Starmer most popular PM - in Toby Jug sales

Sir Keir Starmer may have had a tough year in office, but in one key measure he is top of the shop: the Toby Jug in his likeness outsold all other prime ministers in 2025.

The Houses of Parliament gift shop sells 11cm-tall jugs of the last 22 prime ministers, from Conservative Andrew Bonar Law onwards. They cost £35 each.

The sales figures give an insight into the enduring popularity of some politicians over others.

In 2025, the Starmer jug sold most, at 116, including 32 to his colleagues in parliament and further 84 online.

Boris Johnson came second selling 48, Winston Churchill 46 and Margaret Thatcher 46.

Figures released to 5 Live for the last five years show that Boris Johnson is consistently the most popular pottery PM, chalking up 425 sales, followed by his political idol Sir Winston Churchill with 305 and Lady Thatcher on 279.

Andrew Gimson, author of "Gimson's Heroes: Brief Lives from Boudicca to Churchill", told 5 Live he was not surprised that Johnson was top of the pots.

"What this reminds us is that he cheers people up, and he still has that ability to tease the establishment, to do what the establishment doesn't want, and to make jokes at moments when other people are being pious and solemn and dreary."

The top 10 is completed by Sir Tony Blair with 160, Liz Truss on 154, Labour's post-war PM Clement Attlee on 123, Harold Wilson on 119, Starmer in eighth spot on 116, then his predecessor Rishi Sunak on 106, and Theresa May on 99.

The least popular PM over the past five years was Sir Alec Douglas-Home, a Conservative who only served as prime minister for 363 days from 1963-64, when he lost the election to Wilson's Labour, who won a four-seat majority.

Sir Alec sold just 25 jugs in the period 2020-25, including just two last year.

Gimson believes Sir Alec would take the lack of sales well.

"He was a man of quite delightful modesty. And after he'd been prime minister, he was one day on the train to Berwick. And two old ladies said to him, 'we think it's a very great pity that you were never prime minister'.

"To which he replied, 'well, as a matter of fact, I was prime minister! But only for a very short time'. A very sweet reply."

Bonar Law, the earliest PM available, has sold 29, Stanley Baldwin 34, Ramsay Macdonald 38, Anthony Eden 43, Neville Chamberlain 48, James Callaghan 50, Edward Heath 55, David Cameron 72, Harold Macmillan 73, Gordon Brown 91 and John Major 95.

Truss's position at fifth in the table belies her record as the shortest serving prime minister.

Longevity and electoral success do not necessarily lead to interest from collectors. Brown beats Cameron, in a reversal of the 2010 general election.

Gimson added: "It tells us that Cameron, though an astonishingly skillful politician, never formed an emotional connection with the British people, and people want to buy things which actually move them.

"And he didn't move people, he had many other admirable qualities, but connecting with the wider public, hopeless."

Ann Thorpe, an auctioneer at Dartmoor Auctions, said: "I think you do sometimes get ironic buys, you know, and things like people's secret Santa presents and that kind of thing."

The jugs are handmade and hand painted by potters at Bairstow Manor in Stoke-on-Trent.

The firm is run by Roger Bairstow, who told me: "I was a big fan of Winston Churchill, so I did many, many figurines and jugs of Winston Churchill, which we used to sell to Blenheim Palace and various other places."

From there "it just gradually evolved into the prime ministers", he added, with the first one being Tony Blair in 1997.

It will be interesting to see if the jugs retain their value in the future and become collectors items. The sales of figures like Truss suggest there might be different motivations for purchases.

Ann Thorpe, an auctioneer at Dartmoor Auctions, said "I think you do sometimes get ironic buys. Things like people's secret Santa presents and that kind of thing."