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
• Screen-Master General

Earl of Wilmington

Full name: Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington

Henry Pelham

Full name: Henry Pelham

• King Henry the Ninth
• Horny Henry P - the Mince-Stuffed Budgerigar

Duke of Newcastle

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

• Hubble-Bubble

Duke of Devonshire

Full name: William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire

Earl of Bute

Full name: John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute

• Jack Boot

George Grenville

Full name: George Grenville

• Gentle Shepherd
• The Spodulator

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

Duke of Grafton

Full name: Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton

• Royal Oak
• The Turf Macaroni

Lord North

Full name: Frederick North, Lord North

• Boreas (the north wind)
• Lord-deputy North
• The Swish Fish

Earl of Shelburne

Full name: William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne

• Malagrida
• The Jesuit in Berkerly Square

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

Henry Addington

Full name: Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth

• The Doctor
• The Addster

Baron Grenville

Full name: William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville

• Bogey

Spencer Perceval

Full name: Spencer Perceval

• Little P

Earl of Liverpool

Full name: Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

George Canning

Full name: George Canning

• The Cicero of the British Senate
• The Zany of Debate
• Soapy George Underhen

Viscount Goderich

Full name: Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich

• Prosperity Robinson
• Goody Goderich
• The Blubberer

Duke of Wellington

Full name: Duke of Wellington

• The Iron Duke
• Europe's Liberator
• Saviour of the Nations

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, a reference to his views on Ireland.

Lord John Russell

Full name: John Russell, 1st Earl Russell

• Finality Jack
• The Widow's Mite

Earl of Derby

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

• Scorpion Stanley
• The Rupert of Debate

Earl of Aberdeen

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

Viscount Palmerston

Full name: Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

• Lord Cupid
• Lord Pumicestone

Benjamin Disraeli

Full name: Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

• Dizzy

William Ewart Gladstone

Full name: William Ewart Gladstone

• Grand Old Man
• The People's William

Marquess of Salisbury

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

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.
• Bloody Balfour

Henry Campbell-Bannerman

Full name: Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

• CB

H. H. Asquith

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

• The Last of the Romans
• The Sledgehammer
• Squiffy

David Lloyd George

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

• The Welsh Wizard
• The Man Who Won The War
• The Welsh Goat

Bonar Law

Full name: Andrew Bonar Law

• The Unknown Prime Minister

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
• Ramshackle Mac

Neville Chamberlain

Full name: Arthur Neville Chamberlain

• The Coroner

Winston Churchill

Full name: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

• Winnie
• (British) Bulldog: First given to him by the Russians, it was a reference to his ferociousness and focus.
• 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.

Clement Attlee

Full name:Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee

• Clem

Anthony Eden

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

Harold Macmillan

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

• Supermac
• Mac the Knife

Alec Douglas-Home

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

• Baillie Vass

Harold Wilson

Full name: James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx

• Wislon

Edward Heath

Full name: Sir Edward Richard George Heath

• Grocer Heath

James Callaghan

Full name: Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff

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

Margaret Thatcher

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

• Attila the Hen
• The Great She-Elephant, an allusion to Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories.
• The Grocer's Daughter, 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
• Madame Frit derived from her use of the dialect word frit in the House.
• Maggie
• Milk Snatcher, from her policy as Secretary of State for Education to remove the supply of free milk to young schoolchildren.
• TINA from "there is no alternative".

John Major

Full name: Sir John Major

• Grey Man

Tony Blair

Tony Blair's Special Relationship with the President of the United States, George W. Bush, gained him the nickname "America's Poodle".

Full Name: Anthony Charles Lynton Blair

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

Gordon Brown

Full name: James Gordon Brown

• Flash Gordon
• Big Clunking Fist: First used by Tony Blair during his final Queen's Speech debate; later used by columnists throughout the British media.
  • Great Clunking Fist, a common misquote.
• Bottler Brown: Used in relation to Brown not calling an election in 2007 after previously suggesting he would.
• 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.
• Gordo
• 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" The fortnightly satirical magazine Private Eye also had a mock Stalinist decree each issue, Prime Ministerial Decree.
• Squatter at No. 10

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.
• 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
• Call me Dave

See also

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