57-552: Academics, members of Parliament , the general public and journalists alike have attempted to rank prime ministers of the United Kingdom . Those included below generally consist of only a subset of prime ministers, typically those of the 20th century or those who served after the Second World War . In December 1999 a BBC Radio 4 poll of 20 prominent historians, politicians and commentators for The Westminster Hour produced
114-522: A 15-minute news bulletin using the same title had run on BBC2 for a 13-month period from 1975 to 1976. Its planned September 1979 launch date was delayed by four months by the Association of Broadcasting Staff , at the time the main BBC trade union. Newsnight was the first programme to be made by means of a direct collaboration between BBC News, then at Television Centre , and the current affairs department, based
171-703: A 22:45 start time from 30 March 2020. This was due to Newsnight temporarily sharing a studio with the BBC News at Ten during the pandemic, to cut footfall in Broadcasting House and allow turnover in the studio, with the News at Ten not finishing until 22:35. Further, during the pandemic, some editions presented by Kirsty Wark were presented from BBC Scotland 's Pacific Quay headquarters in Glasgow. However, Wark still travelled to London during weeks she presented more episodes of
228-519: A case of mistaken identity on 8 November and the victim retracted the allegation after belatedly being shown a photograph of McAlpine in an item broadcast on the following day. The production team had not contacted McAlpine about the allegations. An apology about the story was made on 9 November during that evening's broadcast of the programme. In an official statement, the BBC announced all ongoing Newsnight investigations were being suspended. The Director of BBC Scotland , Ken MacQuarrie , investigated
285-491: A film at 21:30 to dovetail with the conclusion of the Nine O'Clock News on BBC1. The fixed time slot of 22:30 was established in the face of fierce objections from the then managing director of BBC Television, Bill Cotton , otherwise in charge of all scheduling decisions. The very announcement was made without him even being informed. The affair sparked a widely reported row within the corporation. One protagonist said it would "destroy
342-594: A five-year cycle, or when a snap election is called. Since the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 , Parliament is automatically dissolved once five years have elapsed from its first meeting after an election. If a vacancy arises at another time, due to death or resignation , then a constituency vacancy may be filled by a by-election. Under the Representation of the People Act 1981 any MP sentenced to over
399-696: A former Sky News executive, to examine why the investigation was dropped. On 23 October, the Director-General of the BBC , George Entwistle , appeared before the Parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Committee , and stated that it had been a "catastrophic mistake" to cancel the Newsnight broadcast. On 2 November 2012, Newsnight broadcast a report falsely accusing, but not naming, a prominent Conservative, Lord McAlpine of child abuse. The veracity of this story collapsed after The Guardian reported
456-500: A former weather forecaster , was seen arguing in favour of the weather forecast, while Norman Lamont , a former Chancellor of the Exchequer , argued for the market update. 62% of viewers voted in favour of the markets, and the update duly returned on Monday 18 April 2005. Other stunts included, for a week at the end of January 2006, Newsnight playing the Radio 4 UK Theme , which was facing
513-545: A general perception that Dominic Cummings had broken COVID-19 lockdown rules and an associated public outrage. The BBC said that while the programme contained "fair, reasonable and rigorous journalism", it was "not made clear" that the remarks referred to matters that were questioned in the upcoming content. Following the commencement of the Boris Johnson government in July 2019, ministers generally refused invitations to appear on
570-625: A half-hour "interview, debate and discussion" programme, ditching its special reporting team. Jobs within the programme are to be slashed by more than half, from 57 to 23. The new format was launched on 28 May 2024. The programme's average audience in 2015 was 579,000, compared to 867,000 in 2008. The average audience was 344,000 in September 2018 and by August 2020 around 300,000. In January 2020 Victoria Derbyshire said Newsnight' s audience figures were 297,000. In May 1997, Jeremy Paxman pressed former Home Secretary Michael Howard about
627-537: A lightweight figure". In the weeks after the ITV documentary Exposure : The Other Side of Jimmy Savile was broadcast on 3 October 2012, allegations were made that a Newsnight investigation into Savile by reporter Liz MacKean and producer Meirion Jones in December 2011 had been dropped shortly before transmission because it conflicted with tribute programmes prepared after Savile's death. The BBC appointed Nick Pollard ,
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#1733085919049684-540: A meeting with head of the Prison Service Derek Lewis about the possible dismissal of the governor of Parkhurst Prison . Faced with what he considered evasive answers, Paxman put the same question – "Did you threaten to overrule him?" (i.e. Lewis) – to Howard twelve times in succession. This has become the programme's best known interview. Later, during the twentieth anniversary edition of Newsnight , Paxman told Howard that he had simply been trying to prolong
741-469: A member of Parliament is to do what they think in their faithful and disinterested judgement is right and necessary for the honour and safety of Great Britain. The second duty is to their constituents, of whom they are the representative but not the delegate. Burke's famous declaration on this subject is well known. It is only in the third place that their duty to party organisation or programme takes rank. All these three loyalties should be observed, but there
798-470: A party at PizzaExpress in Woking . The Duke said that he had "no recollection of ever meeting" Giuffre and that he had "absolutely no memory" of a photograph taken of him with Giuffre at Ghislaine Maxwell 's house. He said he had investigations carried out to establish whether the photograph was faked, but they had been "inconclusive". Andrew's responses in the interview received negative reactions from both
855-496: A person must be at least 18 years old and be a citizen of the UK , a Commonwealth nation, or Ireland . A person is not required to be registered to vote, nor are there any restrictions regarding where a candidate is a resident. The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 outlaws the holders of various positions from being MPs. These include civil servants , regular police officers (but not special constables ), regular members of
912-430: A phenomenon pejoratively known at the time as the "Newsnight's wife syndrome". Usually a woman, it was her job to read the news headlines and to introduce minor items. Olivia O'Leary in 1985 became the first principal female presenter; the programme has had a single presenter since 1987. The program is now wholly managed by BBC News . Until 1988, the start time of Newsnight was flexible, so BBC2 could screen
969-571: A political party, they may act in the interests of that party, subordinate to the other two responsibilities. Newsnight Newsnight is the BBC 's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines . It is broadcast weeknights at 22:30 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel ; it is also available on BBC iPlayer . Newsnight began on 28 January 1980 at 22:45, although
1026-572: A prison sentence of a year or more. People in respect of whom a bankruptcy restrictions order has effect are disqualified from (existing) membership of the House of Commons (details differ slightly in different countries). Members are not permitted to resign their seats. In practice, however, they always can. Should a member wish to resign from the Commons , they may request appointment to one of two ceremonial Crown offices: that of Crown Steward and Bailiff of
1083-478: A short distance away at the now defunct Lime Grove Studios . Staff feared job cuts. The newscast also served as a replacement for the current affairs programme Tonight . Former presenters include Peter Snow , a regular for seventeen years, Donald MacCormick , Charles Wheeler , Adam Raphael and John Tusa , later boss of the BBC World Service . In the early days each edition had an "auxiliary presenter",
1140-403: A strand of The Late Show . He continued to chair the panel of guest reviewers when it was relaunched as Newsnight Review in 2000, up until December 2005. The programme was presented by Kirsty Wark , Martha Kearney , John Wilson , Tim Marlow , Kwame Kwei-Armah and Hardeep Singh Kohli . Regular reviewers included Mark Kermode , Tom Paulin , Ekow Eshun and Germaine Greer . As part of
1197-479: A veritable smorgasbord. Sun, rain, thunder, hail, snow, cold, wind. Almost worth going to work." On other occasions: "It's April, what do you expect ?" and "Take an umbrella with you tomorrow." He claimed, nonetheless, that he was happy presenting the weather. Gavin Esler also joined in, announcing: "As for the spring, you can forget about that until further notice." The programme conducted a telephone poll. Michael Fish ,
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#17330859190491254-498: A year in jail automatically vacates their seat. For certain types of lesser acts of wrongdoing, the Recall of MPs Act 2015 mandates that a recall petition be opened; if signed by more than 10% of registered voters within the constituency, the seat is vacated. In the past, only male adult property owners could stand for Parliament. In 1918, women acquired the right to stand for Parliament , and to vote. To be eligible to stand as an MP,
1311-414: Is no doubt of the order in which they stand under any healthy manifestation of democracy. Theoretically, contemporary MPs are considered to have two duties, or three if they belong to a political party. Their primary responsibility is to act in the national interest. They must also act in the interests of their constituents, where this does not override their primary responsibility. Finally, if they belong to
1368-621: The European Union , Conservative Party MP Andrew Rosindell argued for a return to the broadcasting of " God Save the Queen " at the end of BBC One transmissions each day. The practice was dropped in 1997 ostensibly due to BBC One adopting 24-hour broadcasting by simulcasting BBC News 24 overnight, rendering closedown obsolete. That evening, Newsnight ended its broadcast with host of that night Kirsty Wark saying that they were "incredibly happy to oblige" Rosindell's request, before playing out to
1425-629: The Senedd (Welsh Parliament) or the Northern Ireland Assembly are also ineligible for the Commons according to the Wales and Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Acts respectively, passed in 2014 (but members of the Scottish Parliament are eligible). People who are bankrupt cannot stand to be MPs. The Representation of the People Act 1981 excludes persons who are currently serving
1482-645: The United Kingdom , a member of Parliament ( MP ) is an individual elected to serve in the House of Commons , the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . All 650 members of the UK House of Commons are elected using the first-past-the-post voting system in single member constituencies across the whole of the United Kingdom, where each constituency has its own single representative. All MP positions become simultaneously vacant for elections held on
1539-573: The armed forces (but not reservists), and some judges . Members of the House of Lords were not permitted to hold Commons seats until the passing of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 , which allows retired or resigned members of the House of Lords to stand or re-stand as MPs. Members of legislatures outside of the Commonwealth are excluded, with the exemption of the Irish legislature . Additionally, members of
1596-535: The BBC". The move to a fixed start time took place on 31 October 1988. Between 1999 and 2014 on BBC Two Scotland the offshoot, Newsnight Scotland , presented by Gordon Brewer , replaced the final twenty minutes of the UK programme from Monday to Friday. From May 2014, Newsnight has again been shown in full in Scotland, although delayed by half an hour to accommodate Newsnight Scotland' s replacement, Scotland 2014 . In more recent years, Scottish viewers have seen
1653-416: The BBC's commitment to moving programmes out of London, Newsnight Review finished on 18 December 2009 with a special hour-long edition. The programme was replaced by The Review Show , produced from Glasgow, which started on 22 January 2010. It had the same producer as Newsnight Review and was still presented by Kirsty Wark and Martha Kearney . Traditionally, there was a short stock market update at
1710-516: The Chiltern Hundreds , or that of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead . These offices are sinecures (that is, they involve no actual duties); they exist solely to permit the "resignation" of members of the House of Commons. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is responsible for making the appointment, and, by convention, never refuses to do so when asked by a member who desires to leave
1767-523: The House of Commons. Members of Parliament are entitled to use the post-nominal initials MP. MPs are referred to as "honourable" as a courtesy only during debates in the House of Commons (e.g., "the honourable member for ..."), or if they are the children of peers below the rank of marquess ("the honourable [first name] [surname]"). Those who are members of the Privy Council use the form The Right Honourable ( The Rt Hon. ) Name MP. The first duty of
Historical rankings of prime ministers of the United Kingdom - Misplaced Pages Continue
1824-656: The University of Leeds, in conjunction with Woodnewton Associates, surveyed 82 academics specialising in post-1945 British history and politics, following the Brexit referendum . Due to the date range, Churchill's oft-lauded war ministry and caretaker ministry were not in contention and he was judged solely on his second premiership. In June 2021 the University of Leeds, again with Woodnewton Associates, surveyed 93 academics specialising in British politics and modern British history to rank
1881-450: The allegations against Savile in December 2011 was "flawed", but that it had not been done to protect the Savile tribute programmes. However, it criticised George Entwistle for apparently failing to read emails warning him of Savile's "dark side", and that, after the allegations against Savile eventually became public, the BBC fell into a "level of chaos and confusion [that] was even greater than
1938-455: The axe, over its closing credits, while the edition of 24 April 2006 played out to the signature tune of the soon-to-be-axed BBC sports programme, Grandstand . In 2005, following a discussion about the return of Doctor Who to television after a nine-year absence, the programme ended with the TARDIS dematerialisation sound, while presenter Jeremy Paxton faded from view as if dematerialising like
1995-430: The basic journalistic checks were not completed.... There was a different understanding by the key parties about where the responsibility lay for the final editorial sign[-]off for the story on the day. The BBC announced that Karen O'Connor would take on the role of Acting Editor of Newsnight . The Pollard report was published on 19 December 2012. It concluded that the decision to drop the original Newsnight report on
2052-415: The circumstances around the programme. His findings were published on 12 November and stated that: The editorial leadership of the team was under very considerable pressure...[T]here was ambiguity around who was taking the ultimate editorial responsibility for the [BBC] Newsnight report, particularly in the days leading up to the day of transmission.... During the editorial decision-making process, some of
2109-410: The end of each edition. In 2005, Newsnight's then editor, Peter Barron , replaced it with a 30-second weather forecast, arguing that the market data was available on the internet and that a weather forecast would be "more useful". The change provoked a flurry of complaints. Paxman on one occasion adopted a sarcastic tone and announced: "So finally and controversially, tomorrow's weather forecast. It's
2166-497: The fictional ship. Between January and June 2006 the programme included Gordaq , a spoof stock market index measuring the political performance of Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown . The index started at 100 and moved up or down depending on Brown's political situation, finishing at 101 on 30 June 2006. In an early day motion of 3 November 2016, as a celebration of the "Brexit" vote for UK withdrawal from
2223-652: The full edition of the show without a separate programme. The flagship news programmes for BBC Scotland are now shown on their separate channel. Newsnight moved to new facilities at Broadcasting House on 15 October 2012. In 2020, Newsnight won the Royal Television Society 's Daily News Programme of the Year award. It was succeeded in 2021 by the ITV News at Ten . During the COVID-19 pandemic , Newsnight reverted to
2280-840: The interview because the next item in the running order was not ready. In 2004, Paxman raised the subject again with Howard, by then leader of the Conservative Party to get a final answer. This time, Howard laughed it off, saying that he had not threatened to overrule the head of the Prison Service. During Paxman's final show in June 2014, Howard briefly appeared in the studio once more, with Paxman simply asking "Did you?", to which Howard replied "No Jeremy, I didn't, but feel free to ask another 11 times." In November 2019, Emily Maitlis interviewed Prince Andrew, Duke of York about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein , who
2337-461: The leaders implemented their policies – not on the policies themselves. Margaret Thatcher and Clement Attlee shared the highest ranking. In 2010, the University of Leeds and Woodnewton Associates carried out a survey of 106 academics who specialised in British politics or British history, to rank the performance of all 12 prime ministers who served between 1945 and 2010. Churchill's ranking was thus determined from his second term only. In October 2016
Historical rankings of prime ministers of the United Kingdom - Misplaced Pages Continue
2394-699: The media and the public. Maitlis won the Network Presenter of the Year award at the RTS Television Journalism Awards in 2020, while the interview was awarded as the Interview of the Year and the Scoop of the Year. In April 2001, the BBC's Board of Governors ruled that Newsnight' s coverage of Peter Mandelson 's resignation over the Hinduja affair had been politically biased. The governors criticised
2451-432: The most successful post-war prime minister, just ahead of Clement Attlee. With the exception of Edward Heath, who was judged more favourably by Labour MPs than by Conservatives, evaluations were split along party lines: Conservative MPs tended to consider Conservative prime ministers to be more successful than did Labour MPs, and Labour MPs generally gave Labour prime ministers higher scores than did Conservative MPs. In 2023
2508-417: The performance of post-war prime ministers from Churchill to Theresa May . The following table collects these surveys, although they are not all comparable. Key: In 2013, a group of academic staff and students at Royal Holloway, University of London , conducted a postal survey of British members of Parliament, asking them to evaluate the success of post-war British prime ministers. Some 158 MPs replied to
2565-431: The period from 1945 onwards, whether or not respondents opted to separate Churchill's first term (1940–45) from his second in their evaluation should be weighed in this evaluation versus other polls (e.g. of academics), who generally rate Churchill's second term as being substantially worse than his first by comparison. Additionally, in a BBC poll to find the 100 Greatest Britons in 2002, five prime ministers were ranked in
2622-439: The programme for only featuring Labour Party supporters on the panel discussing the issue, and no opposition politicians appeared at any stage of the 45-minute episode. The broadcast attracted an outcry in the media with one critic describing it as a "whitewash worthy of a one-party state ". Emily Maitlis was deemed to have broken the BBC's rules on impartiality in the introduction to the 26 May 2020 edition, where she asserted
2679-541: The programme. This resulted in Newsnight presenters stating on an almost nightly basis that the government had been asked to appear but that "no one was available" or that they had declined outright. On 12 January 2022, Jacob Rees-Mogg made a rare government appearance on the programme to defend the government's position on "lockdown parties" at 10 Downing Street which occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mogg referred to Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross as "quite
2736-452: The scores was calculated and a league table based on the mean scores. The five Labour prime ministers were, on average, judged to have been the most successful, with a mean of 6.0 (median of 5.9). The three Liberals averaged 5.8 (median of 6.2) and the twelve Conservatives 4.8 (median of 4.1). In a 2006 issue of BBC History , historian Francis Beckett ranked the 20th-century prime ministers with points out of five in 2006, based on how well
2793-567: The show (for example when main presenter Emily Maitlis was on holiday). In October 2020 the show moved to a new studio, but continued to broadcast from 22:45. It returned to the 22:30 slot in May 2021. Newsnight' s signature tune was composed by George Fenton . Various arrangements have been used over the years. On 29 November 2023, it was announced that as part of major reinvestment and savings plans within BBC News, that Newsnight would be revamped as
2850-439: The survey was redone with 65 correspondences. Key: The BBC television programme The Daily Politics asked viewers in 2007 to select their favourite prime minister out of a list of ten who served between 1945 and 2007 (excluding Churchill). In 2008, BBC Newsnight held a poll of 27,000 people, to decide the UK's greatest and worst post-war prime minister. Key: While the poll indicated that respondents should only consider
2907-461: The survey, a response rate of 24%. The respondents were 69 Conservatives, 67 Labour MPs, 14 Liberal Democrats and 8 MPs from other parties. The survey used the same question employed in the 2004 and 2010 University of Leeds studies: MPs were asked how successful or unsuccessful they considered each prime minister to have been using a 0 to 10 scale, where 0 meant highly unsuccessful and 10 meant highly successful. Overall, MPs rated Margaret Thatcher as
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#17330859190492964-501: The survey, a return rate of 54% – by far the most extensive survey done so far. The respondents were asked, among other historical questions, to rate all the 20th-century prime ministers in terms of their success and asking them to assess the key characteristics of successful ones. Respondents were asked to indicate on a scale of 0 to 10 how successful or unsuccessful they considered each prime minister to have been in office (with 0 being highly unsuccessful and 10 highly successful). A mean of
3021-970: The top 100. Winston Churchill was voted greatest Briton, the Duke of Wellington was in 15th place, Margaret Thatcher was in 16th place, Tony Blair was 67th and David Lloyd George was 79th. Both The Times and Iain Dale have specifically ranked all (or almost all) prime ministers of the United Kingdom and prime ministers of Great Britain . Key: Member of Parliament (United Kingdom) King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee In
3078-514: The verdict that Churchill was the best British prime minister of the 20th century, with Lloyd George in second place and Clement Attlee in third place. As Blair was still in office he was not ranked. The worst prime minister in that survey was judged to be Anthony Eden . In 2004, the University of Leeds and Ipsos Mori conducted an online survey of 258 academics who specialised in 20th-century British history and/or politics. There were 139 replies to
3135-582: The video of the Sex Pistols ' punk song of the same name , much to Rosindell's discontent. Newsnight is available in the UK on BBC iPlayer for up to thirty days after broadcast. A weekly digest version of Newsnight used to be screened on both the UK and international feeds BBC News , focusing on "the best of the week's films and discussions." From August 2013, Newsnight had a dedicated YouTube channel on which excerpts of programmes could be found. However,
3192-422: Was apparent at the time". The BBC announced that Newsnight editor Peter Rippon and deputy editor Liz Gibbons would be replaced. From 2000 until December 2009, on Friday evenings Newsnight was followed at 23:00 by Newsnight Review , a 35-minute consumer survey of the week's artistic and cultural highlights. Mark Lawson was the programme's main presenter in its Late Review incarnation, which began life as
3249-572: Was found dead in August 2019 whilst awaiting trial. The interview had taken months to prepare and Maitlis received approval only 48 hours before the scheduled airdate. In the interview, the Duke of York denied having sex with Virginia Giuffre (then known by her maiden name Virginia Roberts) in March 2001, as she had accused, because he had been at home with his daughters, having taken his elder daughter, Beatrice , to
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