From Walpole to Johnson: lessons from the 300-year history of the British prime minister<\/a><\/h4>\nThree centuries after its inception, Sir Anthony Seldon charts how the office of prime minister has defied hostile monarchs, a scandal-hungry media and two world wars to become the beating heart of Britain\u2019s body politic<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>
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<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>While the 1922 Committee is best known for its role in Conservative leadership contests, it has also hosted a number of important speeches by party leaders, and it has become common practice for the party leader to give an annual speech to backbenchers at the end of the parliamentary term.<\/p>\n
The most controversial of these was delivered by Margaret Thatcher<\/a> during the early months of the miners\u2019 strike<\/a> in July 1984. She was reported as saying that \u201cwe had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands<\/a>. We always have to be aware of the enemy within\u201d. It was a barbed reference to the miners\u2019 unions.<\/p>\nWhile the speech proved highly divisive when it was subsequently reported, private papers released in 2014 indicate she intended to make similar comments at that year\u2019s party conference in Brighton. However, following the IRA bombing<\/a> of Thatcher\u2019s hotel, her speech was hastily rewritten.<\/p>\nWhen was the 1922 Committee formed? It wasn\u2019t 1922\u2026<\/h2>\n
Conservative backbench MPs played a prominent role in the fall of Liberal Party prime minister David Lloyd George\u2019s coalition government in 1922.<\/p>\n
While Lloyd George was widely admired for his leadership record during the First World War, he had long attracted criticism for his controversial leadership style, which included bestowing honours for his own personal advancement.<\/p>\n
A meeting of Conservative MPs at the Carlton Club \u2013 a private members\u2019 club in central London, and the original home of the Conservative Part<\/a>y \u2013 was key to the party\u2019s abandonment of the coalition and Lloyd George\u2019s downfall<\/a>. Conservative leader Austen Chamberlain, who had supported the continuation of the coalition, also subsequently resigned.<\/p>\nThe resulting general election saw the Conservatives, under Andrew Bonar Law, take government with a majority.<\/p>\n
But this was not the event that precipitated the formation of the 1922 Committee: this came after the general election of 1923, which was called by Conservative prime minister Stanley Baldwin<\/a> after Bonar Law resigned due to ill health (after only 209 days in office).<\/p>\nThe 1922 Committee initially began as a dining club, and it was only from 1926 that all backbench Conservative MPs were invited to become members.<\/p>\n From 1922 to today: the five greatest prime ministerial downfalls of the past 100 years<\/a><\/h4>\n\nBoris Johnson is far from the first British prime minister compelled to end their tenure in No 10 Downing Street ahead of time. Richard Toye, professor of modern history at the University of Exeter, considers five of the most spectacular downfalls of British prime ministers during the past 100 years\u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>
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<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>When did the 1922 Committee become so powerful?<\/h2>\n
Conservative backbenchers have long played an important role in shaping who gets to be party leader. In 1940 Lord Salisbury led a \u2018Watching Committee\u2019, which channelled Conservative discontent to Neville Chamberlain<\/a> in the months leading up to his replacement as prime minister by Winston Churchill<\/a>.<\/p>\nHowever, it wasn\u2019t until 1965 that the 1922 Committee\u2019s role as Conservative \u2018kingmakers\u2019 became formalised, when a process for electing a party leader was introduced. At first only MPs could vote, but from 2001 leadership contest onwards party members have had the final say over who becomes the next Conservative leader in the event of a leadership contest.<\/p>\n
Under the current rules, introduced in 1998, a leadership contest can be triggered by 15 per cent of Conservative MPs writing a letter to the chairman of the 1922 Committee calling for a vote.<\/p>\n
- Read more | Who was the best 20th-century prime minister?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Who sits on the 1922 Committee and how are they chosen?<\/h2>\n
The 1922 Committee is entirely comprised of backbench MPs, although in 2010 there was an attempt to change that.<\/p>\n
When David Cameron formed a coalition government (alongside the Liberal Democrats) in 2010, he sought to change the 1922 Committee\u2019s constitution to enable frontbenchers to play a greater role in its activities.<\/p>\n
The move didn\u2019t go down well with several backbenchers, fearing it was an attempt to control potential dissent and undermine their autonomy. It prompted Sir Graham Brady, who became chairman that year, to rule that while frontbenchers would be able to attend meetings of the 1922 Committee, only backbenchers would be able to vote for its officers and the 12-member executive committee.<\/p>\n
Does the Labour Party have an equivalent to the 1922 Committee?<\/h2>\n
The Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) performs a similar function to the 1922 Committee, although there are important differences. Membership is open to all Labour MPs, and until 1970 the party leader also led the PLP. Since 1983, Labour leadership contests have been decided by a weighted electoral college made up of affiliated trade unions, party members and MPs.<\/p>\n
- Read more | When was Britain\u2019s Labour Party established?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Four key moments in the history of the 1922 Committee<\/h2>\n 1<\/span> The introduction of Leadership contests, 1965<\/h3>\n<\/div>
When Harold Macmillan announced his decision to resign as prime minister in 1963 \u2013 in a letter delivered to the Conservative party conference \u2013 there was no obvious successor. With no formal mechanism to elect a Conservative leader, informal \u2018soundings\u2019 were taken within the parliamentary party.<\/p>\n
After both frontrunners \u2013 R A Butler and Reginald Maudling \u2013 performed poorly at the conference, the Conservatives settled on Sir Alec Douglas-Home as leader. Douglas-Home subsequently renounced his peerage to fight a by-election so he could sit in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n
The process frustrated many younger MPs such as Iain Macleod, who would claim that Douglas-Home\u2019s victory relied on a \u2018magic circle\u2019 of party grandees. Labour leader Harold Wilson ended 13 years of Tory rule in 1964 running on a programme of modernisation against his aristocratic rival. The divisions caused by the earlier succession crisis led the Conservatives to introduce a formal process for leadership contests \u2013 via the 1922 Committee \u2013 when Douglas-Home resigned as party leader the following year.
2<\/span> Becoming the \u2018men in grey suits\u2019, 1990<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Margaret Thatcher\u2019s 15-year leadership of the Conservative Party was bookended by the 1922 Committee\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n
The first came following Edward Heath\u2019s third general election defeat in October 1974, prompting the 1922 Committee to urge the Conservative leader to either resign or hold a leadership contest (at the time there was no way to challenge an incumbent).<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>
<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>While the 1922 Committee is best known for its role in Conservative leadership contests, it has also hosted a number of important speeches by party leaders, and it has become common practice for the party leader to give an annual speech to backbenchers at the end of the parliamentary term.<\/p>\n
The most controversial of these was delivered by Margaret Thatcher<\/a> during the early months of the miners\u2019 strike<\/a> in July 1984. She was reported as saying that \u201cwe had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands<\/a>. We always have to be aware of the enemy within\u201d. It was a barbed reference to the miners\u2019 unions.<\/p>\n While the speech proved highly divisive when it was subsequently reported, private papers released in 2014 indicate she intended to make similar comments at that year\u2019s party conference in Brighton. However, following the IRA bombing<\/a> of Thatcher\u2019s hotel, her speech was hastily rewritten.<\/p>\n Conservative backbench MPs played a prominent role in the fall of Liberal Party prime minister David Lloyd George\u2019s coalition government in 1922.<\/p>\n While Lloyd George was widely admired for his leadership record during the First World War, he had long attracted criticism for his controversial leadership style, which included bestowing honours for his own personal advancement.<\/p>\n A meeting of Conservative MPs at the Carlton Club \u2013 a private members\u2019 club in central London, and the original home of the Conservative Part<\/a>y \u2013 was key to the party\u2019s abandonment of the coalition and Lloyd George\u2019s downfall<\/a>. Conservative leader Austen Chamberlain, who had supported the continuation of the coalition, also subsequently resigned.<\/p>\n The resulting general election saw the Conservatives, under Andrew Bonar Law, take government with a majority.<\/p>\n But this was not the event that precipitated the formation of the 1922 Committee: this came after the general election of 1923, which was called by Conservative prime minister Stanley Baldwin<\/a> after Bonar Law resigned due to ill health (after only 209 days in office).<\/p>\n The 1922 Committee initially began as a dining club, and it was only from 1926 that all backbench Conservative MPs were invited to become members.<\/p>\n Boris Johnson is far from the first British prime minister compelled to end their tenure in No 10 Downing Street ahead of time. Richard Toye, professor of modern history at the University of Exeter, considers five of the most spectacular downfalls of British prime ministers during the past 100 years\u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> Conservative backbenchers have long played an important role in shaping who gets to be party leader. In 1940 Lord Salisbury led a \u2018Watching Committee\u2019, which channelled Conservative discontent to Neville Chamberlain<\/a> in the months leading up to his replacement as prime minister by Winston Churchill<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, it wasn\u2019t until 1965 that the 1922 Committee\u2019s role as Conservative \u2018kingmakers\u2019 became formalised, when a process for electing a party leader was introduced. At first only MPs could vote, but from 2001 leadership contest onwards party members have had the final say over who becomes the next Conservative leader in the event of a leadership contest.<\/p>\n Under the current rules, introduced in 1998, a leadership contest can be triggered by 15 per cent of Conservative MPs writing a letter to the chairman of the 1922 Committee calling for a vote.<\/p>\n The 1922 Committee is entirely comprised of backbench MPs, although in 2010 there was an attempt to change that.<\/p>\n When David Cameron formed a coalition government (alongside the Liberal Democrats) in 2010, he sought to change the 1922 Committee\u2019s constitution to enable frontbenchers to play a greater role in its activities.<\/p>\n The move didn\u2019t go down well with several backbenchers, fearing it was an attempt to control potential dissent and undermine their autonomy. It prompted Sir Graham Brady, who became chairman that year, to rule that while frontbenchers would be able to attend meetings of the 1922 Committee, only backbenchers would be able to vote for its officers and the 12-member executive committee.<\/p>\n The Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) performs a similar function to the 1922 Committee, although there are important differences. Membership is open to all Labour MPs, and until 1970 the party leader also led the PLP. Since 1983, Labour leadership contests have been decided by a weighted electoral college made up of affiliated trade unions, party members and MPs.<\/p>\n When Harold Macmillan announced his decision to resign as prime minister in 1963 \u2013 in a letter delivered to the Conservative party conference \u2013 there was no obvious successor. With no formal mechanism to elect a Conservative leader, informal \u2018soundings\u2019 were taken within the parliamentary party.<\/p>\n After both frontrunners \u2013 R A Butler and Reginald Maudling \u2013 performed poorly at the conference, the Conservatives settled on Sir Alec Douglas-Home as leader. Douglas-Home subsequently renounced his peerage to fight a by-election so he could sit in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n The process frustrated many younger MPs such as Iain Macleod, who would claim that Douglas-Home\u2019s victory relied on a \u2018magic circle\u2019 of party grandees. Labour leader Harold Wilson ended 13 years of Tory rule in 1964 running on a programme of modernisation against his aristocratic rival. The divisions caused by the earlier succession crisis led the Conservatives to introduce a formal process for leadership contests \u2013 via the 1922 Committee \u2013 when Douglas-Home resigned as party leader the following year. Margaret Thatcher\u2019s 15-year leadership of the Conservative Party was bookended by the 1922 Committee\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n The first came following Edward Heath\u2019s third general election defeat in October 1974, prompting the 1922 Committee to urge the Conservative leader to either resign or hold a leadership contest (at the time there was no way to challenge an incumbent).<\/p>\nWhen was the 1922 Committee formed? It wasn\u2019t 1922\u2026<\/h2>\n
From 1922 to today: the five greatest prime ministerial downfalls of the past 100 years<\/a><\/h4>\n
<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>When did the 1922 Committee become so powerful?<\/h2>\n
Who sits on the 1922 Committee and how are they chosen?<\/h2>\n
Does the Labour Party have an equivalent to the 1922 Committee?<\/h2>\n
Four key moments in the history of the 1922 Committee<\/h2>\n
The introduction of Leadership contests, 1965<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Becoming the \u2018men in grey suits\u2019, 1990<\/h3>\n<\/div>