first among equals

Calque of Latin primus inter pares.

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first among equals (plural firsts among equals)

1. (idiomatic) A person or position that is formally of equal rank to others in a group, but nonetheless takes a leading role within that group.

   The Orthodox consider the bishop of Rome to have always been merely a first among equals.

   • 2003, H. Y. Sharada Prasad, The Book I Won't be Writing and Other Essays, page 40:

     I wonder whether Margaret Thatcher, Harold Macmillan, Winston Churchill, Lloyd George, Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone (going back in time) thought of themselves as mere firsts among equals.