Alec Douglas-Home

The Right Honourable Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT,1 PC (2 July 1903–9 October 1995), 14th Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963, was a British politician, and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a year from October 1963 to October 1964. As such, he held a series of records: He was the last member of the House of Lords to be appointed Prime Minister, the only Prime Minister to resign from the Lords and contest a by-election to enter the House of Commons and, to date, the last Prime Minister to be personally chosen by a British monarch.

Appointment as Prime Minister

In 1963, the Conservative Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, suddenly resigned when diagnosed with prostate cancer from which he was (wrongly) not expected to recover. At the time, the rules of Conservative Party stated that a leader was not to be selected by a vote of party members, but rather by a decision of the party's elder statesmen. Though Rab Butler, nominally the "Deputy Prime Minister" (though officially no such constitutional office then existed, with the title on its rare usages being an honorific one), was the favourite among Conservative MPs, Home was preferred by the elder statesmen, some of whom indicated that they would refuse to serve in cabinet under Butler or the other potential candidate, Quintin Hogg, then Lord Hailsham. Macmillan advised Queen Elizabeth II of the opinion of the senior figures in the party. Though it was argued that he had no right to advise the Queen as to whom to invite to Kiss Hands as Prime Minister, and the Queen was under no obligation to accept his advice, the Queen duly invited the Earl of Home to become Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.

Related Topics:
1963 - Harold Macmillan - Elder statesmen - Rab Butler - MP - Quintin Hogg - Lord Hailsham - Elizabeth II - Kiss Hands - First Lord of the Treasury

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Home, the first British Prime Minister born in the 20th century, believed it would be impractical to serve as PM from the Lords (it was widely believed that Lord Curzon had not been invited to become prime minister in the 1920s because of his seat in the Lords). Using the Peerage Act 1963 passed earlier in the same year after Tony Benn's campaign to renounce his peerage, Home disclaimed his Earldom and, as "Sir Alec Douglas-Home", contested a by-election in the safe seat of Kinross & West Perthshire. Home duly won, entering the history books as (probably) the last peer to become Prime Minister and the only Prime Minister to resign the Lords to enter the Commons. In 1965, the rules of the Conservative Party were changed so that the party leader would henceforth be selected by the 1922 Committee, which consists of the parliamentary members of the Party.

Related Topics:
20th century - Lord Curzon - 1920s - Peerage Act 1963 - Tony Benn - By-election - Kinross & West Perthshire - 1922 Committee

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