Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)

Those asterisked ( * ) were considered the overall leader of the party.

• Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington 1834–1846
• Edward Smith-Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley (14th Earl of Derby from 1851) 1846–1868 *
• James Howard Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury 1868–1869
• Hugh Cairns, 1st Baron Cairns 1869–1870
• Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond 1870–1876
• Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield 1876–1881 *
• Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury 1881–1902 (* from 1885)
• Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire 1902–1903
• Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne 1903–1916
• George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Earl Curzon of Kedleston (1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston from 1921) 1916–1925
• James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury 1925–1931
• Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham 1931–1935
• Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry 1935
• E. F. L. Wood, 3rd Viscount Halifax 1935–1938
• James Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope 1938–1940
• Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote 1940
• E. F. L. Wood, 3rd Viscount Halifax 1940
• George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd 1940–1941
• Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne 1941–1942
• Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne (5th Marquess of Salisbury from 1947) 1942–1957
• Alec Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home 1957–1960
• Quintin Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham 1960–1963
• Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington 1963–1970
• George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe 1970–1973
• David Hennessy, 3rd Baron Windlesham 1973–1974
• Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington 1974–1979
• Christopher Soames, Baron Soames 1979–1981
• Janet Young, Baroness Young 1981–1983
• William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw 1983–1988
• John Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead 1988–1990
• David Waddington, Baron Waddington 1990–1992
• John Wakeham, Baron Wakeham 1992–1994
• Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne 1994–1998
• Thomas Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde 1998–

• Sir Robert Peel 1834–1846 *
• Lord George Bentinck 1846–1847
• Charles Manners, Marquess of Granby 1848
• None 1848–1849
• Jointly Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Manners, Marquess of Granby and John Charles Herries 1849–1852
• Benjamin Disraeli 1852–1876 (* from 1868)
• Sir Stafford Northcote 1876–1885
• Sir Michael Hicks Beach 1885–1886
• Lord Randolph Churchill 1886–1887
• William Henry Smith 1887–1891
• Arthur James Balfour 1891–1906 (* from 1902)
• Joseph Chamberlain 1906
• Arthur James Balfour 1906–1911 *
• Andrew Bonar Law 1911–1921 (* from 1916)
• Austen Chamberlain 1921–1922

Date in brackets shows when each person became leader.

• 
  Andrew Bonar Law (23 October 1922)
• 
  Stanley Baldwin (22 May 1923)
• 
  Winston Churchill (9 October 1940)
• 
  Anthony Eden (7 April 1955)
• 
  Harold Macmillan (10 January 1957)
• 
  Alec Douglas-Home (19 October 1963)
• 
  Edward Heath (27 July 1965)
• 
  Margaret Thatcher (11 February 1975)
• 
  John Major (27 November 1990)
• 
  William Hague (19 June 1997)
• 
  Iain Duncan Smith (13 September 2001)
• 
  Michael Howard (6 November 2003)
• 
  David Cameron (6 December 2005)
• 
  Theresa May (11 July 2016)
• 
  Boris Johnson (23 July 2019)
• 
  Elizabeth Truss (5 September 2022)
• 
  Rishi Sunak (24 October 2022)