Pitt, at the age of 24, became Great Britain's youngest Prime Minister ever and was ridiculed for his youth. A popular MP commented that it was "a sight to make all nations stand and stare: a kingdom trusted to a schoolboy's care" this shows that many thought that it would never work by having Pitt as PM and that he would make a mockery of the nation. Many saw it simply as a stop-gap appointment until some more senior statesman took on the role. However, although it was widely predicted that the new "mince-pie administration" would not last out the Christmas season, it survived for seventeen years.
So as to reduce the power of the Opposition, Pitt offered Charles James Fox and his allies’ posts in the Cabinet; Pitt's refusal to include Lord North, however, killed his efforts. The new Government was immediately on the back foot as there was severe debt and economic crisis and in January 1784 was defeated on a motion of no confidence. Pitt, however, took the unprecedented step of refusing to resign, despite this defeat. He retained the support of the King, who would not entrust the reins of power to the Fox-North Coalition. He also received the support of the House of Lords, which passed supportive motions, and many messages of support from the country at large, in the form of petitions approving of his appointment which influenced some Members to switch their support to Pitt. At the same time, he was granted the Freedom of the City of London. When he returned from the ceremony to mark this, men of the City pulled Pitt's coach home themselves, as a sign of respect. When passing a Whig club, the coach came under attack from a group of men who tried to assault Pitt. When news of this spread, it was assumed Fox and his associates had tried to bring down Pitt by any means possible this was regarded as dirty play by the fellow Pittites.
Pitt gained great popularity with the public at large and was nicknamed Honest and who was seen as a refreshing change from the dishonesty, corruption and lack of principles widely associated with both Fox and North. Despite a series of defeats in the House of Commons, Pitt confidently remained in office, watching the Coalition's majority shrink lower and lower as some Members of Parliament left the Opposition to abstain.
In March 1784, Parliament was dissolved, and a general election ensured. An electoral defeat for the Government was out of the question because Pitt flourished on the support of King. Patronage and bribes paid by the Treasury were normally expected to be enough to secure the Government a comfortable majority in the House of Commons but on this occasion the government didn’t lack much popular support as well. In most popular constituencies, the election was fought between candidates clearly representing either Pitt or Fox and North. Early figures showed a massive swing to Pitt with the result that many opposition members who still hadn't faced election deflected, stood down, or made deals with their opponents to avoid expensive defeats
A notable exception came in Fox's own constituency of Westminster which contained one of the largest electorates in the country. In a contest estimated to have cost a quarter of the total spending in the entire country, Fox bitterly fought against two Pittite candidates to secure one of the two seats for the constituency. Great legal wrangling’s ensued, including the examination of every single vote cast, which dragged on for more than a year. Meanwhile, Fox sat for the pocket borough of Tain Burghs. Many saw the dragging out of the result as being unduly vindictive on the part of Pitt and eventually the examinations were abandoned with Fox declared elected. Elsewhere Pitt won a personal triumph when he was elected a Member for the University of Cambridge, a constituency he had long craved and which he would continue to represent for the remainder of his life.
In conclusion Pitts rise to power was down to the fact that he was underestimated by the public and predominantly the Fox-North coalition, they believed that he would last past Christmas. Pitt took the political spectrum by storm and hence caused a swing in supporters from the coalition to himself. Pitt also had the backing of the king which significantly aided him and fox soon tried to replicate that same connection but with the prince. Pitts many great policies helped him stay in power as well as his rise to becoming the youngest ever Prime Minister at just age 24.
