Prime Minister of The United Kingdom - Precedence, Privileges and Form of Address

Precedence, Privileges and Form of Address

By tradition, before a new Prime Minister can enter 10 Downing Street for the first time as its occupant, they are required to announce to the country and the world that they have 'kissed hands' with the reigning monarch, and thus have become Prime Minister. This is usually done by saying words to the effect of:

Her Majesty the Queen has asked me to form a government and I have accepted.

Throughout the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister outranks all other dignitaries except members of the Royal Family, the Lord Chancellor, and senior ecclesiastical figures.

At present the Prime Minister receives £142,500 including a salary of £65,737 as a Member of Parliament. Until 2006, the Lord Chancellor was the highest paid member of the government ahead of the Prime Minister. This reflected the Lord Chancellor's position as head of the judicial pay scale. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 eliminated the Lord Chancellor's judicial functions and also reduced the office's salary below that of the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister is customarily a member of the Privy Council and thus entitled to the appellation "The Right Honourable". Membership of the Council is retained for life. It is a constitutional convention that only a Privy Counsellor can be appointed Prime Minister. Most potential candidates have already attained this status. The only occasion when a non-Privy Counsellor was the natural appointment was Ramsay MacDonald in 1924. The issue was resolved by appointing him to the Council immediately prior to his appointment as Prime Minister.

According to the now defunct Department for Constitutional Affairs, the Prime Minister is made a Privy Counsellor as a result of taking office and should be addressed by the official title prefixed by "The Right Honourable" and not by a personal name. Although this form of address is employed at formal occasions it is rarely used by the media. Since "Prime Minister" is a position, not a title, the incumbent should be referred to as "the Prime Minister". The title "Prime Minister" (e.g. "Prime Minister David Cameron") is technically incorrect but is sometimes used erroneously outside the United Kingdom, and has more recently become acceptable within it. Within the UK, the expression "Prime Minister Cameron" (or "Prime Minister Brown", etc.) is never used, although it, too, is sometimes used by foreign dignitaries and news sources.

While in office, the Prime Minister officially resides at 10 Downing Street in London and is also entitled to use the country house of Chequers in Buckinghamshire.

Upon retirement, it is customary for the Sovereign to grant a Prime Minister some honour or dignity. The honour commonly, but not invariably, bestowed is membership of the United Kingdom's most senior order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter. The practice of creating retired Prime Ministers Knights (or, in the case of Margaret Thatcher, Ladies) of the Garter has been fairly prevalent since the middle-19th century. On the retirement of a Prime Minister who is Scottish, it is likely that the primarily Scottish honour of the Order of the Thistle will be used instead of the Order of the Garter, which is generally regarded as an English honour.

It has also been common for Prime Ministers to be granted a peerage upon retirement from the Commons, which elevates the individual to the House of Lords. Formerly, the peerage bestowed was usually an earldom (which was always hereditary), with Churchill offered a dukedom. However, since the 1960s, hereditary peerages have generally been eschewed, and life peerages have been preferred, although in 1984 Harold Macmillan was created Earl of Stockton. Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher accepted life peerages, although Douglas-Home had previously disclaimed his hereditary title as Earl of Home. However, Edward Heath, John Major and Tony Blair did not accept peerages of any kind, although Mr. Heath and Mr. Major were later appointed as Knights of the Garter. As of 2012, Gordon Brown remains a Member of Parliament, retaining his Commons seat in the 2010 general election and choosing to remain a backbencher.