I often try to think of topical bases as ideas for these cards, and 2022 stood out as the Year of Multiple Prime Minsters!
This year’s card uses the periods of office of United Kingdom Prime Ministers to represent those Prime Ministers and thereby the initial letters of their surname or peerage title. For example, 2016–2019 are the years of the premiership of Theresa May, and consequently represent the initial letter M of her surname.
The code could unfortunately not be complete, as I could not find prime ministers with initial letters I, K, or Y. O was also a problem, and looking through First Ministers of Wales and Scotland did not help. There were a couple of Os amongst the deputy First Ministers of Northern Ireland, but in the event I went with a Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from the period between 1921 and 1972, when Northern Ireland had its own government and Prime Minister.
Some Prime Ministers were peers with surname and peerage title that were sometimes different. I tried to pick the name by which they were generally known, but I may have been slightly arbitrary to help the code along. I managed to include the first-ever Prime Minister (though not known by that title at the time, it seems) as well as one that happened to be MP for my home town of Northampton. But with no call for a J, I could not include one of the three Prime Ministers that made 2022 so unusual.
It is perhaps worth mentioning that my use of “Tory” to describe some Prime Ministers is not as a derogatory term for the Conservative party, but the proper name of its predecessor party, dissolved in 1834.
It played no part in the code, but it is interesting how many Prime Ministers used a given name that wasn’t their first. Apart from the four examples included, there were also (Andrew) Bonar Law, (James) Ramsay MacDonald, (Arthur) Neville Chamberlain, (Maurice) Harold Macmillan, (Leonard) James “Jim” Callaghan, and (Alexander) Boris Johnson.
There was no way to represent digits in this code, nor the Xs required for the date in Roman numerals, so I again had to resort to “the new year” in the text.
Front page
This translates as:
|
1970–1974 |
|
Edward Heath, Conservative MP for Bexley |
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1945–1951 |
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Clement Attlee, Labour MP for Limehouse |
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1809–1812 |
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Spencer Perceval, Tory MP for Northampton, the only British prime minister to be assassinated |
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1841–1846 |
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Robert Peel, Conservative MP for Tamworth, known for founding the Metropolitan Police Service (in his first term) |
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Why no Y? |
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Y |
|
|
|
|
|
2010–2016 |
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David Cameron, Conservative MP for Witney |
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1970–1974 |
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Edward Heath |
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1894–1895 |
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Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, Liberal peer |
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No I? Aye. |
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I |
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2022– |
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Rishi Sunak, Conservative MP for Richmond, Yorkshire |
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2022 |
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(Mary) Elizabeth “Liz” Truss, Conservative MP for South West Norfolk, famous as the shortest-serving prime minister |
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2016–2019 |
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Theresa May (Lady May), Conservative MP for Maidenhead |
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1908–1916 |
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Herbert Henry “H.H.” Asquith, Liberal MP for East Fife, the last Liberal prime minister to command a majority government |
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1885–1886 |
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Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative peer (in his first term) |
And thus:
HAPPY CHRISTMAS
Inside page
This translates as:
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1801–1804 |
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Henry Addington, Tory MP for Devizes |
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1770–1782 |
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Frederick North, known by his courtesy title of Lord North, Tory MP for Banbury |
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1874–1880 |
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Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative MP for Buckinghamshire (in his second term) |
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|
|
|
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1935–1937 |
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Stanley Baldwin, Conservative MP for Bewdley (in his third term) |
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1955–1957 |
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(Robert) Anthony Eden, Conservative MP for Warwick and Leamington |
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1886–1892 |
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Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (in his second term) |
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1979–1990 |
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Margaret Thatcher, Conservative MP for Finchley, the first female UK Prime Minister |
|
|
|
|
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1964–1970 |
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(James) Harold Wilson, Labour MP for Huyton (in his first term) |
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Still no I? Aye aye. |
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I |
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1782–1783 |
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William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Whig peer |
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1970–1974 |
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Edward Heath |
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1955–1957 |
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(Robert) Anthony Eden |
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1895–1902 |
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Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (in his third term) |
|
|
|
|
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1768–1770 |
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Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, Whig peer |
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1963–1969 |
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Terence O’Neill, Ulster Unionist MP for Bannside, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland |
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1894–1895 |
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Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery |
|
|
|
|
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1979–1990 |
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Margaret Thatcher |
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1970–1974 |
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Edward Heath |
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1955–1957 |
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(Robert) Anthony Eden |
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|
|
|
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1757–1762 |
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Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Whig peer (in his second term) |
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1955–1957 |
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(Robert) Anthony Eden |
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1721–1742 |
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Robert Walpole, Whig MP for King’s Lynn and de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain |
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|
|
|
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No Y? Why, oh why? |
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Y |
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1955–1957 |
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(Robert) Anthony Eden |
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1852–1855 |
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George Hamilton Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Peelite peer |
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1846–1852 |
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John Russell, known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell, Whig MP for City of London (in his first term) |
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|
|
|
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1768–1770 |
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Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton |
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1765–1766 |
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Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Whig peer (in his first term) |
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1963–1969 |
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Terence O’Neill |
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1990–1997 |
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John Major, Conservative MP for Huntingdon |
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|
|
|
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1997–2007 |
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Anthony “Tony” Blair, Labour MP for Sedgefield |
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1782 |
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Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (in his second term) |
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Eye an I? No I. |
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I |
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1908–1916 |
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Herbert Henry (“H.H.”) Asquith |
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1770–1782 |
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Frederick North, known by his courtesy title of Lord North |
|
|
|
|
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2007–2010 |
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(James) Gordon Brown, Labour MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath |
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1945–1951 |
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Clement Attlee |
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1846–1852 |
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John Russell, known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell (in his first term) |
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No K? OK! |
|
K |
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1955–1957 |
|
(Robert) Anthony Eden |
|
1865–1866 |
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John Russell, known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell (in his second term) |
And thus:
AND BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR FROM BRIAN BARKER
Version 3: Revised 21 December 2022
Brian Barker