paragraph_text: In Confucius's time, the state of Lu was headed by a ruling ducal house. Under the duke were three aristocratic families, whose heads bore the title of viscount and held hereditary positions in the Lu bureaucracy. The Ji family held the position ``Minister over the Masses '', who was also the`` Prime Minister''; the Meng family held the position ``Minister of Works ''; and the Shu family held the position`` Minister of War''. In the winter of 505 BC, Yang Hu -- a retainer of the Ji family -- rose up in rebellion and seized power from the Ji family. However, by the summer of 501 BC, the three hereditary families had succeeded in expelling Yang Hu from Lu. By then, Confucius had built up a considerable reputation through his teachings, while the families came to see the value of proper conduct and righteousness, so they could achieve loyalty to a legitimate government. Thus, that year (501 BC), Confucius came to be appointed to the minor position of governor of a town. Eventually, he rose to the position of Minister of Crime.

paragraph_text: Gray Nelson (born 1927) is a former New Zealand Public Servant and Diplomat. He spent his childhood in Epsom and was educated at St Peter's College where he was a foundation pupil in 1939. He began working in the New Zealand Parliament in 1952 and was Prime Minister's Private Secretary to five New Zealand Prime Ministers: Keith Holyoake, John Marshall, Norman Kirk, Robert Muldoon, and Michael Moore. He also held the diplomatic position of Counsellor at the New Zealand High Commission to the United Kingdom, 1976-1980

paragraph_text: Qazi Abdul Majeed Abid or Qazi Abid (), was the father of Former National Speaker Fahmida Mirza and former member of the National Assembly and Chairman of the Daily Ibrat Newspaper Kazi Asad Abid. He died under various circumstances on 31 August 1996. He was a prominent politician and journalist from Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan. Qazi Abid held several positions in the Federal Cabinet of numerous Pakistani Prime Ministers. His positions included Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Federal Minister of Education, Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture, and Federal Minister for Water and Power. He was the publisher of the "Daily Ibrat", a Sindhi newspaper, which is still published by his son Qazi Asad Abid. His excellence in the field of journalism was recognized formally when he was awarded the Writers' Forum Award in 1985.

paragraph_text: Tajikistan is officially a republic, and holds elections for the presidency and parliament, operating under a presidential system. It is, however, a dominant-party system, where the People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan routinely has a vast majority in Parliament. Emomalii Rahmon has held the office of President of Tajikistan continually since November 1994. The Prime Minister is Kokhir Rasulzoda, the First Deputy Prime Minister is Matlubkhon Davlatov and the two Deputy Prime Ministers are Murodali Alimardon and Ruqiya Qurbanova.

paragraph_text: The House of Commons is a democratically elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster (commonly known as the Houses of Parliament) in London. By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister, are members of the House of Commons or, less commonly, the House of Lords and are thereby accountable to the respective branches of the legislature. Most cabinet ministers (Secretaries of State) are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. However, it should be noted the Leader of the House of Lords must be a peer and is a cabinet position, usually combined with a paid position.

paragraph_text: Muhammad Osman Said (October 1922 – 31 December 2007) was a Libyan politician that held many positions in the era of the Kingdom of Libya including the Prime Minister of Libya from 17 October 1960 to 19 March 1963.

paragraph_text: Martha Beatriz Merino Lucero (born November 15, 1947 in Peru) was the first female Prime Minister of Peru. Merino served as Prime Minister from 23 June 2003 to 15 December 2003. Merino served as the national ombudsman for Peru from 29 September 2005 to 30 March 2011, a position also known as the defender of the people. She was the third person to hold the position (the first title holder was Jorge Santistevan and his successor, in an interim position, was Walter Albán). Following the expiry of her five-year term in March 2011, Merino was succeeded by Eduardo Vega Luna.

paragraph_text: Mame Madior Boye (born 1940) was Prime Minister of Senegal from 2001 to 2002. She was the first female holder of that position.

paragraph_text: Aboubakar Sangoulé Lamizana (January 31, 1916 – May 26, 2005) was a Burkinabé military officer who served as the President of Upper Volta (since 1984 renamed Burkina Faso), in power from January 3, 1966, to November 25, 1980. He held the additional position of Prime Minister from February 8, 1974, to July 7, 1978.

paragraph_text: Walpole always denied that he was "prime minister", and throughout the 18th century parliamentarians and legal scholars continued to deny that any such position was known to the Constitution. George II and George III made strenuous efforts to reclaim the personal power of the monarch, but the increasing complexity and expense of government meant that a minister who could command the loyalty of the Commons was increasingly necessary. The long tenure of the wartime prime minister William Pitt the Younger (1783–1801), combined with the mental illness of George III, consolidated the power of the post. The title was first referred to on government documents during the administration of Benjamin Disraeli but did not appear in the formal British Order of precedence until 1905.

paragraph_text: The Prime Minister of Dominica is the head of government in the Commonwealth of Dominica. Nominally, the position was created on November 3, 1978 when Dominica gained independence from the United Kingdom. Hitherto, the position existed de facto as Premier.

paragraph_text: Most prime ministers in parliamentary systems are not appointed for a specific term in office and in effect may remain in power through a number of elections and parliaments. For example, Margaret Thatcher was only ever appointed prime minister on one occasion, in 1979. She remained continuously in power until 1990, though she used the assembly of each House of Commons after a general election to reshuffle her cabinet.

paragraph_text: Daciana Sârbu is the daughter of Ilie Sârbu, a PSD member who served as Minister of Agriculture in the Adrian Năstase cabinet and held the same position in the Emil Boc cabinet. In October 2006, in China, she quietly wed the former Prime Minister of Romania, Victor Ponta. The couple's relationship had become serious in 2004, after Ponta's son was born. They had a daughter in March 2008 and married in a Romanian Orthodox ceremony in the church in Bucharest's Grădina Icoanei that June.

paragraph_text: Imran Khan has held the office of Prime Minister since 18 August 2018, following the outcome of nationwide general elections held on 25 July 2018.

paragraph_text: Chami is a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Tanzania, having won the seat of Moshi Rural as a Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) candidate in the 2005 parliamentary election after the seat had been held by the opposition for ten years. Following this victory, he was appointed Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on January 4, 2006. He was subsequently moved to the position of Deputy Minister for Trade Industries and Marketing on February 12, 2008. He also served as the Minister of Industry, Trade and Marketing from 2010 to 2012.

paragraph_text: Other common forms include president of the council of ministers (for example in Italy, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), President of the Executive Council, or Minister-President. In the Scandinavian countries the prime minister is called statsminister in the native languages (i.e. minister of state). In federations, the head of government of subnational entities such as provinces is most commonly known as the premier, chief minister, governor or minister-president.

paragraph_text: From 1721 this was the Whig politician Robert Walpole, who held office for twenty-one years. Walpole chaired cabinet meetings, appointed all the other ministers, dispensed the royal patronage and packed the House of Commons with his supporters. Under Walpole, the doctrine of cabinet solidarity developed. Walpole required that no minister other than himself have private dealings with the king, and also that when the cabinet had agreed on a policy, all ministers must defend it in public, or resign. As a later prime minister, Lord Melbourne, said, "It matters not what we say, gentlemen, so long as we all say the same thing."

paragraph_text: Downing Street Director of Communications is the post of Director of communications for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The position is held by an appointed special adviser. The post was temporarily vacant from April to July 2017 following the resignation of the former Director of Communications Katie Perrior. The current Director of Communications is Lee Cain who was appointed by Boris Johnson on 24 July 2019.

paragraph_text: The United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, also known as the Referendum on the European Community (Common Market), the Common Market referendum and EEC membership referendum took place on 5 June 1975 in the United Kingdom to gauge support for the country's continued membership of the European Communities (EC) -- often known at the time as the ``European Community ''and the`` Common Market'' which it had entered on 1 January 1973 under the Conservative government of Edward Heath under the provisions of the Referendum Act 1975. Labour's manifesto for the October 1974 general election had promised that the people would decide ``through the ballot box ''whether to remain in the EC.

paragraph_text: Edward Heath of the Conservative Party formed the Heath ministry and was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II on 19 June 1970, following the 18 June general election. Heath's ministry ended after the February 1974 general election, which produced a hung parliament, leading to the formation of a minority government by Harold Wilson of the Labour Party.

Question: What position did the prime minister hold when UK joined the common market?
Answer: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom