Britain has produced some of the world’s greatest political leaders—but it also has an extraordinary habit of breaking them.

This week on The Roger Retrospective, I explore why British prime ministers seem uniquely vulnerable whenever the economy turns against them. Beginning with Keir Starmer’s resignation, we journey through nearly two centuries of political drama to uncover a recurring pattern: governments don’t always fall because they lose elections—they often fall because they lose confidence.

From Sir Robert Peel and the Corn Laws to Ramsay MacDonald during the Great Depression, Harold Wilson’s sterling devaluation, Edward Heath’s Three-Day Week, James Callaghan’s humiliating IMF bailout, John Major’s Black Wednesday, David Cameron’s Brexit gamble, Liz Truss’s 44-day premiership, and finally Keir Starmer, Britain’s history is filled with leaders brought down when politics collided with economic reality.

Why does this happen so often in Britain? Is it the power of the City of London? The unforgiving nature of parliamentary government? Or is there something deeper about a nation that once ruled the world’s financial system?

Join me as we look beyond today’s headlines to discover why, in Britain, the numbers are never just numbers—and why the question “Who governs Britain?” has echoed through Westminster for generations.

Because history rarely repeats itself exactly… but it almost always rhymes.