Robert Walpole — First Prime Minister
Robert Walpole became First Lord of the Treasury in April 1721 and held power for twenty-one years, which is why he is called Britain's first prime minister. The title did not exist and was used against him as an insult, implying an overmighty servant on the French model. What he actually built was the practice: a minister who commanded a Commons majority, controlled patronage, and spoke for the government as a whole. The South Sea Bubble made him. The company's scheme to convert the national debt into its own shares had collapsed the previous year, ruining thousands and implicating ministers and the royal household in bribery. Walpole had opposed the scheme, had made money on it anyway by selling early, and was the man available to clean it up — which he did by shielding the king's circle, transferring South Sea stock to the Bank of England and the East India Company, and letting a few subordinates take the blame. He was called the Screenmaster-General. His policy afterwards was to leave things alone. He kept taxes low, especially the land tax the country gentlemen paid, avoided European wars for two decades, and let the Hanoverian settlement bed down. He managed George I, who spoke little English and less politics, and George II through Queen Caroline. He was driven from office in 1742 after being forced into a war with Spain he had opposed. The house he was given as First Lord, 10 Downing Street, he accepted for the office rather than himself.
- Year: 1721 CE
- Category: Political
