There has been a lot of shade thrown at the United Kingdom recently from economists and political scientists. Economic growth has gone down the tubes and there have been six prime ministers over the past decade. As an American, I didn’t really know if that was a lot. The social media says that we’ve had a lot of turnover recently. Is six prime ministers in ten years a lot in the UK’s parliamentary system? I grew up watching Tony Blair on TV for a ten-year stretch. But I had no context for the historical norm or whether there is any precedent. Here I look at the data.
Right now, there are a record number of former prime ministers still living (PM). Prior to the recent spike, the maximum number of living people who had left office was five. Right now in 2026, there that number is nine! And if the current PM, Andy Burnham, follows the recent trend of short stints in office, then they’ll hit ten. As an American, it’s hard for me to imagine having 10 living former presidents. According to the below charts, the British are probably a bit jarred too!
Why So Many?
In last week’s post I noted that we’re tied for the most living former presidents. But truly, the UK’s numbers are what inspired me to look at this topic in the first place. To recap, the number of living ex-executives can be caused by 1) Longer lifespans, 2) Leaving office at a younger age, and 3) More unique executives. In the US, being currently tied for the record is overwhelmingly driven by longer lifespans. What about the UK?
Prime Ministers in the UK are enjoying longer lifespans. There used to greater variance, but PM lifespan as increased pretty linearly since the office, or something like it, was created in 1721.* Living longer is a great reason to have more living ex-PMs!
In addition, the average PM has been getting younger since about the 1960s. That’s neither good nor bad inherently. But, the average age gap between leaving office and death has never been greater. A former PM hasn’t died since 2013, but the estimated average at the time was 22 years of life after leaving office. The red dot below is the singular PM who was assassinated, Spencer Perceval in 1812. Though, several have died while in office.
So far, the UK checks-off two of the three reasons for having so many living ex-PMs: 1) Longer lifespans & 2) Leaving office younger. What about regime stability? See below the 24-year trailing count of unique PMs. There has been a surge of unique PMs recently, in part due to their short stays in office. Recent PMs have served only once. Historically, there have been a total of 16 PMs who served multiple non-consecutive times, that hasn’t happened since Harold Wilson left office in 1974. Currently at nine unique PMs, the UK hasn’t broken its record of ten in a 24-year period, but there’s still time.
The last time there had been so many unique PMs was in 1785. The preceding period was tumultuous. It included: The Seven Years War, numerous wars with American Indians, The American Revolution, and others. There were a total of 19 wars. In addition, the East Indian Company dissolved and there was a constitutional crisis when King George III dismissed a PM.**
Recently, the UK hasn’t been embroiled in war or experienced violent revolts. But, it did formally leave the European Union in 2020. Whether that’s the primary factor in the recently high turnover is beyond the scope of this post. But, it is true that GDP per capital was only 1.1% higher in 2025 than it was in 2019. The EU grew 6.2% during the same period. Given all of my priors, it looks like there is a divergence of visions in the UK and that they’re struggling over a pie that hasn’t grown much faster than the population. That hurts all the more if they see that their neighbors are doing better. But I digress.
In conclusion, the UK satisfies the trifecta of causes for living former PMs. The PMs have longer lifespans, they’ve been leaving office at younger ages, and there’s been a lot of turnover in PMs recently without repeats. The last time this happened it wasn’t for good reasons. And though all three causes are matter now, regime instability appears to be the primary cause.
*I omit the two disputed PMs who didn’t have the support of parliament and served only briefly (William Pulteney and James Waldegrave).
**Following the dismissal, William Pitt the Younger enjoyed the standing record of 17 years as PM.
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