The Prime Minister is the political head of the United Kingdom.
History
- For ease of identification, the summary below bolds the lists of known Prime Ministers.
20th century
Early 20th century
The Doctor mentioned meeting and drinking with David Lloyd George (DW: Aliens of London)
In 1930, Charley Pollard named a Vortisaur "Ramsey", after Prime Minister, James Ramsay McDonald. (BFA: Storm Warning)
The Doctor spoke of having met and known then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill during World War II. In his sixth incarnation, he encountered Churchill twice before he became Prime Minister and prevented the Players from altering the man's timeline. (PDA: Players) At some point, they became good friends and he gave Churchill the ability to call him. (DW: The Beast Below) They met more than once during the war, and each time Churchill would ask for use of the TARDIS to end the war. (DW: Victory of the Daleks) Churchill would serve as Prime Minister again in the 1950s. (DW: The Idiot's Lantern)
1960s through 1980s
Harold Wilson was Prime Minister in the late 1960s; his support in the 1970 general election was eroded by a series of disasters at scientific research facilities in 1969-70, such as Wenley Moor. (MA: Who Killed Kennedy referencing DW: Doctor Who and the Silurians). As Prime Minister, Wilson authorised the sacrifice of 12 children to the alien 456. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Three) Edward Heath suceeded him Prime Minister, but his government quickly came under fire due to the chaos at a Britain-hosted peace conference. (MA: Who Killed Kennedy, referencing DW: The Mind of Evil)
At some point, Jeremy Thorpe served with a coalition government of the Liberals and smaller, fringe parties (WEB: Party Politics). He was close to the company Global Chemicals, and forbade Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart from investigating the company. (DW: The Green Death) Jeremy's government would fall due to government scandals. (WEB: Party Politics) A few years later, the Brigadier conferred with a female Prime Minister (DW: Terror of the Zygons), Shirley Williams of the Labour Party (WEB: Party Politics). (See "Behind the Scenes")
Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. During the late 1980s, the Doctor would also act as a consultant to Thatcher. (SP: Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure) Despite this, he would later show distaste towards her. (DW: Father's Day, Tooth and Claw)
1990s
On 6 May 1997, a recently elected unnamed male Prime Minister, was assassinated by his own bodyguard while in Washington during the Lord Xznaal crisis. (NA: The Dying Days)
At some point following this, Tony Blair became Prime Minister. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen)
21st century
2000s
In the early 21st Century, Sherilyn Harper of the far-right New Britannia party came extremely close to being voted in as Prime Minister. (BFA: The Fearmonger)
An unnamed male Prime Minister incurred the wrath of ICIS and related interests in the government due to increased links with the European Union. After he signed the Euro-Combine Treaty, this conspiracy started a wave of terrorism in the hopes of getting him to declare martial law and give ICIS the power to take charge. He later declared he would shut down ICIS over this (BFA: The Longest Night), but they briefly remained in existence for a while longer. (BFA: The Wasting)
In early 2006, following the 2005 general election, the United Kingdom had a male Prime Minister (possibly Michael Year or the abovementioned Tony Blair). He was killed by the Slitheen, and the position of Acting Prime Minister was then assumed by Joseph Green, actually Jocrassa Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen wearing the slain Green's skin. Jocrassa and his brothers were later killed by a missile strike on 10 Downing Street. (DW: Aliens of London / World War Three, DVD commentaries) Following the Slitheen crisis, the real Prime Minister's death was officially deemed an accident. (WEB: whoisdoctorwho.co.uk)
By Christmas, Harriet Jones had taken over from him, though she earned the disfavour of the Doctor, who ensured her political downfall. (DW: The Christmas Invasion) Torchwood Institute leader Jack Harkness once rang her, angrily demanding to know Torchwood files were being "given" to the opposition leader (presumably "Saxon"). (TW: Greeks Bearing Gifts)
- Jones lost power to Harold Saxon in 2008, as she was shown to be the current PM on Saxon's campaign wesbite.
In May 2008 "Harold Saxon", was elected as the head of a coalition government. (WEB: www.haroldsaxon.co.uk) Shortly after his election, he gassed his entire cabinet and introduced the Toclafane to the human race, before being shot and killed by Lucy Saxon, his wife. (DW: The Sound of Drums) The general public remember him as having gone insane. (DW: The End of Time)
Following on from "Saxon", Aubrey Fairchild became Prime Minister (NSA: Beautiful Chaos). During the 2009 Dalek invasion of Earth the authorities including Torchwood lost contact with the Prime Minister's plane and is implied to have died.(DW: The Stolen Earth)
Brian Green succeeded Fairchild. (TW: Children of Earth: Day One) He came under criticism from foreign governments after Martin Trueman intercepted global broadcasts. (SJA: Secrets of the Stars) He was Prime Minister during the 456 incident, first covering up Britain's history with the 456 (TW: Children of Earth: Day Two) and later deciding to hand over a tenth of the country's children. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Four) Afterwards, Denise Riley, with the backing of Bridget Spears, decided to either depose or blackmail him with the incriminating evidence. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Five)
- Whether the scandal broke out and/or whether Riley actually took over as Prime Minister remains, to date, unknown.
Far future
Hawthorne, in the 33rd century, was the equivalent of a Prime Minister on Starship UK. (DW: The Beast Below)
Alternate timelines
In a timeline in which Germany won World War II, Sir Oswald Mosley was Prime Minister, Churchill having been executed. (NA: Timewyrm: Exodus)
In Pete's World Britain had the office of President (head of state). It is unclear whether this was instead of or in addition to that of Prime Minister (head of government). (DW: Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel)
Behind the scenes
- In real life, the Wilson government did have a sudden defeat in the 1970 election and Heath's government ran into difficulties very soon after it came in. Who Killed Kennedy by David Bishop attributed these problems to events in the Whoniverse involving the Third Doctor and UNIT.
- The "Jeremy" reference in DW: The Green Death had been a joke by the production team, implying Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe would win the contemporary general election; the equivalent would be if a near-future episode of the new series implied the Green Party was going to win. (The production team assumed at the time that the UNIT stories actually took place in the near future.) In real life, he didn't win, though he had briefly been in talks with Edward Heath to form a coalition government.
- In the DVD commentary for Frontier in Space, Terrance Dicks says that the reference to the PM as female in DW: Terror of the Zygons was an ad-lib by Nicholas Courtney. The BBC Classic Who website [1] has this mean Shirley Williams, who was only a Labour cabinet minister in real life.
- Rather than finger a specific party, "Harold Saxon" is implied to have not been in a political party on the tie-in website and Green's party goes unmentioned. World War Three, however, made deliberate jabs at Tony Blair's Labour government and Harriet Jones says she was not one of "the babes", likely a reference to the term "Blair's Babes"; this would indicate the PM at the time (and Jones) was Labour.
- The show indicates that "Saxon" was directly elected as Prime Minister. This is not how the role is appointed.
- According to Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale, originally in DW: The Stolen Earth or Journey's End, Prime Minister Fairchild was to have been exterminated by the Daleks at Westminster.
