List of nicknames of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom

This is a list of nicknames of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom. Since Sir Robert Walpole, most Prime Ministers have had a nickname which was in common usage at the time they were in office. Many nicknames can be perceived as disparaging although others are complimentary or affectionate.

List of nicknames

Robert Walpole

Full name: Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford

• Sir Bluestring^[1]
• Screen-Master General^[1]

Earl of Wilmington

Full name: Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington

· Wilmo

Henry Pelham

Full name: Henry Pelham

• King Henry the Ninth^[2]
• Horny Henry P - the Mince-Stuffed Budgerigar^[2]

Duke of Newcastle

Full name: Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

• Hubble-Bubble^[3]

Duke of Devonshire

Full name: William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire

Earl of Bute

Full name: John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute

• Jack Boot^[4]

George Grenville

Full name: George Grenville

• Gentle Shepherd^[5]
• The Spodulator^[5]

Marquess of Rockingham

Full name: Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham

Earl of Chatham

Full name: William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham

• The Great Commoner^[6]

Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton

Full name: Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton

• Royal Oak^[7]
• The Turf Macaroni^[7]

Lord North

Full name: Frederick North, Lord North

• Boreas (the north wind)^[8]
• Lord-deputy North^[8]

Earl of Shelburne

Full name: William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne

• Malagrida^[9]
• The Jesuit in Berkerly Square^[9]

Duke of Portland

Full name: William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland

William Pitt the Younger

Full name: William Pitt the Younger

• Pitt the Younger^[10]
• Three-bottle man, in reference to his heavy consumption of port wine.^[11]

Henry Addington

Full name: Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth

• The Doctor^[12]

Baron Grenville

Full name: William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville

• Bogey^[13]

Spencer Perceval

Full name: Spencer Perceval

• Little P^[14]

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

Full name: Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

George Canning

Full name: George Canning

• The Cicero of the British Senate^[15]
• The Zany of Debate^[15]

Viscount Goderich

Full name: Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich

• Prosperity Robinson^[16]
• Goody Goderich^[16]
• The Blubberer^[16]

Duke of Wellington

Full name: Duke of Wellington

• The Iron Duke^[17]
• Europe's Liberator^[17]
• Saviour of the Nations^[17]

Earl Grey

Full name: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey

Viscount Melbourne

Full name: William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne

Robert Peel

Full name: Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet

• Orange Peel,^[18] a reference to his views on Ireland.

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell

Full name: John Russell, 1st Earl Russell

• Finality Jack^[19]
• The Widow's Mite^[19]

Earl of Derby

Full name: Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby

• Scorpion Stanley^[20]
• The Rupert of Debate^[20]

Earl of Aberdeen

Full name: George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen

Viscount Palmerston

Full name: Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

• Lord Cupid^[21]
• Lord Pumicestone^[21]

Benjamin Disraeli

Full name: Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

• Dizzy^[22]

William Ewart Gladstone

Full name: William Ewart Gladstone

• Grand Old Man^[23]
• The People's William
• God's Only Mistake Used by Disraeli as a mocking alternative to Gladstone's preferred nickname (Grand Old Man).^[23]

Marquess of Salisbury

Full name:Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

• Bob's your uncle In reference to Salisbury's appointment of his nephew, Arthur Balfour to the position of Chief Secretary of Ireland. Balfour would later become Prime Minister.

Earl of Rosebery

Full name: Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian

• Puddin

Arthur Balfour

Full name: Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour

• Pretty Fanny: A reference to his delicacy of appearance and manners.^[24]
• Bloody Balfour^[25]
• Tiger Lily^[26]
• Miss Balfour

Henry Campbell-Bannerman

Full name: Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

• CB^[27]

H. H. Asquith

Full name: Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith

• The Last of the Romans^[28]
• The Sledgehammer^[29]
• Squiffy^[30]

David Lloyd George

Full name: David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor

• The Welsh Wizard^[31]
• The Man Who Won The War^[31]
• The Welsh Goat^[32]

Bonar Law

Full name: Andrew Bonar Law

• The Unknown Prime Minister^[33]

Stanley Baldwin

Full name: Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley

• The Ironmonger
• Honest Stan
• Stanz B

Ramsay MacDonald

Full name: James Ramsay MacDonald

• Ramsay Mac^[34]
• Ramshackle Mac^[35]

Neville Chamberlain

Full name: Arthur Neville Chamberlain

• The Coroner^[36]

Winston Churchill

Full name: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

• ""Sherlock""
• Winnie^[37]
• (British) Bulldog:^[38] First given to him by the Russians,^[39] it was a reference to his ferociousness and focus.^[40]
• Former Naval Person and Naval Person: How Churchill signed many of his telegrams to Franklin D. Roosevelt, first choosing the code name "Naval Person" and later changing it to "Former Naval Person" after he became Prime Minister.^[41]

Clement Attlee

Full name:Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee

• Clem^[42]

Anthony Eden

Full name: Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon

• The Glamour Boy In reference to his neat appearance.

Harold Macmillan

Full name: Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton

• Supermac^[43]
• Mac the Knife,^[43] in reference to the Night of the Long Knives.

Alec Douglas-Home

Full name: Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel

• Baillie Vass^[44][45]

Harold Wilson

Full name: James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx

• Wislon^[46]

Edward Heath

Full name: Sir Edward Richard George Heath

• Grocer Heath^[47]

James Callaghan

Full name: Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff

• Big Jim^[48]
• Sunny Jim,^[48] a homonym of "Sonny Jim", used to patronise an inexperienced person,^[49] and to refer to his optimism.

Margaret Thatcher

Full name: Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (née Roberts)

• Attila the Hen^[50]
• The Great She-Elephant,^[51][52] an allusion to Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories.
• The Grocer's Daughter,^[53] a double meaning in that she was literally the daughter of a grocer, but also the successor to Edward Heath, "The Grocer".
• The Iron Lady^[54]
• Madame Frit, derived from her use of the dialect word frit in the House.^[55]
• Maggie^[56]
• Milk Snatcher, from her policy as Secretary of State for Education to remove the supply of free milk to young schoolchildren.^[57]

John Major

Full name: Sir John Major

• Grey Man^[58]
• Honest John
• Prince of Greyness

Tony Blair

Full Name: Anthony Charles Lynton Blair

• Bambi^[59]
• Bliar^[59]
• America's Poodle: A reference to his Special Relationship with the President of the United States, George W. Bush^[60]
• Teflon Tony^[61]

Gordon Brown

Full name: James Gordon Brown

• Flash Gordon^[62]
• Big Clunking Fist: First used by Tony Blair during his final Queen's Speech debate;^[63] later used by columnists throughout the British media.^[64][65]
  • Great Clunking Fist, a common misquote.^{[66][67][68][69]}
• Bottler Brown: Used in relation to Brown not calling an election in 2007 after previously suggesting he would.^[70]
• Golden Brown: Used by Terry Wogan and the TOGs, normally followed by Wogan saying "Never a frown with Golden Brown", a reference to the song "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers.^[71]
• Gordo^[72]
• Great Leader and Stalin: Often sarcastically used by Andrew Neil on This Week in relation to Lord Turnbull's description of Brown as a man who operates with "Stalinist ruthlessness"^[73][74] The fortnightly satirical magazine Private Eye also had a mock Stalinist decree each issue, Prime Ministerial Decree.
• Squatter in No. 10 ^{[75][76][77][78]}

David Cameron

Full name: David William Donald Cameron

• Dave: Cameron is reported to be known to friends and family as 'Dave' rather than David, although he invariably uses 'David' in public.^[79]
• Dave the Chameleon: Dave the Chameleon was the British Labour Party's advertising slogan, and the basis of its political campaign, for the 2006 elections to local government.
• Flashman: a reference to fictional upper-class bully Harry Flashman, used by Ed Miliband during a PMQs debate on reform to the NHS.^[80][81]
• Call me Dave^[82]
• Hameron:^[83][84] In reference to the Piggate scandal.
• Dodgy Dave:^[85][86] This nickname was trending on social media with the #DodgyDave hashtag after Labour MP Dennis Skinner was sent out of the House of Commons in April 2016 for referring to Cameron as "Dodgy Dave" and repeating it after being instructed to withdraw it by Speaker John Bercow.^[86] This came about during the Panama Papers scandal.^[86]

Theresa May

Full name: Theresa Mary May (née Brasier)

• Bloody Difficult Woman:^[87][88][89] Originally used by Kenneth Clarke to describe May while preparing for an interview with Sky News, not realising he was being recorded.
• The Steel Lady^[90]
• Submarine May^[91][92]
• Jackboot May^[93] In reference to May's history of pursuing authoritarian policies, such as with the Draft Communications Data Bill.
• Miss Brexit Means Brexit

See also

• List of nicknames of United States presidents
• Prime Minister parodies (Private Eye)

References