William Pitt the Younger however, was comfortable with Shelburne, and thus joined his government; he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. Fox, who became Pitt's lifelong political rival, then joined a coalition with Lord North, with whom he collaborated to bring about the defeat of the Shelburne administration. When Lord Shelburne resigned in 1783, King George III, who despised Fox, offered to appoint Pitt to the office of prime minister. But Pitt wisely declined, for he knew he would be incapable of securing the support of the House of Commons. The Fox–North coalition rose to power in a government nominally headed by William Cavendish-Bentinck,
William Pitt Byrne William Pitt Byrne William Pitt Byrne (c. 1806 – 6 or 8 April 1861) was a British newspaper editor and proprietor of "The Morning Post". He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge with a BA and M.A.. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1835 and called to the bar in 1839 but never practised law. His father Nicholas Byrne was his predecessor as editor and proprietor of the "Morning Post", about whom there is little biographical information in the historical record. Nicholas Byrne took a strongly pro-Conservative editorial stance, and his son was named after William Pitt the Younger.