List of nicknames of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom

List of nicknames

Robert Walpole

• Sir Bluestring
• Screen-Master General

  Earl of Wilmington

Henry Pelham

• King Henry the Ninth

  Duke of Newcastle

• Hubble-Bubble

  Duke of Devonshire

Earl of Bute

• Jack Boot

  George Grenville

• Gentle Shepherd

  Marquess of Rockingham

Earl of Chatham

• The Great Commoner, in reference to his continued refusal of a peerage whilst in office, though he later accepted the title Earl of Chatham.

  Duke of Grafton

• Royal Oak
• The Turf Macaroni

  Lord North

• Boreas
• Lord-deputy North

  Earl of Shelburne

• Malagrida
• The Jesuit in Berkerly Square

  Duke of Portland

William Pitt the Younger

• Pitt the Younger, to distinguish him from his father, Pitt the Elder.
• Three-bottle man, in reference to his heavy consumption of port wine.

  Henry Addington

• The Doctor

  Baron Grenville

• Bogey

  Spencer Perceval

• Little P

  Earl of Liverpool

George Canning

• The Cicero of the British Senate
• The Zany of Debate

  Viscount Goderich

• Prosperity Robinson
• Goody Goderich
• The Blubberer

  Duke of Wellington

• The Iron Duke
• Europe's Liberator
• Saviour of the Nations

  Earl Grey

Viscount Melbourne

Robert Peel

• Orange Peel, a reference to his views on Ireland.

  Earl Russell

• Finality Jack
• The Widow's Mite

  Earl of Derby

• Scorpion Stanley
• The Rupert of Debate

  Earl of Aberdeen

• Lord Haddo, in reference to Aberdeen's title before he assumed his grandfather's title of Earl of Aberdeen.

  Viscount Palmerston

• Lord Cupid
• Lord Pumicestone

  Benjamin Disraeli

• Dizzy

  William Ewart Gladstone

• Grand Old Man
• The People's William
• God's Only Mistake, used by Disraeli as a mocking alternative to Gladstone's preferred nickname.
• Murderer of Gordon, a scathing inversion of Gladstone's preferred nickname following the death of General Gordon at Khartoum. Gladstone had delayed sending Gordon military reinforcements, so was blamed for Gordon's subsequent defeat and execution by the Mahdists of the Sudan.

  Marquess of Salisbury

Earl of Rosebery

• Puddin

  Arthur Balfour

• Pretty Fanny, a reference to his delicacy of appearance and manners.
• Bloody Balfour
• Tiger Lily
• Miss Balfour

  Henry Campbell-Bannerman

• CB

  H. H. Asquith

• The Last of the Romans
• The Sledgehammer
• Squiffy

  David Lloyd George

• The Welsh Wizard
• The Man Who Won The War
• The Welsh Goat

  Bonar Law

• The Unknown Prime Minister

  Stanley Baldwin

• Honest Stan
• Uncle Stanley, from his frequent use of the radio as Prime Minister.

  Ramsay MacDonald

• Ramsay Mac
• Ramshackle Mac

  Neville Chamberlain

• The Coroner

  Winston Churchill

• Winnie
• Bulldog; first given to him by the Russians, it was a reference to his ferociousness and focus.
• Former Naval Person and Naval Person; this was how Churchill signed many of his telegrams to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, first choosing the code name "Naval Person" and later changing it to "Former Naval Person" after he became Prime Minister.

  Clement Attlee

• Clem
• A sheep in sheep's clothing

  Anthony Eden

• The Glamour Boy, in reference to his neat appearance.

  Harold Macmillan

• Supermac, originally coined by Victor Weisz as the title of an editorial cartoon published in the Evening Standard.
• Mac the Knife, in reference to the Night of the Long Knives.

  Alec Douglas-Home

• Baillie Vass

  Harold Wilson

• Wislon

  Edward Heath

• Grocer Heath

  James Callaghan

• Big Jim
• Sunny Jim, a homonym of "Sonny Jim", used to patronise an inexperienced person, and to refer to his optimism. Particularly used in the media during the Winter of Discontent of 1978–79, when Callaghan appeared out of touch with the problems people were facing at the time.

  Margaret Thatcher

• Attila the Hen
• That Bloody Woman or TBW
• That Great Charmer, an anagram of Margaret Thatcher.
• The Great She-Elephant, an allusion to Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories.
• The Grocer's Daughter, a double meaning in that she was literally the daughter of a grocer, but also the successor to Edward Heath, "The Grocer".
• The Iron Lady
• Madame , derived from her use of the dialect word frit in the House.
• Maggie
• Maggie the Great
• Milk Snatcher, from her policy as Secretary of State for Education to remove the supply of free milk to young schoolchildren.
• Mrs Finchley
• Thatch, In the 1980s Ben Elton started a trend for referring to Mrs Thatcher as Thatch, a colloquialism for pubic hair.

  John Major

• Grey Man; Major "had been considered a decent but uninspiring person who was known as the 'grey man' of politics", with his caricature Spitting Image puppet portraying him as such.
• Honest John
• Prince of Greyness, again referencing his apparent dullness and lack of personality.

  Tony Blair

• Tony Blur, used during his time in opposition to describe his "clear image" but not what he stood for.
• Bambi, Blair had been the youngest prime minister for nearly 200 years.
• Bliar, associated with the Iraq War. Blair was accused of misleading parliament and the country over weapons of mass destruction
• America's Poodle, a reference to his Special Relationship with the President of the United States, George W. Bush.
• Teflon Tony

  Gordon Brown

• Flash Gordon, in reference to the comic strip hero Flash Gordon.
• Big Clunking Fist, first used by Tony Blair during his final Queen's Speech debate, it was later used by columnists throughout the British media.
• *Great Clunking Fist, a common misquote.
• Bottler Brown, used in relation to Brown not calling an election in 2007 after previously suggesting he would.
• Golden Brown, as Chancellor, Brown sold 60% of the UK’s gold reserves. Used by Terry Wogan and the TOGs, normally followed by Wogan saying "Never a frown with Golden Brown", a reference to the song "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers.
• Gordo. The word means 'fat' in Spanish.
• Great Leader and Stalin, often sarcastically used by Andrew Neil on This Week in relation to Lord Turnbull's description of Brown as a man who operates with "Stalinist ruthlessness". The fortnightly satirical magazine Private Eye also had a mock Stalinist decree each issue, '.
• Squatter in No. 10''', used as Brown was not elected and after Brown attempted to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats following the 2010 general election.

  David Cameron

• Dave, Cameron is reported to be known to friends and family as "Dave" rather than David, although he invariably uses the latter name in public.
• DVD Dave, Mr Cameron was reportedly known as DVD Dave because of his love of DVD Box Sets which he enjoyed with his wife Samantha.
• Flashman, a reference to fictional upper-class bully Harry Flashman, used by Ed Miliband during a PMQs debate on reform to the NHS.
• Call me Dave, used since the publishing of his 2015 biography Call Me Dave.
• Hameron, in reference to the "Piggate" allegations.
• Dodgy Dave, a nickname trending on social media with the #DodgyDave hashtag after Labour MP Dennis Skinner was sent out of the House of Commons in April 2016 for referring to Cameron as "Dodgy Dave" and repeating it after being instructed to withdraw it by Speaker John Bercow. This came about during the Panama Papers scandal.

  Theresa May

• Mummy/Mummy May, affectionately used by Conservative activists to make reference to her matriarchal powers.
• Bloody Difficult Woman, originally used by Kenneth Clarke to describe May while preparing for an interview with Sky News, not realising he was being recorded.
• Submarine May, originally used by Downing Street aides to describe May hiding away "like a submarine" during the EU referendum campaign.
• Theresa Maybe, used to describe her apparent indecisiveness and vagueness, such as her use of the phrase 'Brexit means Brexit'.
• Theresa the Appeaser, originally used to describe her relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, particularly after Trump's signing of Executive Order 13769 known as the 'travel ban'. It has also been used since to describe her relationships with other world leaders.
• Maybot, used to describe her 'robotic' nature, particularly during the 2017 general election campaign, from which she gained notoriety for frequently repeating campaign slogans such as "strong and stable leadership".
• Teflon Theresa, used to describe her ability to avoid scandals whilst in the politically sensitive position of Home Secretary.
• Lino, short for "Leader in name only", used during the Brexit process in reference to May's difficulty in passing her negotiated withdrawal agreement through the House of Commons and her perceived lack of authority as Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party.

  Boris Johnson

• Al, used by his friends and family as a shortening of his legal first name.
• Boris, Johnson has been described as one of the few politicians to be more commonly referred to by his given name than his last name.
• BoJo, often used by the press internationally.
• BoJo the Clown, a pun on Bozo the Clown, a more pejorative form of the nickname "BoJo".
• Bozza, an affectionate name used by his friends.
• Beano Boris or Boris the Menace, coined by the satirical magazine Private Eye which depicted Johnson as a blond-haired version of Dennis the Menace from ''The Beano.
• Boris, a reference to Johnson's reputation for infidelity.
• British Trump or ”Britain Trump”, used to refer to his perceived similarities with US President Donald Trump.
• Buffoon Boris, a pejorative reference to Johnson's supposed ability to provide amusement through inappropriate appearance or behaviour.
• The Blonde Bombshell, a reference to Johnson's hair colour.