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.
Contents
- 1 List of nicknames
- 1.1 Robert Walpole
- 1.2 Earl of Wilmington
- 1.3 Henry Pelham
- 1.4 Duke of Newcastle
- 1.5 Duke of Devonshire
- 1.6 Earl of Bute
- 1.7 George Grenville
- 1.8 Marquess of Rockingham
- 1.9 Earl of Chatham
- 1.10 Duke of Grafton
- 1.11 Lord North
- 1.12 Earl of Shelburne
- 1.13 Duke of Portland
- 1.14 William Pitt the Younger
- 1.15 Henry Addington
- 1.16 Baron Grenville
- 1.17 Spencer Perceval
- 1.18 Earl of Liverpool
- 1.19 George Canning
- 1.20 Viscount Goderich
- 1.21 Duke of Wellington
- 1.22 Earl Grey
- 1.23 Viscount Melbourne
- 1.24 Robert Peel
- 1.25 Lord John Russell
- 1.26 Earl of Derby
- 1.27 Earl of Aberdeen
- 1.28 Viscount Palmerston
- 1.29 Benjamin Disraeli
- 1.30 William Ewart Gladstone
- 1.31 Marquess of Salisbury
- 1.32 Earl of Rosebery
- 1.33 Arthur Balfour
- 1.34 Henry Campbell-Bannerman
- 1.35 H. H. Asquith
- 1.36 David Lloyd George
- 1.37 Bonar Law
- 1.38 Stanley Baldwin
- 1.39 Ramsay MacDonald
- 1.40 Neville Chamberlain
- 1.41 Winston Churchill
- 1.42 Clement Attlee
- 1.43 Anthony Eden
- 1.44 Harold Macmillan
- 1.45 Alec Douglas-Home
- 1.46 Harold Wilson
- 1.47 Edward Heath
- 1.48 James Callaghan
- 1.49 Margaret Thatcher
- 1.50 John Major
- 1.51 Tony Blair
- 1.52 Gordon Brown
- 1.53 David Cameron
- 2 See also
- 3 References
List of nicknames
Robert Walpole
Full name: Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford
Earl of Wilmington
Full name: Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington
Henry Pelham
Full name: Henry Pelham
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
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]
Duke of Grafton
Full name: Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
Lord North
Full name: Frederick North, Lord North
Earl of Shelburne
Full name: William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
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]
Henry Addington
Full name: Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth
Baron Grenville
Full name: William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville
- Bogey[12]
Spencer Perceval
Full name: Spencer Perceval
- Little P[13]
Earl of Liverpool
Full name: Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
George Canning
Full name: George Canning
Viscount Goderich
Full name: Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich
Duke of Wellington
Full name: Duke of Wellington
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,[17] a reference to his views on Ireland.
Lord John Russell
Full name: John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
Earl of Derby
Full name: Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
Earl of Aberdeen
Full name: George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
Viscount Palmerston
Full name: Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
Benjamin Disraeli
Full name: Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield
- Dizzy[21]
William Ewart Gladstone
Full name: William Ewart Gladstone
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
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Full name: Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
- CB[25]
H. H. Asquith
Full name: Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith
David Lloyd George
Full name: David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor
Bonar Law
Full name: Andrew Bonar Law
- The Unknown Prime Minister[31]
Stanley Baldwin
Full name: Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley
- The Ironmonger
- Honest Stan
- Stanz B
Ramsay MacDonald
Full name: James Ramsay MacDonald
Neville Chamberlain
Full name: Arthur Neville Chamberlain
- The Coroner[34]
Winston Churchill
Full name: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill
- Winnie[35]
- (British) Bulldog:[36] First given to him by the Russians,[37] it was a reference to his ferociousness and focus.[38]
- 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.[39]
Clement Attlee
Full name:Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee
- Clem[40]
Anthony Eden
Full name: Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon
Harold Macmillan
Full name: Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton
- Supermac[41]
- Mac the Knife[41]
Alec Douglas-Home
Full name: Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel
Harold Wilson
Full name: James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx
- Wislon[44]
Edward Heath
Full name: Sir Edward Richard George Heath
- Grocer Heath[45]
James Callaghan
Full name: Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff
- Big Jim[46]
- Sunny Jim,[46] a homonym of "Sonny Jim", used to patronise an inexperienced person,[47] and to refer to his optimism.
Margaret Thatcher
Full name: Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (née Roberts)
- Attila the Hen[48]
- The Great She-Elephant,[49][50] an allusion to Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories.
- The Grocer's Daughter,[51] 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[52]
- Madame Frit derived from her use of the dialect word frit in the House.[53]
- Maggie[54]
- Milk Snatcher, from her policy as Secretary of State for Education to remove the supply of free milk to young schoolchildren.[55]
- TINA from "there is no alternative".[53]
John Major
Full name: Sir John Major
- Grey Man[56]
Tony Blair
Full Name: Anthony Charles Lynton Blair
- Bambi[57]
- Bliar[57]
- America's Poodle: A reference to his Special Relationship with the President of the United States, George W. Bush[58]
- Teflon Tony[59]
Gordon Brown
Full name: James Gordon Brown
- Flash Gordon[60]
- Big Clunking Fist: First used by Tony Blair during his final Queen's Speech debate;[61] later used by columnists throughout the British media.[62][63]
- Bottler Brown: Used in relation to Brown not calling an election in 2007 after previously suggesting he would.[68]
- 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.[69]
- Gordo[70]
- 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"[71][72] The fortnightly satirical magazine Private Eye also had a mock Stalinist decree each issue, Prime Ministerial Decree.
- Squatter at No. 10 [73][74][75]
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.[76]
- 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[77][78]
- Call me Dave[79]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Englefield, Dermot; Seaton, Janet; White, Isobel. Facts about the British Prime Ministers. Mansell, 1995, p. 2.
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- ↑ AJP Taylor, English History 1914-1945.
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- ↑ 41.0 41.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Patrick Marnham, "The Private Eye Story", Fontana/Collins, 1983, p. 74.
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- ↑ Popularised by the fornightly satirical magazine Private Eye.
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- ↑ 53.0 53.1 http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/04/margaretthatcher/
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- ↑ Rumbelow, Helen (21 May 2005)."The gilded youth whose son steeled him in adversity". The Times (London). Retrieved 4 September 2007.
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