Claim OwnershipPrime Factors - Ranking UK Prime Ministers
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Welcome to Prime Factors where we review each UK Prime Minister from Robert Walpole to Keir Starmer. We discuss their biography, highs and lows, and then rate them on a scale designed by a 10-year old before awarding the ultimate prize: Are they ”Known” or an ”Ice Cream Cone”?
Some dads build a treehouse with their kid. We’re doing a history podcast.
Some dads build a treehouse with their kid. We’re doing a history podcast.
25 Episodes
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Italy was a divided nation, a pawn in the machinations of empires. Camillo Benso, the Count of Cavour, dreamed of a day when Italy could take its place among the nations of the world. As a journalist, Cavour fought for a constitution and parliament. As a statesman, he needed all his cunning (and a little luck) to make friends, scheme with emperors, and pull the disparate parts of Italy together... by force, if necessary.
Recorded on location (and vacation!) in Aosta and Venice, in Italy. Our cover art is the Cavour lego mural in his ancestral home of Santena, Italy, which we visited.
From the depths of the Kollur Mine to the apex of the French crown, the Pitt Diamond (later known as the Regent Diamond) is either the story of a great British adventure, or a terrible Indian tragedy. We retell this story briefly in a bonus scene from William Pitt, Part 1.
As a boy, William Pitt grew up on stories of his merchant adventuring family. The Pitt fortune was smuggled out of the mines of India, even while his grandfather was the Governor of Madras. Pitt's father nearly lost it all betting on the Jacobites, but they survived. As the second son however, William had to find his own way as he sought fortune in the military and government. The story of one of Britain's greatest military leaders begins here.
Who was really the first Prime Minister? Do Prime Ministers even exist? And was Robert Walpole one of those? This bonus episode (recorded at Intelligent Speech 2025) looks at the lies and half-truths behind early British Prime Ministers.
As the Grenville government was on its final legs, Prince William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland, was tasked with forming a new one... unfortunately right during the Ascot Races. Fortunately for Charles Watson-Wentworth, he was also enjoying the races that day. No one was more surprised than he was to discover that he was now Prime Minister.
Recorded in Portsmouth, Rockingham County, New Hampshire.
Charles Watson-Wentworth was not a serious person. After failing to run away at 15 to join Cumberland's army, he spent the remainder of his young adulthood entertaining his way across Europe before throwing one of the largest birthday parties that Yorkshire had ever seen. He loved horse racing, not elections. But with the Whigs floundering and Bute in ascendance, could this party boy be just what the nation needed?
Prime Time and Prime Factors, united at last! Join John, Rob, Abram, and Joe as they look back at the first forty years of British Prime Ministers, answer some quiz questions, and have a great time.
This is Part 1 of 2, you can find the second part by searching for Prime Time Prime Ministers in your podcast app of choice or at www.primetimepod.com.
Recorded on location at the Travel Cafe in Waterloo, London!
Having abandoned his family in the pursuit of power, George Grenville rose to the highest office in the land. As riots broke out in England and the New World over his unpopular policies, would George Grenville rise above the fray and find success as a Prime Minister? Well, no.
Recorded once again at the Walpole Public Library as we continue to celebrate our anniversary.
All it took was a rat-sized metaphor scampering across the 10 Downing Street stoop to put David Cameron on the back foot politically. Fortunately, the UK has a long history of mousers in government.
Featuring Kess (from Prime Time) as our special guest host!
Please enjoy our special anniversary (and April Fools) edition of Prime Factors with some very real history about cats in the British government.
George Grenville wanted to be a lawyer, but when his Uncle Cobham needed more MPs to form his "Cobham Cubs" to fight Robert Walpole, George dutifully entered parliament. With Pitt by their side, the family seemed unstoppable. But after decades playing second-fiddle, would George Grenville step out of his family's shadow and find his own path?
With victory in the Seven Years War came the spoils, in this case inconceivable debt and the need to increase the size of the military to defend Britain's new territory. George Grenville had a fantastic idea: let's tax the colonies!
In this special mini episode (recorded at WCA-TV in Watertown, MA), we look at the hated Stamp Act and the start of the road to American independence.
With the ascension of George III, John Stuart found himself as the chief advisor to the king with a mandate to end the Seven Years' War and reduce government corruption. This is the story of how a Scottish botanist became the most hated man in England.
Few things made John Stuart happier than the theater or collecting specimens on the banks of the Thames. Just as he was settling in to a quiet life, a chance meeting with Prince Frederick set the Earl of Bute on an unexpected collision course with British politics.
With the collapse of the Newcastle and Devonshire governments amid failures in the Seven Years War, King George II needed a leader who could right the ship of state. Instead, he chose James Waldegrave, a man whose primary qualification was that he was the young Prince George's former babysitter. It went about as well as you'd expect.
Featuring badly sung musical numbers including "Old Sarum-Gatton-Newtown-East Looe-Dunwich-Plympton Erle" (the Rotten Boroughs Song), "A Spoonful of Corruption", and more.
William Cavendish never wanted to be Prime Minister. But in 1756, Britain was in crisis: France was winning the Seven Years' War, the Newcastle government had collapsed, and George II was in a panic. He needed someone to hold the country steady until a more permanent government could be formed. That man was William Cavendish.
Recorded at the Pointe Hotel in Cavendish, Vermont.
Thomas Pelham-Holles aimed for a quiet term as Prime Minister, hoping to reduce taxes, combat smuggling, and avoid major conflicts. But when a 22-year-old George Washington accidentally ignited the Seven Years War, Pelham-Holles quickly found himself in deeper trouble than he could have imagined.
Thomas Pelham-Holles, heir to two fortunes, may have been spectacularly bad at managing money, but he excelled in 18th-century Whig politics. Entering the House of Lords at 21, he quickly rose to become a Duke, Lord Chamberlain, and eventually Secretary of State—despite never having stepped outside of England. Alongside his brother, Prime Minister Henry Pelham, the siblings became an unbeatable force in British politics. But after his brother's death, can the duke notorious for financial mismanagement really be trusted with the British Treasury?
Recorded on location at the Community Room in Newcastle, Maine, with a brief colonial history of the town included.
Two days. William Pulteney was one of the greatest orators of his generation. After his relationship with Robert Walpole soured, he became Walpole’s fiercest critic. Crusading against corruption in the press and parliament, Pulteney even turned down the role of Prime Minister. However, when George II called upon him during a crisis, he stepped into the highest role in the land... for two days.
This episode was recorded on location at Tarleton Castle in Bath, New Hampshire. Following the episode, we have a brief interview with Tim Dailey, the Executive Director of Tarleton Castle Arts. You can find out more about the project at https://tarletoncastle.org/.
Itō Hirobumi: from peasant to samurai, terrorist to diplomat, and a key architect of modern Japan. Smuggled out of the "hermit kingdom" to learn from the West, he returned to a nation in tumult. Author of the Meiji Constitution and its staunchest advocate, he led Japan through four pivotal terms as it emerged as a global power.
Recorded on location (and vacation!) in Tokyo, Japan.
Please answer our survey if you liked this special episode HERE.
Facing threats from the Jacobites in the north and the French to the south, Henry Pelham faced off against George II… and the king blinked. He balanced competing factions and an empty treasury as Britain’s third Prime Minister.
Recorded on location at the Pelham Public Library in Pelham, New Hampshire.
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