"I am called repeatedly and insidiously prime and sole minister"

Robert Walpole’s statement, “I am called repeatedly and insidiously prime and sole minister,” reveals the tension and ambivalence surrounding his unprecedented position in early eighteenth-century British politics. Walpole, often regarded as Britain’s first de facto prime minister, navigated a political landscape where the term itself was both new and laden with suspicion. The word “repeatedly” suggests that he was often labeled as the government’s chief figure, yet the addition of “insidiously” provides insight into how this designation was offered not only persistently but with an undercurrent of hostility, perhaps even malice or accusation.

Walpole’s use of “insidiously” signals that the title was thrust upon him with the implication of threat or illegitimacy, colleagues and opponents alike may have used “prime and sole minister” as a veiled criticism. In a system that traditionally celebrated collective ministerial responsibility and the King’s prerogative, concentrating power in the hands of a single individual seemed dangerous and even un-British to some. The phrase “sole minister” accentuates the sense of isolation or exceptional singularity in his role, casting him outside the standard constitutional norm. It hints at allegations that he had become the locus of executive authority, perhaps undermining the collaborative or consultative precedent of governance shared among the monarch’s ministers.

This language also reflects a wider anxiety in society about the dangers of centralized power. Memories of monarchical arrogance, abuses of ministerial power, and the struggles of previous decades loomed large. By addressing how he was “called” prime and sole minister, Walpole frames the label as externally imposed, not assumed, as if to defend his legitimacy and necessity in a period of political instability. He subtly distinguishes his reality and intentions from the public or Parliamentary narrative that threatened to vilify him. Walpole’s remarks become not just a personal lament but an emblem of the evolving, and contested, office of the premier in British governance.