| Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party | |
|---|---|
 Logo for theConservative Party | |
 | |
| Type | Party leader |
| Status | Chief executive officer |
| Member of | Conservative Party |
| Inaugural holder | Robert Peel (de facto) Bonar Law (de jure) |
| Formation | 1834(de facto) 1922(de jure) |
Theleader of the Conservative Party (officially theleader of the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the highest position within theUnited Kingdom'sConservative Party. The current holder of the position isKemi Badenoch, whom the party elected on 2 November 2024 when she outpolledRobert Jenrick.[1]
From the party's formation in 1834 until 1922, the leader of the Conservative Party was not a formal position; instead, separate individuals led the party within each chamber ofParliament, and they were considered equal unless one took precedence over the other, such as when one was serving as prime minister. Following the passage of theParliament Act 1911, the reduction of power in theHouse of Lords suggested that the Conservative leader in theHouse of Commons would become preeminent, but this situation was not formalised until 1922.
Since 1922, leaders of the Conservative Party have been formally elected, even when the party is in opposition. Originally, the party leader was appointed opaquely by other high-ranking members of the party. This process was gradually democratised in the late-20th century; in 1965, the appointment was linked to a vote by party MPs, and in 1998, the process was opened to all party members to decide between the top two candidates selected by parliamentarians.[2][3] Under the party's rules, members of the party can vote for a leader even if they are notBritish citizens, do not reside in the UK, and do not have the right to vote inBritish elections.[4][5]
When the Conservative Party is inopposition, as is the case as of 2025[update], the leader of the Conservative Party usually acts (as the head of second-largest party) as theLeader of the Opposition, and chairs theshadow cabinet. Concordantly, when the party is ingovernment, the leader usually becomesPrime Minister of the United Kingdom,First Lord of the Treasury,Minister for the Civil Service andMinister for the Union, as well as selecting members of theCabinet. Four of the party's leaders have been women:Margaret Thatcher,Theresa May,Liz Truss andKemi Badenoch, all of whom, except Badenoch, have served as prime minister. Rishi Sunak was the firstBritish Indian party leader and prime minister.[6] The only Conservative leaders (excluding temporary acting-leaders) not to contest a general election have beenNeville Chamberlain,Iain Duncan Smith and Truss (each of whom resigned before the calling of an election).
Under the party's constitution,[2] leaders are elected by serving MPs and party members whose membership started at least three months prior to the closing of a ballot. Candidates must be serving MPs. A former leader who has resigned may not stand in the contest triggered by their departure.
Those who wish to stand must notify the1922 Committee, a body representing backbench Conservative Party MPs, which has broad powers to set the rules of the leadership race (e.g. the minimum number of nominees candidates need).
The party's practice is for MPs to eliminate candidates through multiple rounds of voting until two remain, from whom the winner is then chosen by a ballot of party members.
The 1922 Committee's chairman acts as the returning officer for all stages of the leadership election process.
| Overall leader (birth–death) | Portrait | Constituency ortitle | Took office | Left office | Government | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Prime Minister | Term | ||||||
| Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850) |  | Tamworth 2ndBaronet | 18 December 1834[a] | 29 June 1846 | Con | himself | 1834–35 | |
| Whig | Melbourne | 1835–41 | ||||||
| Con | himself | 1841–46 | ||||||
| Edward Smith-Stanley (1799–1869) | .jpg) | Baron Stanley (1846–1851) | 29 June 1846 | 27 February 1868 | Whig | Russell | 1846–52 | |
| 14thEarl of Derby (1851–1868) | Con | himself | 1852 | |||||
| Peel | Aberdeen | 1852–55 | ||||||
| Whig | Palmerston | 1855–58 | ||||||
| Con | himself | 1858–59 | ||||||
| Lib | Palmerston | 1859–65 | ||||||
| Lib | Russell | 1865–66 | ||||||
| Con | himself | 1866–68 | ||||||
| Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) |  | Buckinghamshire (1868–1876) | 27 February 1868 | 19 April 1881[b] | Con | himself | 1868 | |
| Lib | Gladstone | 1868–74 | ||||||
| Con | himself | 1874–80 | ||||||
| 1stEarl of Beaconsfield (1876–1881) | Lib | Gladstone | 1880–85 | |||||
| vacant |
| 19 April 1881 | 23 June 1885 | |||||
| Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (1830–1903) | .jpg) | 3rdMarquess of Salisbury | 23 June 1885 | 11 July 1902 | Con | himself | 1885–86 | |
| Lib | Gladstone | 1886 | ||||||
| Con | himself | 1886–92 | ||||||
| Lib | Gladstone | 1892–94 | ||||||
| Lib | Rosebery | 1894–95 | ||||||
| Con | himself | 1895–1902 | ||||||
| Arthur Balfour (1848–1930) | .jpg) | Manchester East (1902–1906) | 11 July 1902 | 13 November 1911 | Con | himself | 1902–05 | |
| City of London (1906–1911) | Lib | C.-Bannerman | 1905–08 | |||||
| Lib | Asquith | 1908–16 | ||||||
| vacant |
| 13 November 1911 | 10 December 1916[c] | |||||
| Lib | Lloyd George | 1916–22 | ||||||
| Andrew Bonar Law (1858–1923) | .jpg) | Bootle (1916–1918) | 10 December 1916[c] | 21 March 1921 | ||||
| Glasgow Central (1918–1921) | ||||||||
| vacant |
| 21 March 1921 | 23 October 1922[c] | |||||
| Leader (birth–death) | Portrait | Constituency ortitle | Took office | Left office | Government | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Prime Minister | Term | ||||||
| Andrew Bonar Law (1858–1923) | | Glasgow Central | 23 October 1922 | 28 May 1923 | Con | himself | 1922–23 | |
| Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) | .jpg) | Bewdley | 28 May 1923 (Party meeting) | 31 May 1937 | Con | himself | 1923–24 | |
| Lab | MacDonald | 1924 | ||||||
| Con | himself | 1924–29 | ||||||
| Lab | MacDonald | 1929–35 | ||||||
| NLab | ||||||||
| Con | himself | 1935–37 | ||||||
| Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940) |  | Birmingham Edgbaston | 31 May 1937 (Party meeting) | 9 October 1940 | Con | himself | 1937–40 | |
| Churchill | 1940 | |||||||
| Winston Churchill (1874–1965) | .jpg) | Epping (1940–1945) | 9 October 1940 (Party meeting) | 21 April 1955 | Con | himself | 1940–45 | |
| Woodford (1945–1955) | Lab | Attlee | 1945–51 | |||||
| Con | himself | 1951–55 | ||||||
| Anthony Eden (1897–1977) | .jpg) | Warwick and Leamington | 21 April 1955 (Party meeting) | 22 January 1957 | Con | himself | 1955–57 | |
| Harold Macmillan (1894–1986) | .jpg) | Bromley | 22 January 1957 (Party meeting) | 11 November 1963 | Con | himself | 1957–63 | |
| Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) | _(cropped).jpg) | 14thEarl of Home (1963) | 11 November 1963 (Party meeting) | 27 July 1965 | Con | himself | 1963–64 | |
| Kinross and Western Perthshire (1963–1965) | ||||||||
| Lab | Wilson | 1964–70 | ||||||
| Edward Heath (1916–2005) |  | Bexley (1965 –1974) | 27 July 1965 (Elected) | 11 February 1975 | ||||
| Con | himself | 1970–74 | ||||||
| Sidcup (1974–1975) | ||||||||
| Lab | Wilson | 1974–76 | ||||||
| Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) | .jpg) | Finchley | 11 February 1975 (Elected) | 27 November 1990 | ||||
| Lab | Callaghan | 1976–79 | ||||||
| Con | herself | 1979–90 | ||||||
| John Major (b. 1943) |  | Huntingdon | 27 November 1990 | 19 June 1997 | ||||
| Con | himself | 1990–97 | ||||||
| Lab | Blair | 1997–2007 | ||||||
| William Hague (b. 1961) | _(cropped).jpg) | Richmond (Yorks) | 19 June 1997 (Elected) | 13 September 2001 | ||||
| Iain Duncan Smith (b. 1954) |  | Chingford and Woodford Green | 13 September 2001 (Elected) | 6 November 2003 | ||||
| Michael Howard (b. 1941) | .jpg) | Folkestone and Hythe | 6 November 2003 | 7 October 2005[7] | ||||
| David Cameron (b. 1966) |  | Witney | 6 December 2005 (Elected) | 11 July 2016 | ||||
| Lab | Brown | 2007–10 | ||||||
| Coal | himself | 2010–15 | ||||||
| Con | 2015–16 | |||||||
| Theresa May (b. 1956) | _(cropped).jpg) | Maidenhead | 11 July 2016 | 7 June 2019 | Con | herself | 2016–19 | |
7 June 2019 (Acting) | 23 July 2019 | |||||||
| Boris Johnson (b. 1964) | .jpg) | Uxbridge and South Ruislip | 23 July 2019 (Elected) | 5 September 2022 | Con | himself | 2019–22 | |
| Liz Truss (b. 1975) | 2.jpg) | South West Norfolk | 5 September 2022 (Elected) | 24 October 2022 | Con | herself | 2022 | |
| Rishi Sunak (b. 1980) | .jpg) | Richmond (Yorks) (2015–2024) | 24 October 2022 | 24 July 2024 | Con | himself | 2022–24 | |
| Richmond and Northallerton (2024) | 24 July 2024 (Acting) | 2 November 2024 | Lab | Starmer | 2024–present | |||
| Kemi Badenoch (b. 1980) | .jpg) | North West Essex | 2 November 2024 (Elected) | Incumbent | ||||
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Those asterisked were considered the overall leader of the party.
| # | Date of meeting | Name of leader elected | Category attending meeting | Location of meeting | Chair | Proposer | Seconder | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 February 1848 | The Marquess of Granby | Protectionist commoners | Residence ofGeorge Bankes | — | — | — | [9] [10] |
| 2 | 1 February 1849 | Benjamin Disraeli | — | Residence of theLord Stanley of Bickerstaffe | — | — | — | [11] |
| The Marquess of Granby | ||||||||
| John Charles Herries | ||||||||
| 3 | 13 November 1911 | Bonar Law | Unionist Members of Parliament | Carlton Club, Pall Mall | Henry Chaplin, senior Privy Councillor on the Unionist benches(appointed 1885) | Walter Long | Austen Chamberlain | [12] |
| 4 | 21 March 1921 | Austen Chamberlain | Unionist Members of Parliament | Carlton Club, Pall Mall | Lord Edmund Talbot, ConservativeChief Whip | Captain Ernest George Pretyman | Sir Edward Coates: "a back bencher and one of the rank and file" | [13] |
| 5 | 23 October 1922 | Bonar Law | Unionist peers, MPs, and candidates | Hotel Cecil, The Strand | The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Leader of the House of Lords | The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston | Stanley Baldwin: "chosen ... to be the spokesman for the House of Commons" | [14] |
| 6 | 28 May 1923 | Stanley Baldwin | "Conservative Party" | Hotel Cecil, The Strand | The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Leader of the House of Lords | The Earl of Derby | Captain Ernest George Pretyman: "a member of the House of Commons who [had] been a colleague in that House of Mr Bonar Law for something over 25 years" | [15] |
| 7 | 31 May 1937 | Neville Chamberlain | "peers and MPs who receive the Conservative whip, ... prospective candidates who have been adopted by constituency associations, and ... members of the executive committee of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist associations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland." | Caxton Hall, Caxton Street | The Viscount Halifax, Leader of the House of Lords | The Earl of Derby | Winston Churchill(Privy Councillor since 1907) | [16] |
| 8 | 9 October 1940 | Winston Churchill | "Peers and MPs who receive the Conservative whip, ... prospective candidates who have been adopted by constituency associations, and ... members of the Executive Committee of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland." | London | The Viscount Halifax, Leader of the House of Lords | The Viscount Halifax | Sir George Courthope: "one of the senior back benchers of the party" | [17] |
| 9 | 21 April 1955 | Sir Anthony Eden | "Conservative and National Liberal members of the two Houses of Parliament, Conservative and National Liberal parliamentary candidates and members of the executive committee of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations" | Church House, Dean's Yard, Westminster | The Marquess of Salisbury, Leader of the House of Lords | The Marquess of Salisbury | Rab Butler(Privy Councillor since 1939) | [18] |
| 10 | 22 January 1957 | Harold Macmillan | "Conservative and Unionist members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, ... prospective parliamentary candidates and ... members of the executive committee of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations. National Liberal members of both Houses of Parliament and adopted prospective candidates were also present" | — | The Marquess of Salisbury, Leader of the House of Lords | The Marquess of Salisbury | Rab Butler(Privy Councillor since 1939) | [19] |
| 11 | 11 November 1963 | Alec Douglas-Home | "members of both Houses of Parliament taking the Conservative whip, prospective candidates who [had] been adopted by constituency associations, members of the executive of the mass party, and National Liberal MPs and adopted prospective candidates" | Church House, Dean's Yard, Westminster | The Lord Carrington, Leader of the House of Lords | The Lord Carrington | Geoffrey Lloyd: "the senior Conservative Privy Councillor in the Commons next in line to Sir Winston Churchill"(appointed 1943) | [20] |
| # | Date of meeting | Name of leader elected | Category attending meeting | Location of meeting | Chair | Proposer | Seconder | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 March 1846 | The Lord Stanley of Bickerstaffe | Peers | Residence of theDuke of Richmond | The Earl of Eglinton | — | — | [21] |
| 2 | 15 February 1869 | The Earl Cairns | 23 peers | — | The Earl of Malmesbury | The Earl of Malmesbury | — | [22] |
| 3 | 26 February 1870 | The Duke of Richmond | Peers | Carlton Club | — | The Marquess of Salisbury | The Earl of Derby | [23] |
| 4 | 9 May 1881 | The Marquess of Salisbury | Conservative members of the House of Lords | Residence of theMarquess of Abergavenny | The Marquess of Abergavenny | The Duke of Richmond | The Earl Cairns | [24] |
Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party is sometimes an official title of a seniorConservative politician of the United Kingdom.
Some are given this title officially by the party, such asPeter Lilley,[25] while others are given the title as an unofficial description by the media, such asWilliam Hague.[26] The first politician to hold the office as such wasReginald Maudling, appointed byEdward Heath in 1965.[27] Distinct from being "second-in-command", there is formally no current position of deputy party leader in the party's hierarchy.[28]
The term has sometimes been mistakenly used to refer to the party'sdeputy chair.[29]
| Name | Term began | Term ended | Concurrent office(s) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reginald Maudling | 4 August 1965[30] | 18 July 1972[31] | Deputy Leader of the Opposition(1965–1970)[32] Shadow Foreign Secretary(1965) Shadow Defence Secretary(1968–1969) Home Secretary(1970–1972) | Edward Heath |
| Not in use from 1972 to 1975 | ||||
| The Viscount Whitelaw | 12 February 1975[33] | 7 August 1991[34] | Deputy Leader of the Opposition(1975–1979)[35] Shadow Home Secretary(1976–1979) Home Secretary(1979–1983) Leader of the House of Lords(1983–1988)[36] | Margaret Thatcher |
| John Major | ||||
| Not in use from 1991 to 1998 | ||||
| Peter Lilley | 2 June 1998[37] | 15 June 1999[37] | Deputy Leader of the Opposition(1998–1999)[38] | William Hague |
| Not in use from 1999 to 2001 | ||||
| Michael Ancram | 18 September 2001[39] | 6 December 2005[39] | Deputy Leader of the Opposition(2001–2005)[40] Shadow Foreign Secretary(2001–2005)[39] Shadow Defence Secretary(2005)[39] | Iain Duncan Smith |
| Michael Howard | ||||
| Not in use since 2005 | ||||
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)He stood for the Conservative Leadership in 1997; becoming Shadow Chancellor then Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party Responsible for Policy Renewal until 2000.
The most striking feature, however, of Mr. Heath's reconstruction is the appointment of a Deputy Leader. This is the first time that such a position has been created in the Conservative hierarchy [...]
Robert Halfon will become deputy leader of the Conservative Party.