Talk:UK Prime Ministers timeline

The gray in the table for "not in parliament" is a bit too close to the conservative blue. Jooler 11:55, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Better now? Wikipete 21:46, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes. Ta. Of course a pale yellow or green would contrast more, but it's fine now. Jooler 23:09, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Notable Achievements
Why does it say that Balfour died in office? He ceased to be PM in 1905, left the Commons in 1922, and lived to 1930.

Likewise Rosebery ceased to be PM in 1895 and lived to 1929. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.109.184.153 (talk) 23:59, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, fixed. Wikipete 12:12, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

Start at Walpole
Is it possible to start the timeline at 26 August 1676, the date the first Prime Minister (Robert Walpole) was born? --Philip Stevens 19:29, 15 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Ah... that depends how you actually define Prime minister. The UK has no constitution so that definition is a grey area - in fact it has even be declared in Parliament that the UK has no PM!  One could even acknowlegde Oliver Cromwell to be the very first PM.  Or one could even go back as far as the Model Parliament in the 13th century.  Walpole is only the traditional de facto first, not having been defined as such anywhere.  Anyway, the graphic would be huge if it went back even to Walpole.  --Jubilee♫ clipman  16:19, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Thatcher
The graph indicates that Thatcher was not in Parliament after the early 1990s - but she was made a life peer, and remained an active Tory politician in the House of Lords. Either the key should be altered from Parliament to House of Commons, or this should be changed.82.2.82.164 (talk) 20:46, 31 May 2008 (UTC)


 * That applies to quite a few actually. Parliament includes both houses, so it should simply state "not in Commons" or include the time in the Lords (as yet another colour).  --Jubilee♫ clipman  16:30, 10 December 2009 (UTC)
 * There are two other complications to consider. First, some of the Prime Ministers led from the Lords and never sat in the Commons. Second, there is currently no mechanism for retirement from the Lords. Thatcher could walk into the Lords chamber today and be allowed to cast a vote on anything that comes up. Anyone in the Lords would have to be shown on the graph as active until their death. Road Wizard (talk) 16:54, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

I accept the principle that life peerages for retired politicians are not listed as being "in parliament". They may still speak or vote, but they're there essentially as an honour and to have a venue to speak in, not as active politicians.

Given that, though, there's still an error in the timeline for H.H. Asquith as it reads currently. He was out of the House of Commons from 1918 to 1920, and lost his seat again in 1924, after which he went to the Lords. This should be fixed by someone with the capacity to do so. (Also, if we're going to use use-names like "Alec" and "Ted" and "Tony", then Asquith should be "H.H." and not "Herbert Henry", which is not how he was known - see the article on him - but that's minor.) Kalimac (talk) 17:24, 14 May 2010 (UTC)