Prime Minister of Australia
Ministry
Federal
Arms of Her Majesty's Australian Government
Incumbent Julia Gillard since 24 June 2010
Style	The Honourable
Appointed by	Quentin Bryce as Governor General of Australia
First minister	Sir Edmund Barton
Formation	1 January 1901
Term length	At Her Majesty's pleasure
Residence	The Lodge, Canberra as official residence in Canberra Kirribilli House, Sydney as official residence in Sydney
Website	www.pm.gov.au

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and head of government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful political office in Australia. Despite being at the apex of executive government in the country, the office is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia specifically and exists through an unwritten political convention.

Barring exceptional circumstances, the prime minister is always the leader of the political party or coalition with majority support in the House of Representatives. The only case where a senator was appointed prime minister was that of John Gorton, who subsequently resigned his Senate position and was elected as a member of the House of Representatives (Senator George Pearce was acting prime minister for seven months in 1916 while Billy Hughes was overseas).^[1]

Julia Gillard is the current prime minister, leader of the Australian Labor Party, and the first female Prime Minister of Australia.

Appointment[link]

Australia

This article is part of a series about the Politics and government of Australia

Constitution • Constitution • Statute of Westminster • Australia Act Executive • Monarch (Elizabeth II) • Governor-General (Quentin Bryce) • Prime Minister (Julia Gillard) • Cabinet • Federal Executive Council • Current ministry Legislative • Parliament    • Senate    • House of Representatives    • Opposition Leader (Tony Abbott) Judicial • High Court • Lower Courts Elections • Federal electoral system • Electoral divisions • Election of 1901 · 1903 - 1974 ·   1975 · 1977 · 1980 · 1983 · 1984 ·   1987 · 1990 · 1993 · 1996 · 1998 ·   2001 · 2004 · 2007 · 2010 · Next · • Political parties • By-elections States/territories Executive • Governors and Administrators • Premiers and Chief Ministers • NSW · Vic · Qld · WA · SA · Tas ·   ACT · NT Legislative • Parliaments and Assemblies • State electoral systems Local government • NSW · Vic · Qld · WA · SA · Tas · NT

Foreign relations

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The Prime Minister of Australia is appointed by the Governor-General of Australia under Section 64 of the Australian Constitution. This empowers the governor-general to appoint Ministers of the Crown and requires such ministers to be members of the House of Representatives or the Senate, or become members within three months of the appointment. Before being sworn in as a minister, a person must first be sworn in as a member of the Federal Executive Council if they are not already a member. Membership of the Federal Executive Council entitles the member to the style of The Honourable (usually abbreviated to The Hon) for life, barring exceptional circumstances. The senior members of the executive council constitute the Cabinet of Australia.

The prime minister is, like other ministers, normally sworn in by the governor-general and then presented with the commission (Letters patent) of office. When defeated in an election, or on resigning, the prime minister is said to "hand in the commission" and actually does so by returning it to the governor-general. In the event of a prime minister dying in office, or becoming incapacitated, the governor-general can terminate the commission. Ministers hold office "during the pleasure of the governor-general" (s. 64 of the Constitution of Australia), so theoretically, the governor-general can dismiss a minister at any time, by notifying them in writing of the termination of their commission; however, his or her power to do so except on the advice of the prime minister is heavily circumscribed by convention.

Despite the importance of the office of prime minister, the constitution does not mention the office by name. The conventions of the Westminster system were thought to be sufficiently entrenched in Australia by the authors of the constitution that it was deemed unnecessary to detail them. The formal title of the portfolio has always been simply "Prime Minister", except for the period of the Fourth Deakin Ministry (June 1909 to April 1910), when it was known as "Prime Minister (without portfolio)".^[2]

If a government cannot get its appropriation (budget) legislation passed by the House of Representatives, or the house passes a vote of "no confidence" in the government, the prime minister is bound by convention to resign immediately. The governor-general's choice of replacement prime minister will be dictated by the circumstances.

Following a resignation in other circumstances, or the death of a prime minister, the governor-general will generally appoint as prime minister the person voted by the governing party as their new leader. There have been four notable exceptions to this:

• When Joseph Lyons, prime minister and leader of the United Australia Party (UAP), died suddenly in April 1939, the governor-general, Lord Gowrie, called on Sir Earle Page to become caretaker prime minister. Page was the leader of the smaller party in the governing coalition, the Country Party. He held the office for three weeks until the UAP elected a new leader, Robert Menzies.
• In August 1941, Menzies resigned as prime minister. The UAP was so bereft of leadership at this time that the Country Party leader Arthur Fadden was invited to become prime minister, although the Country Party was the smaller of the two coalition parties. The government depended on support from two independents, who two months later voted against Fadden's budget and brought the government down, paving the way for John Curtin to be appointed as Labor prime minister.
• In July 1945, John Curtin died suddenly. His deputy, Frank Forde, was sworn in the next day as prime minister, although the Labor Party had not had an opportunity to meet and elect a new leader. Forde served for eight days until Ben Chifley was elected leader. Chifley was then sworn in, replacing Forde, who became Australia's shortest-serving prime minister.
• In 1967 then prime minister Harold Holt disappeared while swimming on 17 December and was declared presumed dead on 19 December. The governor-general, Lord Casey, commissioned the Leader of the Country Party, John McEwen, to form a government until the Liberal Party elected a new leader. McEwen was prime minister for 23 days, until the election of (then Senator) John Gorton.

There were only five other cases where someone other than the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives was prime minister:

• Federation occurred on 1 January 1901, but elections for the first parliament were not scheduled until late March. In the interim, a caretaker non-elected government was necessary. In what is now known as the Hopetoun Blunder, the governor-general, Lord Hopetoun, invited Sir William Lyne, the premier of the most populous state, New South Wales, to form a government. Lyne was unable to do so and returned his commission in favour of Edmund Barton, who became the first prime minister and led the inaugural government into and beyond the election.
• During the second parliament, three parties (Free Trade, Protectionist and Labor) had roughly equal representation in the House of Representatives. The leaders of the three parties, Alfred Deakin, George Reid and Chris Watson each served as prime minister before losing a vote of confidence.
• During the 1975 constitutional crisis, on 11 November 1975, the governor-general, Sir John Kerr, dismissed the Labor Party's Gough Whitlam as prime minister. Despite Labor holding a majority in the House of Representatives, Kerr appointed the Leader of the Opposition, Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker prime minister, conditional on the passage of the Whitlam government's Supply bills through the Senate and the calling of an election for both houses of parliament. Fraser accepted these terms and immediately advised a double dissolution. An election was called for 13 December, which the Liberal Party won in its own right (although the Liberals governed in a coalition with the Country Party).

Powers[link]

The first Prime Minister of Australia, Edmund Barton (sitting second from left), with his Cabinet, 1901.

Most of the prime minister's powers derive from his or her position as the head of the cabinet. In practice, the Federal Executive Council will act to ratify all decisions made by the cabinet and, in practice, decisions of the cabinet will always require the support of the prime minister. The powers of the governor-general to grant Royal Assent to legislation, to dissolve and prorogue parliament, to call elections and to make appointments are exercised on the advice of the prime minister.

The power of the prime minister is subject to a number of limitations. Prime ministers removed as leader of his or her party, or whose government loses a vote of no-confidence in the House of Representatives, must resign the office or be dismissed by the governor-general.

The prime minister's party will normally have a majority in the House of Representatives and party discipline is exceptionally strong in Australian politics, so passage of the government's legislation through the House of Representatives is mostly a formality. Attaining the support of the Senate can be more difficult as government usually lacks an absolute majority because the Senate's representation is based on overall proportion of votes and often includes minor parties.

Salary and benefits[link]

Salary[link]

The prime minister is the highest-paid member of parliament.

Ministerial salary is expressed as an additional percentage on top of the basic parliamentary salary. The Remuneration Tribunal's Report Number 1 of 2006^[4] confirms the prime minister's additional salary as 160% of her or his parliamentary salary, i.e. the prime minister earns in total 260% of the salary of an ordinary parliamentarian.

The prime minister's salary is about five times that of the average full-time adult salary of $67,116, as of February 2010.^[5]

Allowances[link]

Prime Ministers Curtin, Fadden, Hughes, Menzies and Governor-General The Duke of Gloucester in 1945.

The Royal Australian Air Force's No. 34 Squadron transports the prime minister within Australia and overseas by specially converted Boeing Business Jets and smaller Challenger aircraft. The aircraft contain secure communications equipment as well as office, conference room and sleeping compartments. The call-sign for the aircraft is "Envoy".

The prime minister's official residence is The Lodge in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, but not all prime ministers have chosen to make use of it. Jim Scullin preferred to live at the Hotel Canberra (now the Hyatt Hotel); Ben Chifley lived in the Kurrajong Hotel; and John Howard made Kirribilli House in Sydney, New South Wales his primary residence, using The Lodge when in Canberra on official business. On her appointment on 24 June 2010, the current prime minister Julia Gillard said she would not be living in The Lodge until such time as she is returned to office by popular vote at the next general election. (She became prime minister mid-term after replacing the incumbent, Kevin Rudd, who resigned in the face of an unwinnable party-room ballot.) The official residences are fully staffed and catered for both the prime minister and his or her family. A considerable amount of official entertaining is conducted at these residences.

Kevin Rudd had a staff at The Lodge consisting of a senior chef and an assistant chef, a child carer, one senior house attendant, and two junior house attendants. At Kirribilli House in Sydney, there is one full-time chef and one full-time house attendant.^[6]

Prime ministers are usually granted certain privileges after leaving office, such as office accommodation, staff assistance, and a Life Gold Pass, which entitles the holder to travel within Australia for "non-commercial" purposes at government expense.

Only one prime minister who had left the Federal Parliament ever returned. Stanley Bruce was defeated in his own seat in 1929 while prime minister, but was re-elected to parliament in 1931. However, Sir George Reid was elected to the UK House of Commons (after his term as High Commissioner to the UK); and Frank Forde was re-elected to the Queensland Parliament (after his term as High Commissioner to Canada, and a failed attempt to re-enter the Federal Parliament).

Former prime ministers continue to be important national figures, and in some cases go on to successful post-prime ministerial careers. Some notable examples have included: Edmund Barton, who was a justice of the High Court; George Reid, Andrew Fisher, Joseph Cook and Stanley Bruce, who were High Commissioners to the United Kingdom; Arthur Fadden, who was treasurer under another prime minister, Robert Menzies; and Kevin Rudd, who became Julia Gillard's Foreign Minister after the 2010 federal election, until 2012.

List of prime ministers[link]

Below is a list of Prime Ministers of Australia by name, date assumed office, date left office, political party, total time in office and state represented in parliament. The state(s) represented in parliament is not necessarily the one with which the person had the strongest association; the most extreme example being Bob Hawke who was born in South Australia, spent his formative years in Western Australia, worked in and represented Victoria and retired to New South Wales.

The parties shown are those to which the prime ministers belonged at the time they held office. Several prime ministers belonged to parties other than those given before and after their prime ministerships.

For a list showing further details, see List of Prime Ministers of Australia.

      Protectionist       Labor       Free Trade       Commonwealth Liberal       National Labor/Nationalist/United Australia       Country       Liberal

Graphical timeline[link]

<timeline> ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1900 till:01/06/2012 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1900

Colors =

 id:canvas value:gray(0.5)
 id:LIB  value:blue             legend:Liberal
 id:UAP  value:powderblue       legend:United_Australia
 id:NAP  value:skyblue          legend:National_Labor
 id:ALP  value:red              legend:Labor
 id:NAT  value:skyblue          legend:Nationalist
 id:FT   value:limegreen        legend:Free_Trade
 id:CNT  value:green            legend:Country/National
 id:PRO  value:tan1             legend:Protectionist
 id:CML  value:dullyellow       legend:Commonwealth_Liberal
 id:WAR  value:gray(0.6)

Legend = columns:3 left:205 top:55 columnwidth:150

TextData =

 pos:(20,27) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text:"Political parties:"

BarData =

 barset:PM

PlotData=

 width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
 barset:PM

from: 01/01/1901 till: 24/09/1903 color:PRO text:"Barton" fontsize:10
from: 24/09/1903 till: 27/04/1904 color:PRO text:"Deakin I" fontsize:10
from: 27/04/1904 till: 18/08/1904 color:ALP text:"Watson" fontsize:10
from: 18/08/1904 till: 05/07/1905 color:FT text:"Reid" fontsize:10
from: 05/07/1905 till: 13/11/1908 color:PRO text:"Deakin II-III" fontsize:10
from: 13/11/1908 till: 02/06/1909 color:ALP text:"Fisher I" fontsize:10
from: 02/06/1909 till: 29/04/1910 color:CML text:"Deakin IV" fontsize:10
from: 29/04/1910 till: 24/06/1913 color:ALP text:"Fisher II" fontsize:10
from: 24/06/1913 till: 17/11/1914 color:CML text:"Cook" fontsize:10
from: 17/11/1914 till: 27/10/1915 color:ALP text:"Fisher III" fontsize:10
from: 27/10/1915 till: 14/11/1916 color:ALP text:"[[Billy Hughes|Hughes I]" fontsize:10
from: 14/11/1916 till: 17/02/1917 color:NAP text:"Hughes II" fontsize:10
from: 17/02/1917 till: 09/02/1923 color:NAT text:"Hughes III" fontsize:10
from: 09/02/1923 till: 22/10/1929 color:NAT text:"Bruce I-III" fontsize:10
from: 22/10/1929 till: 06/01/1932 color:ALP text:"Scullin" fontsize:10
from: 06/01/1932 till: 07/04/1939 color:UAP text:"Lyons I-IV" fontsize:10
from: 07/04/1939 till: 26/04/1939 color:CNT text:"Page" fontsize:10
from: 26/04/1939 till: 28/08/1941 color:UAP text:"Menzies I-III" fontsize:10
from: 28/08/1941 till: 07/10/1941 color:CNT text:"Fadden" fontsize:10
from: 07/10/1941 till: 05/07/1945 color:ALP text:"Curtin I-II" fontsize:10
from: 06/07/1945 till: 13/07/1945 color:ALP text:"Forde" fontsize:10
from: 13/07/1945 till: 19/12/1949 color:ALP text:"Chifley I-II" fontsize:10
from: 19/12/1949 till: 26/01/1966 color:LIB text:"Menzies IV-X" fontsize:10
from: 26/01/1966 till: 19/12/1967 color:LIB text:"Holt I-II" fontsize:10
from: 19/12/1967 till: 10/01/1968 color:CNT text:"McEwen" fontsize:10
from: 10/01/1968 till: 10/03/1971 color:LIB text:"Gorton I-II" fontsize:10
from: 10/03/1971 till: 05/12/1972 color:LIB text:"McMahon" fontsize:10
from: 05/12/1972 till: 11/11/1975 color:ALP text:"[[Gough Whitlam|Whitlam I-III]" fontsize:10
from: 11/11/1975 till: 11/03/1983 color:LIB text:"Fraser I-IV" fontsize:10
from: 11/03/1983 till: 20/12/1991 color:ALP text:"Hawke I-IV" fontsize:10
from: 20/12/1991 till: 11/03/1996 color:ALP text:"Keating I-II" fontsize:10
from: 11/03/1996 till: 03/12/2007 color:LIB text:"Howard I-IV" fontsize:10
from: 03/12/2007 till: 24/06/2010 color:ALP text:"Rudd" fontsize:10
from: 24/06/2010 till: end color:ALP text:"Gillard I-II" fontsize:10

</timeline>

Living former prime ministers[link]

There are currently six living former prime ministers of Australia:

The greatest number of living former prime ministers at any one time was eight. This has occurred twice:

• Between 7 October 1941 (when John Curtin succeeded Arthur Fadden) and 18 November 1941 (when Chris Watson died), the eight living former prime ministers were Bruce, Cook, Fadden, Hughes, Menzies, Page, Scullin and Watson
• Between 13 July 1945 (when Ben Chifley succeeded Frank Forde) and 30 July 1947 (when Sir Joseph Cook died), the eight living former prime ministers were Bruce, Cook, Fadden, Forde, Hughes, Menzies, Page and Scullin.

Seven former prime ministers were alive between 18 November 1941 and 13 July 1945, and between 30 July 1947 and 13 June 1951.

Gough Whitlam has achieved a greater age than any other prime minister. The most recently deceased prime minister was John Gorton (1968–1971), who died on 19 May 2002.

Backgrounds[link]

Birthplace[link]

Ten of Australia's prime ministers were born in Victoria, seven in New South Wales, three in Queensland and one each in South Australia and Tasmania. Six were born overseas: five in the United Kingdom (Hughes and Cook in England, Fisher and Reid in Scotland, Gillard in Wales) and Watson in Chile.

Education[link]

Melbourne Grammar School produced the most number of future prime ministers (Deakin, Bruce and Fraser). Other secondary schools where more than one future prime minister studied include Geelong Grammar School (Gorton, Fraser), Sydney Grammar School (Barton, McMahon) and Wesley College, Melbourne (Menzies, Holt).

Five future prime ministers graduated from University of Sydney (Barton, Page, McMahon, Whitlam, Howard). Four studied at the University of Melbourne (Deakin, Menzies, Holt, Gillard) and three at Oxford University (Gorton, Fraser, Hawke). Rudd studied at the Australian National University. Eight prime ministers did not complete any form of higher education.

Occupation[link]

Eleven prime ministers practised law before entering into politics (in addition Hawke acquired a law degree, but never practised law). Seven prime ministers (all Australian Labor Party) had served as trade union officials. Other occupations that prime ministers had performed include journalism (Watson, Scullin, Curtin), teaching (Lyons and Forde), diplomacy (Rudd), mining (Fisher, Cook), medicine (Page), engine driving (Chifley) and accountancy (Fadden).

Three prime ministers served in the First World War (Bruce, Page and McEwen; of whom only Bruce was involved in actual combat). Four served in the Second World War (Holt, Gorton, McMahon, and Whitlam; of whom Gorton and Whitlam served as air crew in the Royal Australian Air Force).

Prior to participating in federal politics, prime ministers had been elected to the state Parliaments of New South Wales (Barton, Watson, Reid, Cook, Hughes), Queensland (Fisher, Fadden, Forde), Victoria (Deakin, Menzies) and Tasmania (Lyons). In addition Page had been the Mayor of Grafton. After leaving the federal Parliament, Forde was appointed High Commissioner to Canada, and on his return to Australia was re-elected to the Queensland Parliament.

Personal circumstances[link]

All prime ministers except for Gillard have married at least once. McEwen married twice, but was the only Prime Minister to be a widower throughout his premiership. Bruce, Scullin, Chifley, McEwen and Gillard were childless, while Lyons had twelve children (one died in infancy).

Religious beliefs[link]

Six prime ministers have been Anglican (Barton, Bruce, Holt, McMahon, Howard and Rudd), one was a Baptist (Hughes), five were Catholic (Scullin, Lyons, Forde, Chifley and Keating), two were Methodists (Cook, Page), six were Presbyterian (Fisher, Reid, Menzies, Fadden, McEwen and Fraser), one was a Spiritualist (Deakin), one was a Unitarian (Watson), and five professed no religion (Curtin, Gorton, Whitlam, Hawke and Gillard).

Convictions[link]

John Curtin is the only prime minister to serve time in gaol (three days for failing to comply with an order for a compulsory medical examination for conscription, during World War I).^[8]

Births and deaths[link]

Seventeen prime ministers were born prior to the Federation of Australia, 1 January 1901. The earliest-born prime minister was George Reid, born 25 February 1845.

Three prime ministers died in office: Joseph Lyons (1939), John Curtin (1945) and Harold Holt (1967). Holt's was a most unusual case – he disappeared while swimming, was declared presumed dead two days later, and his body was never recovered. It was not until almost 38 years later, in 2005, that he was officially declared by the Victorian Coroner to have drowned at the time of his disappearance.

The first person born after Federation to serve as prime minister was Harold Holt, born 5 August 1908. (Sir William McMahon, who was a later prime minister, was born 23 February 1908, and is the earliest-born of the prime ministers born after Federation.)

The first person born after the First World War to serve as prime minister was Malcolm Fraser, born 21 May 1930. (Bob Hawke, who succeeded Fraser, was born 9 December 1929, and is the earliest-born of the prime ministers born after WWI.)

The first person born after the Second World War to serve as prime minister is Kevin Rudd, born 21 September 1957. Incumbent prime minister Julia Gillard also falls into this category, born 29 September 1961.

The only prime ministers born during either of the world wars are Gough Whitlam, born 11 July 1916, during the First World War, and Paul Keating, born 18 January 1944, during the Second World War.

Seven prime ministers were born in the month of September, two more than the next most common month of August. The seven were: John Gorton (9 September), Joseph Lyons (15th), James Scullin (18th), Kevin Rudd (21st), Ben Chifley (22nd), Billy Hughes (25th) and Julia Gillard (29th). None were born in June, October or November.

Two prime ministers share the same birthday: Sir Edmund Barton and Paul Keating, born on 18 January in 1849 and 1944 respectively.^[9] Two other prime ministers share the same death day: James Scullin and Frank Forde, died on 28 January in 1953 and 1983 respectively.

Three prime ministers died outside of Australia: Sir George Reid, Andrew Fisher and Viscount Bruce died in the United Kingdom. Reid and Fisher are buried there.

Ages[link]

The three youngest people when they first became prime minister were:

• Chris Watson – 37
• Stanley Bruce – 39
• Robert Menzies – 44

The three oldest people when they first became prime minister were:

• John McEwen – 67
• William McMahon – 63
• Ben Chifley – 59 years 10 months (George Reid was 59 years 6 months).

The three youngest people to last leave the office of prime minister were:

• Chris Watson – 37
• Arthur Fadden – 46 years 5 months 22 days
• Stanley Bruce – 46 years 6 months 7 days

The three oldest people to last leave the office of prime minister were:

• Robert Menzies – 71
• John Howard – 68
• John McEwen – 67

Time in office[link]

The longest-serving Prime Minister was Sir Robert Menzies, who served in office twice: from 26 April 1939 to 28 August 1941, and again from 29 December 1949 to 26 January 1966. In total Robert Menzies spent 18 years, 5 months and 12 days in office. He served under the United Australia Party and the Liberal Party respectively.

The shortest-serving Prime Minister was Frank Forde, who spent a total of 8 days under the Labor Party from 6–13 July 1945

Post-office longevity[link]

Six former prime ministers are living: Whitlam, Fraser, Hawke, Keating, Howard and Rudd.

Ben Chifley died only one year six months after leaving the prime ministership. Alfred Deakin lasted nine years five months.

All the others who have left office at least 10 years ago have lasted at least 10 years. Nine of them (Bruce, Cook, Fadden, Forde, Fraser, Gorton, Hughes, Watson, and Whitlam) lived more than 25 years after leaving the office, and all but two of these survived longer than 30 years (Hughes lasted 29 years and 8 months; Fraser has lasted more than 28 years and is still living).

The longest-surviving was Stanley Bruce, who died 37 years and 10 months after leaving the office. If Gough Whitlam is living on 25 September 2013, he will exceed Bruce's record. (He would then be 97 years old.)

See also[link]

• Prime Minister
• List of Prime Ministers of Australia
• Prime Ministers Avenue in Horse Chestnut Avenue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens contains a collection of bronze busts of all former Australian Prime Ministers.
• Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
• List of Australian Leaders of the Opposition
• Historical ranking of Australian Prime Ministers
• Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Prime Minister of Australia

• Official website of the Prime Minister of Australia
• Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
• Australia's Prime Ministers – National Archives of Australia reference site and research portal
• Biographies of Australia's Prime Ministers / National Museum of Australia
• Classroom resources on Australian Prime Ministers^{[dead link]}

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A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime minister is the presiding member and chairman of the cabinet. In a minority of systems, notably in semi-presidential systems of government, a prime minister is the official who is appointed to manage the civil service and execute the directives of the head of state.

In parliamentary systems fashioned after the Westminster system, the prime minister is the presiding and actual head of the government and head of the executive branch. In such systems, the head of state or the head of state's official representative (i.e. the monarch, president, or governor-general) usually holds a largely ceremonial position, although often with reserve powers.

The prime minister is often, but not always, a member of parliament and is expected with other ministers to ensure the passage of bills through the legislature. In some monarchies the monarch may also exercise executive powers (known as the royal prerogative) which are constitutionally vested in the crown and may be exercised without the approval of parliament.

As well as being head of government, a prime minister may have other roles or titles—the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, for example, is also First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service.^[1] Prime ministers may take other ministerial posts—for example during the Second World War, Winston Churchill was also Minister of Defence (although there was then no Ministry of Defence).

Etymology[link]

The prime ministers of five members of the Commonwealth of Nations at the 1944 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference.

The first actual usage of the term prime minister or Premier Ministre was used by Cardinal Richelieu when in 1625 he was named to head the royal council as prime minister of France. Louis XIV and his descendants generally attempted to avoid giving this title to their chief ministers. The term prime minister in the sense that we know it originated in the 18th century in the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]}

History[link]

Since medieval times monarchs of England and the United Kingdom had ministers in whom they placed special trust and who were regarded as the head of the government. Examples were Thomas Cromwell under Henry VIII; William Cecil, Lord Burghley under Elizabeth I; Clarendon under Charles II and Godolphin under Queen Anne. These ministers held a variety of formal posts, but were commonly known as "the minister", the "chief minister", the "first minister" and finally the "prime minister".

The power of these ministers depended entirely on the personal favour of the monarch. Although managing the parliament was among the necessary skills of holding high office, they did not depend on a parliamentary majority for their power. Although there was a cabinet, it was appointed entirely by the monarch, and the monarch usually presided over its meetings.

When the monarch grew tired of a first minister, he or she could be dismissed, or worse: Cromwell was executed and Clarendon driven into exile when they lost favour. Kings sometimes divided power equally between two or more ministers to prevent one minister from becoming too powerful. Late in Anne's reign, for example, the Tory ministers Harley and St John shared power.

Post-English Civil War (1642–1651)[link]

In the mid 17th century, after the English Civil War and the Protectorate, Parliament had strengthened its position and it emerged even more powerful after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The monarch could not establish any law or impose any tax without its permission. Thus it has been said that the House of Commons became a part of the government and it has been only a further step of this development that a new kind of prime minister should emerge.

This turning point in the evolution of the prime ministership came with the death of Anne in 1714 and the accession of George I. George spoke no English, spent much of his time at his home in Hanover, and had neither knowledge of nor interest in the details of English government. In these circumstances it was inevitable that the king's first minister would become the de facto head of the government.

From 1721 this was the Whig politician Robert Walpole, who held office for twenty-one years. Walpole chaired cabinet meetings, appointed all the other ministers, dispensed the royal patronage and packed the House of Commons with his supporters. Under Walpole, the doctrine of cabinet solidarity developed. Walpole required that no minister other than himself have private dealings with the king, and also that when the cabinet had agreed on a policy, all ministers must defend it in public or resign. As a later prime minister, Lord Melbourne, said: "It matters not what we say, gentlemen, so long as we all say the same thing."

Walpole always denied that he was "prime minister", and throughout the 18th century parliamentarians and legal scholars continued to deny that any such position was known to the Constitution. The title was first referred to on government documents during the administration of Benjamin Disraeli but did not appear in the formal British Order of precedence until 1905. George II and George III made strenuous efforts to reclaim the personal power of the monarch, but the increasing complexity and expense of government meant that a minister who could command the loyalty of the Commons was increasingly necessary. The long tenure of the wartime Prime Minister Pitt the Younger (1783–1801), combined with the mental illness of George III, consolidated the power of the post.

The prestige of British institutions in the 19th century and the growth of the British Empire saw the British model of cabinet government, headed by a prime minister, widely copied, both in other European countries and in British colonial territories as they developed self-government. In some places alternative titles such as "premier", "chief minister", "first minister of state", "president of the council" or "chancellor" were adopted, but the essentials of the office were the same.

By the late 20th century the majority of the world's countries had a prime minister or equivalent minister, holding office under either a constitutional monarchy or a ceremonial president. The main exceptions to this system have been the United States and the presidential republics in Latin America, modelled on the U.S. system, in which the president directly exercises executive authority.

Bahrain's Prime Minister, Sheikh Khalifah bin Sulman Al Khalifah has been in the post since 1971, making him the longest serving non-elected Prime Minister.