| Name | Party | Took Office |
| Sir Robert Walpole | Whig | 1721 |
| Earl of Wilmington | Whig | 1742 |
| Henry Pelham | Whig | 1743 |
| Duke of Newcastle | Whig | 1754 |
| Duke of Devonshire | Whig | 1756 |
| Duke of Newcastle | Whig | 1757 |
| Earl of Bute | Tory | 1762 |
| George Grenville | Whig | 1763 |
| Marquess of Rockingham | Whig | 1765 |
| William Pitt, Earl of Chatham | Whig | 1766 |
| Duke of Grafton | Whig | 1768 |
| Lord North | Tory | 1770 |
| Marquess of Rockingham | Whig | 1782 |
| Earl of Shelburne | Whig | 1782 |
| Duke of Portland | Coalition | 1783 |
| William Pitt, the Younger | Tory | 1783 |
| Henry Addington | Tory | 1801 |
| William Pitt, the Younger | Tory | 1804 |
| Lord Grenville | Whig | 1806 |
| Duke of Portland | Tory | 1807 |
| Spencer Perceval | Tory | 1809 |
| Earl of Liverpool | Tory | 1812 |
| George Canning | Tory | 1827 |
| Viscount Goderich | Tory | 1827 |
| Duke of Wellington | Tory | 1828 |
| Earl Grey | Whig | 1830 |
| Viscount Melbourne | Whig | 1834 |
| Duke of Wellington | Tory | 1834 |
| Sir Robert Peel | Tory | 1834 |
| Viscount Melbourne | Whig | 1835 |
| Sir Robert Peel | Tory | 1841 |
| Lord John Russell | Whig | 1846 |
| Earl of Derby | Tory | 1852 |
| Earl of Aberdeen | Peelite | 1852 |
| Viscount Palmerston | Liberal | 1855 |
| Earl of Derby | Conservative | 1858 |
| Viscount Palmerstonv | Liberal | 1859 |
| Earl Russell (John Russell) | Liberal | 1865 |
| Earl of Derby | Conservative | 1866 |
| Benjamin Disraeli | Conservative | 1868 |
| W. E. Gladstone | Liberal | 1868 |
| Benjamin Disraeli | Conservative | 1874 |
| W. E. Gladstone | Liberal | 1880 |
| Marquess of Salisbury | Conservative | 1885 |
| W. E. Gladstone | Liberal | 1886 |
| Marquess of Salisbury | Conservative | 1886 |
| W. E. Gladstone | Liberal | 1892 |
| Earl of Rosebery | Liberal | 1894 |
| Marquess of Salisbury | Conservative | 1895 |
| A. J. Balfour | Conservative | 1902 |
| Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman | Liberal | 1905 |
| H. H. Asquith | Liberal | 1908 |
| H. H. Asquith | Coalition | 1915 |
| David Lloyd George | Coalition | 1916 |
| Andrew Bonar Law | Conservative | 1922 |
| Stanley Baldwin | Conservative | 1923 |
| James Ramsay MacDonald | Labour | 1924 |
| Stanley Baldwin | Conservative | 1924 |
| James Ramsay MacDonald | Labour | 1929 |
| James Ramsay MacDonald | Coalition | 1931 |
| Stanley Baldwin | Coalition | 1935 |
| Neville Chamberlain | Coalition | 1937 |
| Winston S. Churchill | Coalition | 1940 |
| Winston S. Churchill | Conservative | 1945 |
| Clement Attlee | Labour | 1945 |
| Winston S. Churchill | Conservative | 1951 |
| Sir Anthony Eden | Conservative | 1955 |
| Harold Macmillan | Conservative | 1957 |
| Sir Alec Douglas-Home | Conservative | 1963 |
| Harold Wilson | Labour | 1964 |
| Edward Heath | Conservative | 1970 |
| Harold Wilson | Labour | 1974 |
| James Callaghan | Labour | 1976 |
| Margaret Thatcher | Conservative | 1979 |
| John Major | Conservative | 1990 |
| Tony Blair | Labour | 1997 |
| Gordon Brown | Labour | 2007 |
