How long do Prime Ministers serve in UK?

Question

what is the term for a prime mininster in England? Is it four years? Are they limited in the amount of terms they can serve?

Answer 1

There are no limits on the number of terms a UK prime minister may serve in office, it depends entirely on how long the prime minister has the confidence of parliament.

Immediately after a General Election (usually mid-morning the next day) the Queen summons the prime minister to Buckingham Palace where they discuss whether or not the election results mean the PM still has the support of the House of Commons. The leader of the majority party obviously has the support of parliament, so if the PM's party won the election then he/she will be asked to remain in office for another term. If however another party (or group of parties) has become the majority, then the prime minister will recommend the Queen appoint the leader of that party/parties as the new Prime Minister. She would then summon the leader of the new majority party/parties, and ask him/her to form a government. The only real discretion the Queen has is in the event of no-one gaining the support of a majority in Parliament, and in this case she could decide to allow the current prime minister to continue in office or ask someone else, with Parliament deciding when back in session whether or not it had confidence in the prime minister she chose.

A new prime minister doesn't have to mean an election though, so long as parliament has confidence in the new PM then he/she continues for the duration of the term. This will happen later this year when Tony Blair stands down and the Labour Party elects a new leader (who will be the current Chancellor, Gordon Brown). As Labour are the majority in parliament, their new leader (Brown) will have parliament's support and so the Queen will ask him to form a government and become prime minister. This was also what happened when John Major became Prime Minister in 1990, there was no election but Margaret Thatcher was replaced by the then majority Conservative Party as its leader.

As a general rule prime ministers do not stay in office until the very end of a term of parliament, unless they fight and lose an election. They usually resign earlier to allow their successor as party leader to take over before an election campaign. In this way we avoid having many lame-duck prime ministers who are in office but not in power.

The law says that there must be a General Election of the entire membership of the House of Commons at least once every 5 years. In times of extreme crisis Parliament can suspend an election, as last happened during world war 2, but this requires the support of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as the Queen. It is unusual for a parliament to go more than 4 years though. General Elections are called when:
* The Prime Minister asks the Queen to dissolve Parliament and
call an election within 6 weeks.
* The House of Commons votes that it has no-confidence in the
prime minister but is unable to vote confidence in a new prime
minister to replace him/her.

So the length of time a prime minister is in office can vary wildly, going back to the early 60s they were:
Tony Blair, 1997-2007 (10 years)
John Major, 1990-1997 (6 years)
Margaret Thatcher, 1979-1990 (11 years)
James Callaghan, 1976-1979 (3 years)
Harold Wilson (2nd term), 1974-1976 (2 years)
Ted Heath, 1970-1974 (4 years)
Harold Wilson (1st term), 1964-1970 (6 years)
Sir Alec Douglas-Home 1963-1964 (0 years 11 months)

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Prime Ministers Of England

Answer 3

Current Prime Minister Of England

Answer 4

The term of a Prime Minister is linked to the term of Members of the House of Commons. Parliament has a maximum term of five years; in practice, however, it is usually "dissolved" sooner by the Sovereign, acting on a request from the Prime Minister. Unlike American presidential elections, UK parliamentary elections do not have a set date. However, no more than five years can pass between elections. Usually the party in power tries to call elections when they feel that they have the best chance to do well. I believe that elections can also be forced by a parliamentary vote of no confidence.

Answer 5

a prime minister or any minister of her majesty's goverment may serve as long we continue to elect them . in canada prime minister trueduea not spelled right served about 15 years with a tiny break in there . i am all for this i could care no less if the person had been the prime minister for 1 year or 50 years so long as the people vote for this person i am ok with it . i dont worry about them getting to much power as we have a queen to ensure that would be stopped if ever it were tried.

Answer 6

Isn't that the one real power the queen still has? So I think she can appoint the PM as many times as she wants.