Welcome to Prime Factors where we review each UK Prime Minister from Robert Walpole to Keir Starmer. We discuss their biography, highs and lows, and then rate them on a scale designed by a 10-year old before awarding the ultimate prize: Are they ”Known” or an ”Ice Cream Cone”? Some dads build a treehouse with their kid. We’re doing a history podcast.
In our podcast, most of our Prime Ministers came from well-established families. To keep track of how much of a leg up they get in politics, we have a point system entitled "Silver Spoons". The calculation is based on a sum of points (awarded for things like being a member of parliament, having a military rank, etc.) per each major relative as of the day the person is born. We define major relatives as siblings, aunts and uncles, parents, grandparents, and each "blue linked" great grandfather down the line.
Our currently awarded silver spoon points:
| Name | Silver Spoons |
| Robert Walpole | 5 |
| Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington | 35 |
| Henry Pelham | 24.5 |
| William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath | 4.5 |
| Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle | 23 |
| William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire | 36 |
| James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave | 4 |
| John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute | 27.9 |
| George Grenville | 7 |
| Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham | 27 |
| William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham | 9.6 |