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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[src]

Prime Minister is a title of office for a Muggle leader. The British Prime Minister was visited frequently by his wizard counterpart, the Minister for Magic, over affairs that would have an impact on the Muggle world, such as the escape of Sirius Black, the mass breakout from Azkaban, and the return of Lord Voldemort.

Biography

Rise to power and meeting with the "Other Minister"

When the Prime Minister rose to his position, he was greeted by the 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 happened. Despite Fudge's claim that they would probably never meet again after the first introduction, due to all the Dark activities of the wizarding world, this claim was contradicted, much to the Prime Minister's discomfort.

In 1993, Fudge met with the Prime Minister to inform him of the escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban. Due to the fact that Black was convicted of murdering 12 muggles along with Pettigrew, Fudge felt that it was important that the Muggle Prime Minister be informed.

In 1994, Fudge met with the Prime Minster to discuss the events of the Quidditch World Cup, where several muggles had been tortured by Death Eater's, but that everything was fine and was being covered up. He also informed the Prime Minister that they would be bringing 4 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.

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, a hurricane that had devastated parts of the South-West of England, and two highly publicized murders one of which had taken place around the corner from 10 Downing Street. He was informed by the former Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge that Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters were responsible for these events. They also 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. Fudge also informed him that his new secretary, Kingsley Shacklebolt, was a highly skilled Auror, and introduced him to the new Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour.

The enchanted portrait

This is placed on the wall in Prime Minister's office. Its purpose is to inform the Prime Minister of the imminent arrival of the Minister for Magic. It is described as being an ugly man who occasionally yawns or scratches his nose. Muggles have tried and failed to remove it from the wall. Among the various people who have tried were:

It is possible that the portrait was affixed to the wall with a Permanent Sticking Charm which would explain why all attempts to remove it have failed.

Later life

It is most likely that he survived the Second Wizarding War and remained Prime Minister.

Behind the scenes

  • The Prime Minister is never named in the series, but since the Harry Potter series is set mostly in the 1990's he is most likely Sir John Major, the Prime Minister of Britain from 1990-1997. 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 1997-2007.
  • If that is the case, then Margaret Thatcher would have been Prime Minister when Cornelius Fudge was nearly thrown out the window. However, Margaret Thatcher had been Prime Minister for eleven years by the time Fudge became Minister for Magic, and wouldn't be as likely to become enraged as she would have met at least two other Ministers for Magic during her time in office. Additionally, Fudge refers to the Prime Minister's predecessor as he, which (probably) rules out Thatcher.
  • It is possible that Cornelius Fudge lied to the Prime Minister when he described his predecessor's attitude, as an attempt to restore some of the Prime Minister's confidence. Fudge may have been unaware that the predecessor was female, since he only became Minister for Magic the year Sir John Major became Prime Minister.
  • 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 Great Britain, but entirely fictional ones with different names and identities.

Appearances

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