Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)

The Leader of the Conservative Party is the most senior politician within the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom. The post is currently held by Rishi Sunak since 24 October 2022. There was no proper leader of the Conservative Party until 1922:

Leaders in the House of Lords 1834–present

Those asterisked ( * ) were considered the overall leader of the party.

• Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington 1834–1846
• Edward Smith-Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley (14th Earl of Derby from 1851) 1846–1868 *
• James Howard Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury 1868–1869
• Hugh Cairns, 1st Baron Cairns 1869–1870
• Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond 1870–1876
• Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield 1876–1881 *
• Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury 1881–1902 (* from 1885)
• Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire 1902–1903
• Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne 1903–1916
• George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Earl Curzon of Kedleston (1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston from 1921) 1916–1925
• James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury 1925–1931
• Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham 1931–1935
• Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry 1935
• E. F. L. Wood, 3rd Viscount Halifax 1935–1938
• James Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope 1938–1940
• Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote 1940
• E. F. L. Wood, 3rd Viscount Halifax 1940
• George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd 1940–1941
• Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne 1941–1942
• Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne (5th Marquess of Salisbury from 1947) 1942–1957
• Alec Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home 1957–1960
• Quintin Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham 1960–1963
• Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington 1963–1970
• George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe 1970–1973
• David Hennessy, 3rd Baron Windlesham 1973–1974
• Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington 1974–1979
• Christopher Soames, Baron Soames 1979–1981
• Janet Young, Baroness Young 1981–1983
• William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw 1983–1988
• John Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead 1988–1990
• David Waddington, Baron Waddington 1990–1992
• John Wakeham, Baron Wakeham 1992–1994
• Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne 1994–1998
• Thomas Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde 1998–

Leaders in the House of Commons 1834–1922

• Sir Robert Peel 1834–1846 *
• Lord George Bentinck 1846–1847
• Charles Manners, Marquess of Granby 1848
• None 1848–1849
• Jointly Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Manners, Marquess of Granby and John Charles Herries 1849–1852
• Benjamin Disraeli 1852–1876 (* from 1868)
• Sir Stafford Northcote 1876–1885
• Sir Michael Hicks Beach 1885–1886
• Lord Randolph Churchill 1886–1887
• William Henry Smith 1887–1891
• Arthur James Balfour 1891–1906 (* from 1902)
• Joseph Chamberlain 1906
• Arthur James Balfour 1906–1911 *
• Andrew Bonar Law 1911–1921 (* from 1916)
• Austen Chamberlain 1921–1922

Leaders of the Conservative Party 1922-Present

Date in brackets shows when each person became leader.

• 

  Andrew Bonar Law (23 October 1922)
• 

  Stanley Baldwin (22 May 1923)
• 

  Winston Churchill (9 October 1940)
• 

  Anthony Eden (7 April 1955)
• 

  Harold Macmillan (10 January 1957)
• 

  Alec Douglas-Home (19 October 1963)
• 

  Edward Heath (27 July 1965)
• 

  Margaret Thatcher (11 February 1975)
• 

  John Major (27 November 1990)
• 

  William Hague (19 June 1997)
• 

  Iain Duncan Smith (13 September 2001)
• 

  Michael Howard (6 November 2003)
• 

  David Cameron (6 December 2005)
• 

  Theresa May (11 July 2016)
• 

  Boris Johnson (23 July 2019)
• 

  Elizabeth Truss (5 September 2022)
• 

  Rishi Sunak (24 October 2022)

Leader Of The Conservative Party (UK) Media

• 

  Robert Peel by RR Scanlan detail

• 

  Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby-1865

• 

  Disraeli

• 

  • Portrait of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (1830–1903)
• 

  A.J. Balfour LCCN2014682753 (cropped)

• 

  Stanley Baldwin ggbain.35233 (cropped)

• 

  ChamberlainNeville

• 

  Sir Winston Churchill (cropped)