As leader of the Whig Party he was briefly Prime Minister at the end of the American War of Independence in 1783. Later he supported the government of William Pitt (the Younger) in its opposition to the French Revolution. After Pitt’s death (January 1806) and the failure of the so-called “Ministry of All the Talents” (1806–07), he was persuaded (1807) to take office again as Prime Minister. Then an old man, he failed to prevent internal dissension in his government, which led to the duel between Canning and Castlereagh, on news of which he resigned.