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70 free British Prime Ministers trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This British prime ministers trivia quiz runs the whole line from Robert Walpole in 1721 to the present day. It covers the record-holders — the longest serving, the youngest, the only one assassinated, the 49-day premiership, the four-term Victorian — and the famous nicknames and quotations: the Iron Lady, Supermac, 'never had it so good', the man who lost America. It also digs into how the job works: why the office rests on nothing but convention, why prime ministers live at Number 10 at all, when the title became official, and what Chequers is. Along the way you get the reformers and the disasters: Grey's Reform Act, Peel's police and the Corn Laws, Disraeli and the Suez shares, Lloyd George's People's Budget, Munich, Suez, the EEC, the coalition and Brexit, plus a healthy dose of who-went-to-which-college for the modern crop from Major to Sunak, Starmer and Burnham. Around a third are easy; the rest reward people who know their Liverpool from their Canning. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia's biographies and the sources they cite, and each explanation adds one more thing worth knowing.
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Q 01Who is generally regarded as the first British prime minister, serving from 1721 to 1742?
Robert Walpole
His 20-year run is still the longest of any prime minister; his era was nicknamed the 'Robinocracy'.
Q 02Which prime minister holds the record for the longest tenure, at more than 20 years?
Robert Walpole
He accepted 10 Downing Street from George II in 1732 only on condition it went to the office, not to him personally.
Q 03Who is the youngest person ever to become British prime minister, taking office at 24?
William Pitt the Younger
He was also Chancellor of the Exchequer for his entire time as prime minister, and died in office in 1806.
Q 04Which prime minister is the only one to have been assassinated?
Spencer Perceval
He was shot in the lobby of the Commons in May 1812 by John Bellingham, a merchant with a grievance against the government.
Q 05Who was the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, resigning on her fiftieth day in office?
Liz Truss
She was appointed by Elizabeth II at Balmoral two days before the Queen died, making her the fifteenth and last of that reign.
Q 06Before 2022, which PM's 119-day premiership of 1827 was the shortest in British history?
George Canning
He took office in April 1827 and was dead by August; his 119 days became the second-shortest premiership in 2022.
Q 07Which prime minister served four non-consecutive terms, the most of any, between 1868 and 1894?
William Gladstone
He was also four times Chancellor of the Exchequer and an MP for over 60 years, spanning almost the whole Victorian era.
Q 08Who is the only British prime minister to have been born into a Jewish family?
Benjamin Disraeli
His father left the synagogue after a dispute and he was baptised an Anglican at 12; he later bought Britain its stake in the Suez Canal.
Q 09Which prime minister, the father of modern British policing, gave 'bobbies' their nickname?
Robert Peel
He founded the Metropolitan Police as Home Secretary in 1829, and later split his party by repealing the Corn Laws.
Q 10Which victor of Waterloo went on to serve as prime minister?
The Duke of Wellington
Born in Dublin, he was also Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, and famously opposed the 1832 Reform Bill.
Q 11Which prime minister's 1812–1827 term covered Waterloo, Peterloo and the Cato Street Conspiracy?
Lord Liverpool
He resigned after a stroke; his ministry introduced the Corn Laws and repealed income tax.
Q 12Which prime minister is remembered, fairly or not, as the man who lost the American colonies?
Lord North
Historians once painted him as a creature of George III; his reputation has recovered somewhat since.
Q 13Which prime minister's government passed the Great Reform Act of 1832 and abolished slavery in 1833?
Earl Grey
A blend of tea carries his name, though it is unlikely he had any actual connection with it.
Q 21Which prime minister signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler on 30 September 1938?
Neville Chamberlain
He declared war on Germany a year later and resigned on 10 May 1940, the day the Germans invaded France and the Low Countries.
Q 22Which prime minister was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953?
Winston Churchill
He was an MP for some 62 years across five constituencies and switched parties twice.
Q 23Which prime minister's government created the National Health Service in 1948?
Clement Attlee
He had been deputy prime minister in the wartime coalition and remains Labour's longest-serving leader.
Q 14Which prime minister guided the young Queen Victoria and had an Australian state capital named after him?
Lord Melbourne
The city was named in his honour in March 1837 while he was still in office.
Q 15The elder William Pitt, prime minister 1766–68, is usually known by which title?
Earl of Chatham
His son became the youngest prime minister ever at 24.
Q 16Who was the first head of government to be officially given the title 'Prime Minister', in 1905?
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
The term had been used informally for nearly two centuries; it entered official usage five days after he took office.
Q 17Which Welsh-speaking Liberal led Britain through the second half of the First World War?
David Lloyd George
As Chancellor he had introduced the 1909 People's Budget and the National Insurance Act, foundations of the welfare state.
Q 18Which prime minister was born in New Brunswick, making him the only one born outside the British Isles?
Bonar Law
The son of a Free Church of Scotland minister, he served just 211 days in 1922–23 before ill health forced him out.
Q 19Who became the first Labour prime minister in 1924?
Ramsay MacDonald
His minority government lasted nine months; in 1931 Labour expelled him for forming a Conservative-dominated National Government.
Q 20Which Conservative served three separate times as prime minister between 1923 and 1937?
Stanley Baldwin
An iron and steel man from Bewdley, he handled the General Strike and the abdication crisis.
Q 24Whose premiership was wrecked by the 1956 Suez Crisis, leading to his resignation in January 1957?
Anthony Eden
He had been foreign secretary at 38 and resigned once before, in protest at appeasement of Mussolini.
Q 25Which prime minister, nicknamed 'Supermac', told Britons in 1957 they had 'never had it so good'?
Harold Macmillan
The nickname came from cartoonist Victor Weisz in 1958, who meant it as mockery of a would-be Superman.
Q 26Who was the last prime minister to take office while a member of the House of Lords, in 1963?
Alec Douglas-Home
He renounced his earldom and won a Commons seat within weeks; his premiership lasted under a year.
Q 27Which Labour leader formed a government after four separate general elections?
Harold Wilson
His governments created the Open University; he resigned in March 1976 citing his health.
Q 28Which prime minister took Britain into the European Economic Community in 1973?
Edward Heath
The son of a chambermaid and a carpenter, he sat in the Commons for 51 years.
Q 29Who is the only person to have held all four British Great Offices of State?
James Callaghan
His government fell after the 1978–79 Winter of Discontent and a lost no-confidence vote in March 1979.
Q 30Who was the first woman to serve as British prime minister?
Margaret Thatcher
A Soviet journalist coined her 'Iron Lady' nickname; she was also the longest-serving prime minister of the 20th century.