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
Prime minister-designate 1996 and 2001 (when direct prime-ministerial elections were held) the role and duration of the Prime Minister-elect was prescribed by legislation: within 45 days of the publication of the election results (which were published eight days after elections) the Prime Minister-elect would have appeared before the Knesset, presented the Ministers of the Government, announced the division of tasks and the guiding principles of the government's policies, and, after receiving a vote of confidence, enter into office. In 2001, the Knesset voted to change the system of direct prime-ministerial elections and restore the one-vote parliamentary system of government that operated until