Politics

Post-War UK PMs with the Shortest Tenures

Prime Minister Liz Truss didn't make it past 44 days in office before she was forced to announce her resignation, standing behind the lectern at Number 10: A lectern which, while waiting for Truss to give her first speech to the media just a few weeks prior, was for a time adorned with a black refuse bag. Ironic then, how astonishingly quickly her tenure as PM has ended up in the bin.

As this chart shows, even with the one week transition period, Truss now has the unwanted honour of being the shortest-serving post-war prime minister, going down as one of, if not the least successful and popular leaders of the country. Even extending the ranking to cover all PMs, Truss would still be at the top by a considerable margin. Before the departure of Truss, Boris Johnson had also joined the top end of the list. While the embattled PM was able to hold on to surpass the days in office of Theresa May - the leader he himself helped to oust - it ultimately didn't take much longer until he was forced to leave Downing Street.

Description

This chart shows the UK prime ministers taking office after 1945 with the shortest tenures.

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Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom with the fewest days in office from 1900 to 2026
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Shortest term lengths of prime ministers inaugurated since the Heisei era in Japan as of 2025 (days in office)
Cumulative number of ministerial resignations in governments of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 2022
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Longest term lengths of prime ministers in the history of Japan as of 2025 (days in office)
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Longest term lengths of prime ministers inaugurated since the Heisei era in Japan as of September 2025 (days in office)
"Which of the following do you think would make the best Prime Minister?" (July 2026)

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