List of successful votes of no confidence in British governments information
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This is a list of successful votes of no confidence in British governments led by prime ministers of the former Kingdom of Great Britain and the current United Kingdom. The first such motion of no confidence to defeat a ministry was in 1742 against Robert Walpole, a Whig who served from 1721 to 1742 and was the de facto first prime minister to hold office. Thereafter there have been 21 votes of confidence successfully motioned against British governments. The most recent was held against the Callaghan ministry in March 1979. Following the defeat, Prime Minister James Callaghan was forced to hold a general election by May; he was defeated by Margaret Thatcher of the Conservative Party.
Before the vote in 1979, the most recent vote of no confidence in a British government was in 1924, the longest interval in British parliamentary history.
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