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
Acting prime minister Minister on 16 separate occasions. The term "acting Prime Minister" is sometimes also applied to someone who is temporarily appointed Prime Minister following a death in office (more commonly called a "caretaker Prime Minister" or an "interim Prime Minister"). Examples include Frank Forde (seven days following John Curtin's death), Earle Page (19 days following Joseph Lyons' death), and John McEwen (22 days following Harold Holt's disappearance). Unlike those who merely acted in the absence of a Prime Minister, Forde, Lyons, Page and McEwen were officially commissioned by the Governor General and took the oath of office; they are considered Prime