ABSTRACT
Bute, the first Scotsman to head the Treasury, has an unenviable reputation as perhaps the most unpopular British prime minister of all time. Although Bute was elected a Scottish representative peer in April 1737, he attended the House only occasionally and evidently took no part in the debates. From the outset Bute’s rapid elevation created confusion, strife and misunderstandings not warranted by the actual train of events. This conclusion has been substantiated by work on the Anglo-French negotiations for peace during the summer of 1761, demonstrating that Bute, not Pitt, was primarily responsible for devising the proposals submitted to France and maintaining the political unity that made effective deliberation possible. Despite its intense unpopularity Bute ably defended the Bill in the Lords and it received royal approval on 1 April 1763. Bute’s tenure as prime minister was brief, unhappy and turbulent, but not without success.
