20th-century Britain

Hung Parliaments. Liberal Welfare Reforms; People's Budget; Old Age Pensions Act 1908 and National Insurance Act 1911; Parliament Act 1911; Suffragettes and the Cat and Mouse Act; Home Rule Act 1914; World War I; Easter Rising.

Welsh-speaking: only Prime Minister whose mother tongue was not English. End of World War I; Paris Peace Conference; attempted to extend conscription to Ireland during the First World War; Chanak Crisis.

Canadian-born: only Prime Minister born outside the British Isles. Became Prime Minister following Conservative backbenchers' decision at the Carlton Club meeting to withdraw from the Lloyd George Coalition.

Called a general election to gain a mandate for protectionist tariffs but failed to gain a majority; resigned after losing a vote of confidence.

Hung Parliament; minority government reliant on Liberal support. First Labour Prime Minister; did not have a majority so could not introduce radical legislation; settled reparations with Germany following World War I; Zinoviev letter.

Treaty of Locarno; signatory of the Kellogg-Briand Pact; Pensions Act; enfranchisement of women over 21; UK General Strike of 1926.

Wall Street Crash in 1929.
National Government after 24 August 1931. MacDonald expelled from the Labour Party.

Edward VIII abdication crisis; started rearmament but later criticised for failing to rearm more when Adolf Hitler broke Germany's Treaty of Versailles obligations.

Attempted to maintain "peace for our time" through appeasement of Germany, settling the Munich Agreement; widely criticised following the German Invasion of Poland and consequent outbreak of World War II; resigned after failing to form a Coalition Government.

World War II; led a Coalition Government; foundation of the United Nations; proposed what would eventually lead to the European Union; Beveridge Report. Following the ending of his all-party coalition, Churchill formed a "caretaker" government

Initiated the post-war consensus; introduced nationalisation of utilities; foundation of the National Health Service; extended national insurance scheme; Independence of India and the end of the British role in Palestine; foundation of NATO; beginning of the Cold War; the Berlin Blockade and the resulting Berlin Airlift; the start of British involvement in the Korean War.

Domestic policy interrupted by foreign disputes (Korean War, Operation Ajax, Mau Mau Uprising, Malayan Emergency).

Egyptian nationalisation of the Suez Canal; which sparked the Suez Crisis

The UK applied to join the European Economic Community for the first time, the application split the Conservatives and was vetoed by Charles de Gaulle; acceptance of Keynesianism; Rent Act 1957; Wind of Change speech; Notting Hill race riots and New Commonwealth immigration; beginning of Beeching Axe; Night of the Long Knives; Cuban missile crisis; Profumo Affair.

Renounced his peerage in order to stand for the House of Commons.

Social reforms, including legalisation of abortion, abolition of capital punishment and decriminalisation of homosexuality; Rhodesian U.D.I.; adopted, then abandoned, the National Plan for the economy; Devaluation of the pound; foundation of the Open University; disputes with trade unions over In Place of Strife and prices and incomes policy.

U-turned over intervention in industry; negotiated Britain's entry to the European Community; Violence due to Northern Ireland's "Troubles" peaked; the Sunningdale Agreement agreed; Three-Day Week; Misuse of Drugs Act 1971; called early election in backfiring attempt to confront striking miners.

Hung parliament. Ended dispute with miners; Social Contract with trade unions over the economy; Health and Safety at Work Act; Renegotiated terms for EC membership, then 1975 referendum validated entry; North Sea oil; Cod War.

ternational Monetary Fund loan to support the pound; the Lib-Lab pact; enacted devolution to Scotland and Wales but referendums stopped them; breakdown of relations with trade unions and Winter of Discontent.

First female Prime Minister of the UK. Falklands War; sold council housing to tenants (right to buy); miners' strike 1984–85; privatisation of many previously government-owned industries; decreased the power of trade unions; negotiation of the UK rebate towards the European Community budget; Brighton hotel bombing; Sino-British Joint Declaration; Anglo-Irish Agreement; Westland Affair; abolition of GLC; Section 28; the "Poll tax" and Poll Tax Riots; Lockerbie bombing; the end of the Cold War.

Early 1990s recession; Gulf War; ratification of the Maastricht Treaty and the Maastricht Rebels; forced exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism ("Black Wednesday"); the Downing Street Declaration (initiating the Northern Ireland peace process); Privatisation of British Rail; The National Lottery; Citizen's Charter; Sunday Shopping

Hong Kong handover; Death of Diana, Princess of Wales; Independence for the Bank of England;Ecclestone tobacco controversy; Belfast Agreement; Human Rights Act; devolution to Scotland and Wales; House of Lords Reform; Minimum wage introduced; 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia; Fuel protests; creation of Greater London Authority and Mayoralty of London; 2001 foot and mouth crisis; War in Afghanistan; Iraq War; top-up fees introduced for university tuition; Civil Partnership Act; All forms of Magic Mushroom Class A; All forms of Cannabis moved from Class B to C; Constitutional Reform Act; 2005 London bombings; Cash for Honours scandal; Identity Cards Act; introduced student fees.