The office of Deputy Prime Minister is one that has only existed occasionally in the history of the United Kingdom. Unlike analogous offices in other nations, the Deputy Prime Minister does not have any of the powers of the Prime Minister in the latter's absence and there is no presumption that the Deputy Prime Minister will succeed the Prime Minister.
The post has existed intermittently and there have been a number of disputed occassions as to whether or not the title has actually been conferred.
Labour Party leader Clement Attlee held the post in the wartime coalition government led by Winston Churchill, and had general responsibility for domestic affairs, allowing Churchill to concentrate on the war. Richard Austen Butler held the post in 1962-3 under Harold Macmillan, but was passed over for the premiership in favour of Alec Douglas-Home.
William Whitelaw was Margaret Thatcher's deputy from 1979-1988, a post he combined with that of Home Secretary in 1979-83 and Leader of the House of Lords after 1983. Sir Geoffrey Howe was given the title in 1989, on being removed from the post of Foreign Secretary. He resigned as Deputy Prime Minister in 1990, making a resignation speech that is widely thought to have hastened Thatcher's downfall. Thatcher's successor John Major did not appoint a Deputy Prime Minister until 1995, when Michael Heseltine was given the post.
John Prescott was made Deputy Prime Minister in 1997, in addition to being Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions. In 2001 this "superdepartment" was split up, with Prescott being given his own Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with fewer specific responsibilities.
List of Deputy Prime Ministers
- Clement Attlee (19 February 1942 - 26 July 1945)
- Herbert Stanley Morrison (27 July 1945 - 26 October 1951)
- Anthony Eden (27 October 1951 - 6 April 1955)
- Richard Austen Butler (13 July 1962 - 20 October 1963)
- William Whitelaw (5 May 1979 - 10 January 1988)
- Sir Geoffrey Howe (24 July 1989 - 1 November 1990)
- Michael Heseltine (5 July 1995 - 2 May 1997
- John Prescott (2 May 1997 - )