British Prime Minister in 1996

Prime Minister
Biographical information
Blood status	Muggle
Nationality	British
Title(s)	Prime Minister
Physical information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Relationship information
Family members	Niece
Affiliation
Occupation	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Loyalty	British Muggle government Muggle world

Prime Minister: "But you're wizards! You can do magic! Surely you can sort out — well — anything!'"

Cornelius Fudge: "The trouble is, the other side can do magic too, Prime Minister."

— The Prime Minister and Cornelius Fudge

This Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, usually just referred to as the Prime Minister, led the United Kingdom during 1996.

Biography

Meeting with the 'Other Minister'

Cornelius Fudge: "The Minister for Magic only reveals him or herself to the Muggle Prime Minister of the day. We find it the best way to maintain secrecy."

Prime Minister: "But then, why hasn't a former Prime Minister warned me –?"

Cornelius Fudge: "My dear Prime Minister, are you ever going to tell anybody?"

— The Prime Minister and Cornelius Fudge

Before becoming Prime Minister, this man had a very hard and gruelling campaign. On the day he won the election in the early 1990s, he was greeted by the currently incumbent Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, who told him about the world of magic. The Muggle Minister was actually better at accepting this than his predecessor, who thought Fudge was an attempt to sabotage the Prime Minister's career, and tried to throw the wizard out the window. The Prime Minister then tried to pretend none of this had happened. Despite Fudge's claim that they would probably never meet again after the first introduction, circumstances, essentially all the Dark activities of the wizarding world, colluded to render this statement invalid, much to the Prime Minister's discomfort.

In 1993, Fudge met with the Prime Minister to inform him that Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. Since Black was convicted of murdering Peter Pettigrew and twelve Muggle bystanders on a London street, and was thus a severe threat to both communities, Fudge felt that it was important that the Muggle Prime Minister be informed. As such, the event of his meeting was recorded in the Daily Prophet. Subsequently, the Prime Minister put out a warning to the Muggle communities that Black was a known serial killer, but not specifically a wizard.

In 1994, Fudge met with the Prime Minister to discuss the events of the Quidditch World Cup, where several Muggles had been tortured by Death Eaters, but declared that everything was fine and was being dealt with (i.e. covered up). He also informed the Prime Minister that they would be bringing three dragons and a sphinx into the country, and as they were classified as highly dangerous creatures, it was in the rules that the Muggle Prime Minister had to be informed.

Second Wizarding War

The Daily Prophet reporting Scrimgeour's meeting with the Prime Minister

Early in 1996, Fudge met with the Minister to inform him of the mass breakout from Azkaban. Then, later in 1996, the Prime Minister was under pressure after the collapse of the Brockdale Bridge, an alleged hurricane that had devastated parts of the South-West of England, and two highly publicised murders one of which had taken place around the corner from 10 Downing Street. He was informed by Fudge (now former Minister for Magic) that Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters were responsible for these events, and introduced him to his own replacement as Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Scrimgeour told him that his Junior Minister, Herbert Chorley, had been put under a poorly cast Imperius Curse, which was the real reason he had been acting like a duck, and that he was being transferred to St Mungo's. Scrimgeour also informed him that his new secretary, Kingsley Shacklebolt, was actually a highly skilled Auror, placed there for his security.

Early in 1997, Scrimgeour met with the Prime Minister to inform him about the terror and all the deaths, including a Muggle family; this meeting was briefly mentioned in the Daily Prophet as an 'exclusive' story.

His fate following the Second Wizarding War is unknown.

Behind the scenes

• The Prime Minister is never named in the series, and may be intended to be a fictional character. Since the Harry Potter series is set mostly in the 1990s, the most likely real-life candidate would be Sir John Major, the Prime Minister of Britain from 1990 to 1997. However during the last half of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, there was a change of government in Britain and Tony Blair became Prime Minister, serving from 1997 to 2007. Additionally, Fudge refers to his predecessor as "he", when in real life, it would have been Margaret Thatcher.
• It is unknown if he ever met Pius Thicknesse, who briefly became Minister for Magic in 1997. It is highly unlikely, since Thicknesse was under the control of Lord Voldemort and likely would have not collaborated with the Prime Minister, let alone the fact that he was in control of the Muggle communities.
• Given that the Harry Potter series is fictional, it is entirely possible that this Prime Minister, and thus the previous Prime Minister as well, are none of the real life Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, but entirely fictional ones with different names and identities. As Britain had, up until that date, had but one female Prime Minister, the pronoun "she" would be rather conclusive as to their identity in the real-world.
• In an early draft of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, a Muggle minister called "Fudge" receives news from Rubeus Hagrid about the kidnappings of several wizarding families by Lord Voldemort. Through various editing developments, this "Fudge" character seems to have become this Prime Minister, as well as Hagrid being replaced by Cornelius Fudge, as well as this conversation occurring in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince instead.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (First mentioned)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Mentioned only)
• The Queen's Handbag (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault (Mentioned only)