Prime Minister of the United Kingdom retirement from the Commons, which elevates the individual to the House of Lords. Formerly, the peerage bestowed was usually an earldom, with Churchill offered a dukedom. From the 1960s onward, life peerages were preferred, although in 1984 Harold Macmillan was created Earl of Stockton. Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher accepted life peerages, although Douglas-Home had previously disclaimed his hereditary title as Earl of Home. Edward Heath did not accept a peerage of any kind and nor have any of the Prime Ministers to retire since 1990; although Heath and Major were later appointed as Knights
The Key (Yes, Prime Minister) restricted. During the Second Wilson Ministry, on occasions then Cabinet Secretary Sir John Hunt (whose tenure in office was an inspiration for the character of Sir Humphrey Appleby) was periodically refused immediate access to Downing Street by the Prime Minister's adviser Bernard Donoughue, who relished taunting Hunt, who was one of the more powerful cabinet secretaries, with this ability to refuse access. The Key (Yes, Prime Minister) “The Key” is the fourth episode of the BBC comedy series "Yes, Prime Minister" and was first broadcast 30 January 1986. Jim Hacker is in the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street and