Everyone knows that for a long time, the king or queen of Britain has been a vain king who has ruled but not ruled. The Prime Minister of the Cabinet is the military and political leader with real power. There have been many powerful prime ministers in British history. The most famous ones are probably the Churchill and the "Iron Lady" Mrs. Thatcher who led the victory of World War II. So who is the first prime minister in British history? Compared with George Washington, the first president of the United States, the first prime minister of the United Kingdom, the first prime minister of the United Kingdom, is much less well-known. The man is named Robert Walpole (Robert Walpole, 1676-1745). He has been in charge of the British government for more than 20 years and is regarded as the longest-term British prime minister in history. The world-famous British prime minister's residence - No. 10 Downing Street , which is the gift given to him by the king. Walpole had a huge impact on British history, but he was also a famous corrupt official, and his level of corruption and luxury was rare in British history.
Robert Waopol
Waopol's era is equivalent to Chinese Qing dynasty Kangxi , Yongzheng and Qianlong period, he was born in Norfolk, England, and was born in Norfolk, England. He was born in Norfolk, England. He entered the best middle school in the UK at the age of 14 - Eton College, ; he was admitted to King's College, Cambridge University at the age of 20; he became the family heir at the age of 22, and was rich; he married Catherine, the daughter of a wealthy businessman in London at the age of 24, and his wife brought him a large dowry, and he was even richer. Walpole has a flexible mind and excellent eloquence. After entering politics, he entered the lower house of parliament in 1701. He was highly valued and loved by a heavyweight British military and political giant. This giant was the ancestor of the Duke of Marlborough who defeated Louis XIV - the ancestor of Churchill, the World War II giant. From then on, Walpole's official career was successful and he developed all the way. In 1710, when he was 34 years old, he became the financial director of the British Navy.
Woopol is a British Whig. The Whigs are the predecessor of the British Liberal Party today. Just as he was in a state of water, the Tories, the British Conservative Party, was in power. Waopol began to be unlucky. He was detained for abuse of military spending, kicked out of parliament, removed all his official positions, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. In 1714, George I ascended the throne, Walpole became redeveloped, and the new king liked him in particular. He became the advisor of the Privy Council and soon became the Comptroller. After gaining power, Walpole began to use all kinds of tricks to curb political enemies. He was beaten by the two major leaders of the Tory Party - one was imprisoned in the Tower of London, the other was deprived of property and citizenship, and was forced to go into exile in France.
1720, a fraud case in the UK called " South China Sea Bubble " occurred: a business called "Nanhai Company" suddenly went bankrupt, and many shareholders went bankrupt collectively, becoming paupers overnight. The British finances instantly became a mess, and many ministers were involved in it and were ruined. The Whig government was about to end. At the critical moment, Walpole was appointed as the Chancellor of the Finance Department in 1721. He used superb means to deal with the storm, and his popularity soared and he became the most popular politician. George I trusted him extremely deeply. Walpole served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer for more than 20 years, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer was the most important position in the British cabinet at that time and was definitely a high position and a high position and a high position and a high position. Since George I lived in Germany since he was a child, his father was the German Hannover Elector, so he never understood English and was unwilling to learn, so he could not attend cabinet meetings frequently. Therefore, the Minister of Finance Walpole became the host of the cabinet, and some colleagues directly called him "Prime Minister" - Prime Minister. Although the "Prime Minister" had not yet become a formal position or title at that time, Walpole's rights and responsibilities were almost the same as those of the later British Prime Minister. After all, he was the actual head of the cabinet! Therefore, Walpole is regarded as the first prime minister in British history. The cabinet leader is the leader of the political party and the cabinet is responsible for the parliament. This tradition was created by the Walpole era.
South China Sea bubble
Walpole was in power for more than 20 years and has gone through two generations of kings, George I and George II. He tried his best to maintain the peace, stability and economic prosperity of Britain, and had almost never done anything powerful. Walpole was very dedicated to governing, but his corruption was also very famous.Although he was born into a noble family, his family had money and his annual income was extremely considerable, he was always insatiable. He was particularly immersed in food feasts, horse riding and hunting, and collecting art treasures. He worked in real estate and banking under his name, made money wildly, and built luxury houses with huge sums of money. The fountains and waterfalls inside were started with high-tech water conduits and mechanical devices, which was quite expensive. The gold, silver and gems in his house were also piled up. He also often uses his power for personal gain. He set up a secret activity fund to win over parliamentarians and buy voters. He arranged for his sons to have a good salary. His eldest son Robert and his second son Edward both had a good annual salary, and his younger son Horace could receive high annual salary from the Ministry of Finance as a child. As the saying goes, the upward movement is effective. Due to Walpole's "good role model", there were many corrupt officials in Britain at that time, and the seats of MPs in some constituencies were clearly marked! Walpole is also very good at flattering and often praises Queen Caroline in a scattered manner, saying that without the queen's guidance, he himself is nothing, and that his suggestions were adopted by the king, which was all the contributions of the queen. When the queen attended his family banquet, he stood beside him and served respectfully, which was as good as the eunuchs of the Qing Dynasty in China in the same era!
Although Walpole has corrupt and countless money, he lives too luxuriously. No matter how much money he has, he feels that he is not enough to spend. As a result, he is unable to make ends meet and has left a large amount of debt when he died! His grandson was even more unrestrained and continued his grandfather's prodigal style, which made him unable to survive. He had to sell the hidden paintings in his grandfather's hand to the Russian Queen Yekaterina. By the way, the hidden paintings in Walpole's hand are not ordinary cows. The works include Titian, Raphael's, Rubens's, Holbein's... These are all super masters in the Western art world!
1742, the first prime minister in British history was disgraced for his inaction in the war of inheriting the throne and finally stepped down from the state. However, King George II still liked him very much and named him the earl, and from then on he lived a seclusion. He died of illness on March 18, 1745 at the age of 69. During his lifetime, George II gave him a mansion, but he refused to accept it, and instead suggested that the mansion be used as a workplace for the top leader of the cabinet, which is the famous No. 10 Downing Street. From then on, this place has become the center of British politics.
No. 10 Downing Street
How should I evaluate Walpole? Some people say that he has no ambitions and no outstanding achievements, and only knows how to play power. Some people say that he is diligent, firm, pragmatic and capable, while he commented on himself, "I am not a saint, nor a reformer." Objectively speaking, he is indeed not a great politician. In addition, the stain on corruption makes him unable to compare with great British prime ministers such as Napoleon's Wellington and Churchill who defeated Hitler. However, as the first prime minister of Britain, he has indeed made an indelible contribution to Britain's democratic system and economic prosperity.
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