Main article: Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Dominic Raab was the First Secretary of State from 2019 to 2021. He deputised for Boris Johnson when he was ill with COVID-19 in April 2020. Penny Mordaunt pulls out of Tory leadership race, paving way for Rishi Sunak to become next PM". Sky News . Retrieved 24 October 2022. Throughout the United Kingdom, the prime minister outranks all other dignitaries except members of the royal family, the lord chancellor, and senior ecclesiastical figures. [n 3]

Power and decision-making in the UK". BBC Bitesize . Retrieved 13 March 2021. The PM has several roles including:... representing the UK at home and abroad There is no single protocol setting out all of the possible implications. However, the general constitutional position is as set out below. There can be no automatic assumption about who The Queen would ask to act as caretaker Prime Minister in the event of the death of the Prime Minister. The decision is for her under the Royal Prerogative. However, there are some key guiding principles. The Queen would probably be looking for a very senior member of the Government (not necessarily a Commons Minister since this would be a short-term appointment). If there was a recognised deputy to the Prime Minister, used to acting on his behalf in his absences, this could be an important factor. Also important would be the question of who was likely to be in contention to take over long-term as Prime Minister. If the most senior member of the Government was him or herself a contender for the role of Prime Minister, it might be that The Queen would invite a slightly less senior non-contender. In these circumstances, her private secretary would probably take soundings, via the Cabinet Secretary, of members of the Cabinet, to ensure that The Queen invited someone who would be acceptable to the Cabinet to act as their chair during the caretaker period. Once the Party had elected a new leader, that person would, of course, be invited to take over as Prime Minister. Public Administration Select Committee. "Taming the Prerogative: Strengthening Ministerial Accountability to Parliament. Fourth Report of Session 2003–04" (PDF). Parliament of the United Kingdom. p.4.

Barnett, Hilaire (2009). Constitutional & Administrative Law (7thed.). Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge-Cavendish. The prime minister is the head of the United Kingdom government. [9] As such, the modern prime minister leads the Cabinet (the Executive). In addition, the prime minister leads a major political party and generally commands a majority in the House of Commons (the lower chamber of Parliament). The incumbent wields both significant legislative and executive powers. Under the British system, there is a unity of powers rather than separation. [10] The office of prime minister is not established by any statute or constitutional document, but exists only by long-established convention, whereby the monarch appoints as prime minister the person most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons. [3] In practice, this is the leader of the political party that holds the largest number of seats in the Commons. A prime minister ends their tenure by offering their resignation to the British monarch. [37] This can happen after their party has suffered a general election defeat, so that they no longer command the confidence of the House of Commons. It can also happen mid-term, if they are forced to resign for political reasons, [38] or for other reasons such as ill-health. [39] If the prime minister resigns mid-term, and their party has a majority in the Commons, the party selects a new leader according to its rules, and this new leader is invited by the monarch to become the new prime minister. The outgoing prime minister is likely to remain in post until the new leader has been chosen by the party. After resigning, the outgoing prime minister remains a Member of Parliament. An outgoing prime minister can ask the monarch to bestow honours on any number of people of their choosing, known as the Prime Minister's Resignation Honours. No incumbent prime minister has ever lost their own seat at a general election. [40] Only one prime minister has been assassinated: Spencer Perceval, in 1812.

During the history of the modern office, five men have served as Prime Minister in both the House of Commons and House of Lords; four moved from serving in the Commons to accept a peerage, while the fifth disclaimed his peerage after his appointment and contested a by-election to become an MPIn the UK, Prime Day last happened on 15 July 2023, and there currently aren’t any announcements for when we might expect Prime Day in 2024. What the Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street does". gov.uk . Retrieved 20 February 2021. The office helps the Prime Minister to establish and deliver the government's overall strategy and policy priorities, and to communicate the government's policies to Parliament, the public and international audiences.

Langer, Ana Inés (2007). "A historical exploration of the personalisation of politics in the print media: The British Prime Ministers (1945–1999)". Parliamentary Affairs. 60 (3): 371–387. doi: 10.1093/pa/gsm028. His Majesty the King [Her Majesty the Queen] has asked me to form a government and I have accepted. [41] On 6 April 2020, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted into ICU, he asked First Secretary of State Dominic Raab "to deputise for him where necessary". [36] Resignation Prime Minister Liz Truss announces her resignation outside 10 Downing Street, 20 October 2022Strangio, Paul; Hart, Paul 't; Walter, James (2013). Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199666423.