1 Winston Churchill Con 2 David Lloyd George Lib 3 Clement Attlee Lab 4 Margaret Thatcher Con 5 Harold Wilson Lab 6 Stanley Baldwin Con 7 Edward Heath Con 8 Ramsay Macdonald Lab 9 Tony Blair Lab 10 James Callaghan Lab 11 Harold Macmillan Con 12 R A Butler Con 13 William Whitelaw Con 14 John Major Con 15 David Cameron Con 16 Anthony Eden Con 17 Neville Chamberlain Con 18 Gordon Brown Lab 19 Sir John Simon Lib 20 George Brown Lab

(For full list see end of this blogpost)

Back when I was running Politico’s Bookstore in 2003, I compiled a list of the most powerful politicians of the 20th century. Using a Eurovision Song Contest type points system, the list showed which politicians had wielded the most power and exerted the most influence on life in Britain in the last century. The criteria for inclusion was that the man or woman had to have held one of the major offices of state. So they had to have served as Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary or Home Secretary, or been a leader of one of the three political parties which have existed over the last century. Fifteen years on, I have repeated the exercise but used the end of the First World War as the starting point. Obviously trying to work out who the most powerful and influential politicians of the last one hundred years are cannot be a completely scientific exercise. I could easily argue that Nigel Farage deserves to be in this list, but he’s never been an MP. Had I included him just on the basis of having led UKIP, he would only have come in at 80th. If a politician held one of the great Offices of State at the beginning of 1919 I have also awarded points for their previous positions. Churchill is the main beneficiary of this. Had his pre 1919 career not been included he would have dropped to fifth, one place below Margaret Thatcher There are 12 Liberal politicians in this list, 39 Labour and 49 Conservatives. Of the top 20, 11 are Conservatives, 2 are Liberals and 7 are Labour. There are 96 men and 4 women on the list - Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May, Margaret Beckett & Jacqui Smith. There is not a single openly gay or ethnic minority politician on the list. The top ranking politician never to have become Prime Minister is R A Butler in 12th place, just ahead of William Whitelaw. Political careers tend to burn out more quickly nowadays and politicians leave politics at a younger age. Thatcher, Major and Blair all became Prime Minister with comparatively little experience of major offices of State. James Callaghan, who was only PM for 3 years, achieves quite a high rating in the list index because he had also held all three major offices of state before reaching the top of the greasy pole. For the same reason, Ted Heath is 7th in the top list, ahead of John Major in 14th place despite Major having served as Prime Minister for twice as long. Despite his 34 years in Parliament, Jeremy Corbyn only scrapes into the list in last place. If he wins the 2022 election and serves a full five year term, he would still only manage to climb into the mid 50s. It’s interesting to see so many names from the early part of the century whose influence has endured longer than their reputations. Ramsay MacDonald is in 8th place, while Sir John Simon figures in 19th place. But who could say what Sir John Gilmour did to be at 63rd place, or Sir David Somervell in 83rd place?
Other positions of interest are: David Cameron (15th), Gordon Brown (18th), Roy Jenkins (22nd), Ken Clarke (24th), Michael Heseltine (29th), William Hague (40th), Nick Clegg (51st), Neil Kinnock (55th), Jeremy Thorpe (60th), John Smith (71st), Ed Miliband (80sth) and George Osborne (88th). Editor’s Note

The index contains a list of the 100 politicians who held senior office (Prime Minister, Party leader, Speaker, Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary or Chancellor). Points are awarded as follows per annum, in a Eurovision style system…

Prime Minister 12 points Party Leader 10 points Chancellor, Home Secretary or Foreign Secretary 10 points First rank Cabinet Minister (eg Defence, Environment) 8 Points Second rank Cabinet Minister (eg Agriculture, Transport) 7 points Minister of State 5 points Parliamentary Under Secretary 4 points Shadow Cabinet Senior position 3 points Shadow Cabinet Junior position 2 points PPS 1 point MP 1 point

THE FULL LIST

1 Winston Churchill Con 455 2 David Lloyd George Lib 368 3 Clement Attlee Lab 359 4 Margaret Thatcher Con 353 5 Harold Wilson Lab 309 6 Stanley Baldwin Con 275 7 Edward Heath Con 269 8 Ramsay Macdonald Lab 263 9 Tony Blair Lab 254 10 James Callaghan Lab 241 11 Harold Macmillan Con 239 12 R A Butler Con 225 13 William Whitelaw Con 215 14 John Major Con 212 15 David Cameron Con 211 16 Anthony Eden Con 208 17 Neville Chamberlain Con 204 18 Gordon Brown Lab 193 19 Sir John Simon Lib 193 20 George Brown Lab 193 21 Andrew Bonar Law Con 191 22 Roy Jenkins Lab 188 23 Sir Austen Chamberlain Con 183 24 Kenneth Clarke Con 176 25 Herbert Morrison Lab 175 26 Herbert Gladstone Lib 172 27 Sir Geoffrey Howe Con 169 28 Peter Thorneycroft Con 168 29 Michael Heseltine Con 167 30 Alec Douglas Home Con 167 31 Sir Archibald Sinclair Lib 164 32 Denis Healey Lab 164 33 Selwyn Lloyd Con 157 34 John Prescott Lab 156 35 Reginald Maudling Con 148 36 Jo Grimond Lib 143 37 Clement Davies Lib 143 38 Jack Straw Lab 137 39 Margaret Beckett Lab 137 40 William Hague Con 135 41 Sir Kingsley Wood Con 135 42 Michael Howard Con 134 43 Sir Malcolm Rifkind Con 134 44 Leon Brittan Con 132 45 David Steel Lib 131 46 Sir Herbert Samuel Lib 130 47 Sir Samuel Hoare Con 130 48 Iain Macleod Con 130 49 Douglas Hurd Con 129 50 Paddy Ashdown Lib 128 51 Nick Clegg Lib 127 52 Michael Stewart Lab 127 53 Lord Carrington Con 124 54 Theresa May Con 123 55 Neil Kinnock Lab 120 56 Hugh Gaitskell Lab 120 57 Anthony Barber Con 120 58 Norman Lamont Con 116 59 Michael Foot Lab 115 60 Jeremy Thorpe Lib 110 61 David Owen Lab 110 62 Kenneth Baker Con 110 63 Sir John Gilmour Con 108 64 Robin Cook Lab 107 65 Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe Con 106 66 Arthur Henderson Lab 104 67 William Bridgeman Con 103 68 Francis Pym Con 101 69 Iain Duncan Smith Con 101 70 Chuter Ede Lab 100 71 John Smith Lab 99 72 Charles Kennedy Lib 98 73 Ernest Bevin Lab 94 74 Anthony Crosland Lab 94 75 Hugh Dalton Lab 93 76 David Blunkett Lab 93 77 Nigel Lawson Con 92 78 Patrick Gordon-Walker Lab 91 79 Philip Hammond Con 90 80 Ed Miliband Lab 89 81 John Reid Lab 85 82 Sir Stafford Cripps Lab 83 83 Sir David Somervell Con 83 84 Henry Brooke Con 83 85 David Waddington Con 83 86 Alan Johnson Lab 83 87 Robert Carr Con 81 88 George Osborne Con 81 89 Merlyn Rees Lab 80 90 Gwilym Lloyd George Con 73 91 David Heathcoat Amory Con 72 92 Jacqui Smith Lab 71 93 Sir William Joynson Hicks Con 66 94 David Miliband Lab 64 95 Sir John Anderson Con 64 96 Sir Frank Soskice Lab 63 97 John Clynes Lab 63 98 Jeremy Corbyn Lab 61 99 Charles Clarke Lab 59 100 Philip Snowden Lab 49