1768 - 1782

Frederick North, Lord North (1732-1792) made his name in the House of Commons through the leading role he took in the condemnation and expulsion from the House of Commons of the radical John Wilkes in 1763-65. On Charles Townshend's death Pitt appointed him Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he shortly established himself as the Leader of the House. His struggle against Wilkes's continued efforts to get back into the Commons won him the admiration of George III, and on the resignation of the Duke of Grafton as premier in 1770, the King appointed him in his place. His premiership was overshadowed by the American revolution: as the war in America went badly, North pleaded with the King to be allowed to give up his office; when he finally resigned in 1782, the King took it as a personal betrayal. He returned to office, briefly in 1783-84, in coalition with his old opponent Charles James Fox; but the King quickly engineered the collapse of the odd partnership, and its replacement by the rising star, William Pit the younger.