Current longest serving G7 leader[edit]

Angela Merkel is the senior G7 leader, a title she kept from 2011 until 2012, regaining
seniority in 2014 upon Russia's expulsion from the G8. Merkel has been in office since
22 November 2005.
After Merkel in seniority is the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, who has
served as Prime Minister since 6 February 2006 and the President of the United
States Barack Obama, who assumed office on 20 January 2009, the Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom David Cameron, who assumed office on 11 May 2010, the President of
FranceFranois Hollande, who took office 15 May 2012, the Prime Minister of
Japan Shinz Abe, who took office on 26 December 2012, and the last is Prime Minister
of Italy Matteo Renzi, who took office on 22 February 2014.
The following is a chronology of senior G7 leaders from the founding of the G6 (a
precursor organization to the G8) to the present.[1]
Entered office Began time
as
as
Head of State senior G8
or Government
leader

Ended time
as
senior G8
leader

Person

Office

16 October
1964[2]

15
November
1975

Prime
Minister of
5 April 1976 Harold Wilson the United Kingdom

16 May 1974

5 April 1976 27 June 1976

Helmut
Schmidt

Chancellor
Germany

of West

20 April 1968

27 June
1976[3]

4 June 1979

Pierre Trudeau

Prime
Canada

Minister of

16 May 1974

4 June 1979

1 October
1982

Helmut
Schmidt

Chancellor
Germany

of West

4 May 1979

1 October
1982

28 November Margaret
1990
Thatcher

10 May 1981

28
November
1990

17 May 1995

Franois
Mitterrand

1 October 1982

17 May
1995

27 October
1998

Helmut Kohl

10 July 1991

27 October
1998

31 December
Boris Yeltsin
1999

20 January
1993

31
December
1999

20 January
2001

Bill Clinton

Prime
Minister of
the United Kingdom
President

of France

Chancellor

of Germany

President

of Russia

President
of the
United States

4 November
1993

20 January
2001

12 December
Jean Chrtien
2003

17 May 1995

12
December
2003

16 May 2007 Jacques Chirac

2 May 1997

16 May
2007

27 June 2007 Tony Blair

31 December
1999

27 June
2007

7 May 2008

Vladimir Putin

20 January
2001

7 May 2008

20 January
2009

George W.
Bush

10 May
1994[4]

20 January
2009

16 November Silvio
2011
Berlusconi

22 November
2005

16
November
2011

7 May 2012

Angela Merkel

31 December
1999[5]

7 May 2012

24 March
2014

Vladimir Putin

22 November
2005

24 March
2014

Incumbent

Angela Merkel

Prime
Canada

Minister of

President

of France

Prime
Minister of
the United Kingdom
President

of Russia

President
of the
United States
Prime
Italy

Minister of

Chancellor

of Germany

President

of Russia

Chancellor

of Germany

G7 tenure[edit]

The longest period anyone has been the senior G7 leader is the eight years, 59
days of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher, who was
Prime Minister for eleven years. Overall, the period of almost 3000 days that
Thatcher spent as senior G8 leader is longer than the combined number of days
spent by the leaders of any single other country as senior G8 leader.
The shortest period any past G7 leader has been the senior G7 leader is the 42
days of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair in 2007.
Despite the fact that Japan was a founding member of the G6 (which later became
the G7, and then the G8), no Japanese Prime Minister has ever become the Senior
G7 Leader. No Prime Minister of Japan has ever held office for more than five
years, four months since the founding of the G6.
Except for Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Wilson, the first person
to be Senior G7 Leader, no past Senior G7 Leader has held office for less than
eight years.

Notes[edit]

1. Jump up^ Canada did not join the organization until 1976 while Russia did not
join until 1997. Therefore, Canadian leaders prior to 1976 and Russian leaders
before 1997 are not included in this list.
2. Jump up^ Wilson first served as Prime Minister from 16 October 1964 to 19
June 1970, and then again from 4 March 1974 to 5 April 1976.
3. Jump up^ Canada joined the organization on this date. Trudeau had been in
office longer than any of the other leaders and so took the title of senior G8 leader
from Schmidt.
4. Jump up^ Berlusconi first served as Prime Minister from 10 May 1994 to 17
January 1995, then again from 11 June 2001 to 17 May 2006, and then again from
8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011. Berlusconi currently holds the record of G8
Summit hosting, having hosted it in Italy three times.
5. Jump up^ Putin first served as President of Russia from 1999 to 2008