-Gordon, 4 th Earl of Aberdeen, KT | Conservative | Elected Scottish representative peer 1806 - 1818 Hereditary Member of House of Lords 1814 - 1860 (created Viscount Gordon - UK peerage) |
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March 1894 - June 1895 | Rt Hon Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG | Liberal | Hereditary Member of House of Lords 1868 - 1929 |
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July 1902 - December 1905 | Rt Hon Arthur James Balfour, later 1st Earl of Balfour, KG | Conservative | MP for Hertford 1974 - 1885 MP for Manchester East 1885 - January 1906 |
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May 1997 - June 2007 | Rt Hon Anthony Charles Lynton Blair | Labour | Labour MP for Sedgefield 1983 - 2007 |
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