Prime Factors - Ranking UK Prime Ministers

Larry the Cat (Prime Factors Anniversary Special)

All it took was a rat-sized metaphor scampering across the 10 Downing Street stoop to put David Cameron on the back foot politically. Fortunately, the UK has a long history of mousers in government.

Featuring Kess (from Prime Time) as our special guest host!

Please enjoy our special anniversary (and April Fools) edition of Prime Factors with some very real history about cats in the British government.

7.1 - George Grenville (Part 1)

George Grenville wanted to be a lawyer, but when his Uncle Cobham needed more MPs to form his "Cobham Cubs" to fight Robert Walpole, George dutifully entered parliament. With Pitt by their side, the family seemed unstoppable. But after decades playing second-fiddle, would George Grenville step out of his family's shadow and find his own path?

7.0 - Stamp Act Special

With victory in the Seven Years War came the spoils, in this case inconceivable debt and the need to increase the size of the military to defend Britain's new territory. George Grenville had a fantastic idea: let's tax the colonies! 

In this special mini episode (recorded at WCA-TV in Watertown, MA), we look at the hated Stamp Act and the start of the road to American independence.

6.2 - John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (Part 2)

With the ascension of George III, John Stuart found himself as the chief advisor to the king with a mandate to end the Seven Years' War and reduce government corruption. This is the story of how a Scottish botanist became the most hated man in England. 

6.1 - John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (Part 1)

Few things made John Stuart happier than the theater or collecting specimens on the banks of the Thames. Just as he was settling in to a quiet life, a chance meeting with Prince Frederick set the Earl of Bute on an unexpected collision course with British politics. 

UK Special #2 - James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave

With the collapse of the Newcastle and Devonshire governments amid failures in the Seven Years War, King George II needed a leader who could right the ship of state. Instead, he chose James Waldegrave, a man whose primary qualification was that he was the young Prince George's former babysitter. It went about as well as you'd expect. 

Featuring badly sung musical numbers including "Old Sarum-Gatton-Newtown-East Looe-Dunwich-Plympton Erle" (the Rotten Boroughs Song), "A Spoonful of Corruption", and more. 

5 - William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire

William Cavendish never wanted to be Prime Minister. But in 1756, Britain was in crisis: France was winning the Seven Years' War, the Newcastle government had collapsed, and George II was in a panic. He needed someone to hold the country steady until a more permanent government could be formed. That man was William Cavendish.

Recorded at the Pointe Hotel in Cavendish, Vermont.

4.2 - Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle (Part 2)

Thomas Pelham-Holles aimed for a quiet term as Prime Minister, hoping to reduce taxes, combat smuggling, and avoid major conflicts. But when a 22-year-old George Washington accidentally ignited the Seven Years War, Pelham-Holles quickly found himself in deeper trouble than he could have imagined.