Quotable UK Prime Ministers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Harold Wilson

Harold Wilson was the leader of the Labour Party and was Prime Minister from 1964 until 1970 and again from 1974 until 1976 - the Conservative Edward Heath was in power between Wilson's two stints. Wilson was the Prime Minister who devalued the pound in 1967, providing the other phrase for which he is remembered - 'this will not mean that the pound in your pocket has been devalued'.

The quotation in the question is particularly apt for Wilson since he was regularly photographed wearing his Gannex raincoat.

Answer: Benjamin Disraeli

Although this phrase is commonly associated with Britain's Royal family, it is credited to Benjamin Disraeli and subsequently adopted as a motto by others. Disraeli was Prime Minister for a few months in 1868, losing the election held in November that year to Gladstone. Disraeli subsequently defeated Gladstone in 1874, remaining in office until 1880, when he lost to Gladstone again. Disraeli is credited with creating the Conservative Party - the prominent political parties prior to his time were the Whigs and Liberals.

Answer: David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George took over from Herbert Asquith as Britain's Prime Minister in 1916, halfway through World War I. He was the final Prime Minister of the Liberal Party. He was of Welsh heritage, and spoke the language, although his birthplace was actually Manchester. Lloyd George's leadership is regarded as mostly successful - as well as being Prime Minister when the Great War ended, he also introduced many welfare reforms and brought in the first stages of suffrage for women.

The quotation in the question is widely reported as his, among numerous others - Welshmen tend to have a lot to say!

Answer: Margaret Thatcher

I couldn't quote the whole of this saying as it continues 'the lady's not for turning', which would have been rather a giveaway. This is one quotation which can be safely dated since it was part of Margaret Thatcher's speech at the Conservative Party conference on 10 October 1980.

The phrase is a play on words, taken from the title of a play by Christopher Fry called 'The Lady's Not for Burning' (1948). Margaret Thatcher was the longest serving Prime Minister of the twentieth century, in power from 1979 until 1990.

Answer: Arthur Balfour

Serving as Prime Minister from 1902 until 1905, while Edward VII was king, Balfour is described as being a detached man and the quotation attributed to him seems to reflect this. He was not in power for long, being succeeded by Henry Campbell-Bannerman, a Liberal while Balfour was a Conservative. Balfour served as Foreign Secretary in Lloyd George's cabinet from 1916 until 1919 as part of a wartime coalition government.

Answer: Robert Peel

Peel had a brief time as Prime Minister between December 1834 and April 1835, while William IV was King, returning to power under Queen Victoria in 1841 for a five year spell. He was one of the men responsible for the creation of the Conservative Party but is best remembered as the founder of the Metropolitan Police.

This was the first organised police force, with full time officers and was based on Peel's principle that the effectiveness of policing should be judged by the lack of crime rather than the number of arrests.

The nicknames for the police of 'peelers' and 'bobbies' come from Robert Peel's names.

Answer: Neville Chamberlain

Chamberlain's declaration came on 30 September 1938, following his return from a visit to Munich where a non-aggression agreement had been signed with Adolf Hitler. Chamberlain was feted by a public for whom the First World War was recent memory and who dreaded further conflict. Of course, the peace was short lived and Britain declared war on Germany less than a year later.

Although much derided for this 'appeasement', Chamberlain gave Britain the time it needed to re-arm and build up sufficient military strength to oppose, and ultimately, defeat Hitler.

Answer: Tony Blair

It may not be the first time he said it, but Blair gave this reply in a 2013 interview with the Independent newspaper. Tony Blair became British Prime Minister in 1997 and won re-election in both 2001 and 2005, making him the Labour Party's longest-serving Prime Minister at the time of writing (2020).

He stepped down in 2007 in favour of Gordon Brown to honour an agreement the two men had made in 1994, known as the Granita Pact. Among Blair's successes was the Good Friday agreement, bringing peace to Northern Ireland but his support for the George Bush promoted invasion of Iraq saw his popularity wane.

Answer: Harold Macmillan

This is another quotation which can be accurately dated, coming in a speech made by Macmillan to the South African Parliament on 3 February 1960. The continent was, of course, Africa and Macmillan was pointing out independence needed to be granted to the British colonies still in existence at the time. Macmillan was a Conservative Prime Minister, in power from 1957 until 1963.

His other famous phrase was 'most of our people have never had it so good', from 1957, extolling his party's handling of the economy. Most of the people seemed to disagree since the Conservatives lost to Labour, led by Harold Wilson, in 1964.

Answer: Winston Churchill

Many of Churchill's most famous sayings come from World War II, when he was Prime Minister, but this one is from the First World War, when he was First Lord of the Admiralty. The purpose was to encourage people to live their lives normally as to do otherwise would give a moral victory to the enemy. Churchill was Prime Minister of Britain from 1940 until 1945 then again from 1951 until 1955 when he resigned due to health issues.