Rishi Sunak is one of six prime ministers since 1900 to have taken office before they were 50
(Picture: Leon Neal/PA Wire)Rishi Sunak is the youngest UK prime minister in modern political history at the age of 42.
The former record holder is David Cameron, who was 43 when he took on the job in 2010. In 1997, Tony Blair was also 43 when he became prime minister but was a few months older than Mr Cameron was when he began in the job.
Only three other prime ministers since 1900 have taken office below the age of 50: Liz Truss, who is 47, John Major, who was 47 in 1990, and Harold Wilson, who was 48 in 1964.
Despite being the youngest prime minister since the 1900s, Sunak won’t be the youngest ever person to hold the office. The Tory statesman Lord Liverpool had only just turned 42 when he took the job in 1812, which is the same age as Mr Sunak, but a few months younger.
As his name suggests, William Pitt the Younger was famous for his youthfulness and was just 24 when he first became PM in 1783.
Mr Sunak’s appointment as prime minister represents a number of milestones: he has made history in terms of ethnicity, being the first-ever non-white prime minister of the United Kingdom.
He’s also the second Conservative prime minister representing a constituency in the north of England, the first being Arthur Balfour, who was an MP for Manchester East while he served as PM from 1902 to 1905, reported Yahoo.
But, who are the youngest prime ministers in recent UK history?
Who are the youngest prime ministers since 1900?
- Rishi Sunak – 42 years old (2022)
- David Cameron – 43 years old (2010)
- Tony Blair – 43 years old (1997)
- Liz Truss – 47 years old (2022)
- John Major – 47 years old (1990)
- Harold Wilson – 48 years old (1964)
- Margaret Thatcher – 53 years old (1979)
- David Lloyd George – 53 years old (1916)
