George Canning PC, FRS (11 April 1770? 8 August 1827) was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and briefly Prime Minister ... Rory Muir has described Canning as "the most brilliant and colourful minister, and certainly the greatest orator in the government at a time when oratory was still politically important. He was a man of biting wit and invective, with immense confidence in his own ability, who often inspired either great friendship or deep dislike and distrust ... he was a passionate, active, committed man who poured his energy into whatever he undertook. This was his strength and also his weakness ... the government's ablest minister.