Former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s sudden departure from No. 10 in 2016 after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union triggered a period of unprecedented churn in British politics. None of his successors — Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak — served a full parliamentary term. Three were ousted from high office by their own side.
It wasn’t always this way: Prime ministers used to last.
Margaret Thatcher completed 11 years at the top, spending the whole of the 1980s in No. 10. Her successor John Major lasted six-and-a-half years, and Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair enjoyed more than a decade in power.
So what’s going on? From acute cost-of-living pressures to a weak No. 10, POLITICO’s Westminster Insider podcast asked historians and former political advisers why it now seems impossible for a British prime minister to last very long at the top.
It’s the economy, stupid — David Runciman, political historian
David Runciman is a political historian and host of the “Past, Present, Future” podcast. He believes Britain’s instability is not unique — and is driven by a global cost-of-living squeeze.
“Incumbency is harder because the world is a harder place to govern,” he says, pointing to the U.S., which has turfed presidents out after a single term in recent years.