On 3 April 1721 Robert Walpole was appointed First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. This was not the first time that he had occupied these roles, however it was from this point that he is generally regarded as becoming the first ever ‘Prime Minister’. The title was initially bestowed upon Walpole as an insult, used to criticise Walpole’s improper rise to a position higher than some members of the royal family.A similar charge had been levelled against Robert Harley during his impeachment trial in 1715, something in which Walpole himself had been closely involved. In fact, in 1741 Walpole told the Commons “I unequivocally deny that I am sole and prime minister” [W. Coxe, Memoirs of the Life and Administration of Sir Robert Walpole]. However, the title gradually…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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