Prime Factors - Ranking UK Prime Ministers

They might not have been bigger than Jesus, but they certainly were bigger than Robert Walpole, William Pitt, or Harold Wilson: they were "The Beatles". In this very special episode, Abram takes the microphone and whisks us into a magical mystery tour of Beatles history from their start as the Quarrymen to a very special rooftop concert, and all of the multi-colored aquatic conveyances in between.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a...

Frederick North spent his childhood in the Leicester House orbit as a playmate of the young George III, a boy with whom he shared an uncanny resemblance. As an adult, he proved himself a man of order, conviction, and fiscal diligence. After a decade of unstable governments, George III called on his old companion to steady the ship of state. But with Britain facing imperial crisis and Boston nearing a deadly confrontation, could a “competent administrator” stop a revolution?

Featuring a trailer for the Grand Dukes of the West podcast.

Join the Discussion: We want to h...

By 1770, Britain is a restless empire—troubled at home, strained abroad, and on the brink of a new era. In this special episode, we trace the leaders and events that shaped British politics over the past fifty years: from Robert Walpole’s "notorious corruption" to Henry Pelham’s steady hand, and the uneasy balance between King George III, Parliament, and this new thing called "Prime Minister". The empire had doubled in size in a generation, but with a spark about to ignite in snowy Boston that will change everything.

New to Prime Factors? This is the perfect place to...

Britain is in crisis: Rioters in London scream "Wilkes and Liberty!", while the French threaten to take Corsica from the British-backed rebels. The conservative Bedford faction gains ground in Parliament, while Junius savages the administration with his wisdom and wit. Where is Prime Minister Grafton? Has anyone seen our Prime Minister?

(He's probably off with his mistress.)

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or review on your p...

Descended from an illegitimate son of Charles II, the Grafton clan seemed to embrace the ignominy, leading lives rocked in equal parts by political power and scandal. Augustus Fitzroy led a comfortable life filled with horses, hunting, and... women, but when duty called, could he put aside his family's proclivities to be the leader that Britain desperately needed?

Thanks to our fantastic podcasting friends who contributed to this episode's "Picture This" segment: John and Rob from Prime Time, Rob from Totalus Rankium, and Kassidy from YouTube. A friend of the show, Adam, also provided some incidental music.<...

The Seven Years' War bought Britain an empire but at a staggering price. The Americans cried out "No Taxation Without Representation!" even as Britain struggled to pay to maintain her new territory. Grenville and Rockingham's missteps had pushed the colonists to the brink. It would take a true man of the people, a "Great Commoner", like William Pitt to restore calm. If only his gout wasn't acting up...

Part Three in our trilogy on William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham. 

--

"The Death of the Earl of Chatham" painting by John S...

"My Lord, I am sure I can save this country, and no one else can." Britain was losing the Seven Years War and the Duke of Newcastle seemed powerless to stop it. William Pitt had been drummed out of government once, but the mobs in the street still cried out his name. No one had more faith in his abilities than Pitt himself, but could the Great Commoner turn the tide and deliver the British Empire to its greatest victories?

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social<...

At Cavour's death, the dream of a united Italy was still incomplete: Rome and Venice remained outside the newly formed Italian Kingdom. Garibaldi cried out for Rome, but it would take the rise of one empire and the fall of another before the ancient Aurelian walls fell and Italy was whole once again. 

Featuring Marco Cappelli from Storia d'Italia as our special guest co-host!

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please l...

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...

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. 

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app. It helps others find us and makes Abram very e...

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.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

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.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app. It helps others find us and makes Abram very excited.

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.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a ra...

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?

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave...

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! 

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

S...

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.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a r...

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 Kit (fka "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.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed...

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?

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app. It helps others...

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.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please l...

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. 

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app. It helps others find us and makes Abram very excited.

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. 

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app. It helps others find us and makes Abram very excited.

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. 

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

...

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.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or...

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.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app. It helps others find us and makes Abram very excited.

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 hi...

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 ca...

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.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

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. 

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app. It helps others find us and makes...

Born the "spare" second son of Baron Pelham, Henry watched his brother bask in the glow of wealth and titles. With the seat in Parliament his brother bought for him, Henry found his own voice, teamed up with Robert Walpole, and zoomed up the political ranks. Stepping out from his sibling's shadow, Henry Pelham soon stood tall as Britain’s third Prime Minister.

Recorded on location at the Pelham Public Library in Pelham, Massachusetts.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Sh...

From his humble birth in the Compton family castle, Spencer Compton rose to become a "dull, important Lord" in Parliament. Walpole out-maneuvered in 1727 to steal the top job from him, but Spencer Compton, the Earl of Wilmington, would get his revenge and (eventually) become Prime Minister. Recorded on location at the Wilmington Memorial Library in Wilmington, Massachusetts. 

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app. It helps o...

Our first rating! We discuss how Robert Walpole rose from the disaster of the South Sea Company bubble to control all the levers of power in Parliament, his near-loss to Spencer Compton after the death of George I, and his eventual decline and defeat thanks to a disagreement with Spain over a severed left ear.

Recorded on location in Walpole, Massachusetts in the Stone Room at the Walpole Public Library.

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed...

Abram and I look at Robert Walpole from birth to 1721, the traditional start of his time as prime minister. We cover his early elections, his rise in the Whig party, his stint in the Tower of London for corruption, and how he rose in power to become the dominant force in British politics of his day. (Hint: It involved family connections and bribery.)

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or review...

Our pilot episode! Abram and I discuss the history of the UK Parliament from the Saxons up to 1721 and the beginning of the idea of a "prime minister". 

Join the Discussion: We want to hear your ranking! Find us on BlueSky at @primefactorspod.bsky.social

Support the Show: If you enjoyed our show, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app. It helps others find us and makes Abram very excited.