Jump to content

Financial Secretary to the Treasury

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
United Kingdom
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
since 8 July 2024
His Majesty's Treasury
Reports toFirst Lord of the Treasury
Chancellor of the Exchequer & Second Lord of the Treasury
NominatorPrime Minister
AppointerThe King
(on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Term lengthAt His Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holderThomas Harley
Formation11 June 1711
WebsiteOfficial website

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the chief secretary to the Treasury, and the paymaster general. However, the role of First Lord of the Treasury is always held by the prime minister who is not a Treasury minister, and the position of Paymaster General is a sinecure often held by the Minister for the Cabinet Office to allow the holder of that office to draw a government salary. In practice it is, therefore, the third most senior Treasury minister and has attended Cabinet in the past.

The current holder of the position is Lord Livermore, who was appointed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer following the Labour Party’s victory in the 2024 General Election.[1] The position is shadowed by the shadow financial secretary to the treasury.

History

[edit]

The role of Financial Secretary to the Treasury was created in 1711 and was known as the Junior Secretary to the Treasury to help deal with the increasing workload of the Senior Secretary to the Treasury. The first Junior Secretary to the Treasury is recorded as Thomas Harley who was appointed on 11 June 1711. The position has continued without any major interruption to the present day. Initially when the position of Senior Secretary to the Treasury became vacant not as the result of an election of change of government the Junior Secretary was usually automatically promoted to the senior role. Over time however, the roles of the Senior and Junior Secretaries began to diverge with the Senior Secretary post being used as a sinecure post for the Chief Whip, with no formal responsibilities to the Treasury. The Junior Secretary however remained a substantive position working in the Treasury. As such the Senior Secretary became known as the 'Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury' while the Junior Secretary became known as the 'Financial Secretary to the Treasury' and the 'automatic' promotion from Junior to Senior ceased. While the exact date this change occurred is disputed it is agreed that by 1830 the distinction was complete.[2]

In 1923 Sir William Joynson-Hicks became the–to date–only Financial Secretary to serve in the Cabinet due to the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, also concurrently serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In May 2010 as part of the ministerial reorganisation by the First Cameron ministry, the Financial Secretary was given the additional semi-official title of City Minister. This position was retained until April 2014 when following the promotion of Sajid Javid to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport the portfolio of City Minister was moved from the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury.[3]

Appointment to the position of Financial Secretary to the Treasury is often considered an important stepping stone in a politician's career; six of the ten most recent holders of the office have gone on to hold Cabinet-level positions.

Notable former Financial Secretaries to the Treasury include Lord Frederick Cavendish, Austen Chamberlain, Stanley Baldwin, Enoch Powell, Nigel Lawson, and Norman Lamont.

Current role

[edit]

The current responsibilities of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury include Departmental responsibility for the Office for National Statistics, and the Royal Mint.[citation needed] The Financial Secretary to the Treasury had Departmental responsibility for HM Customs & Excise until the merger with the Inland Revenue to form HM Revenue & Customs.[citation needed]

List of financial secretaries to the Treasury since 1830

[edit]
see Secretary to the Treasury for earlier incumbents

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Liberal   Peelite   Tories   Whig   Labour   Liberal National   Liberal Unionist   National Labour   None   Unionist

Financial Secretary Term of office Political party Prime Minister Chancellor
Thomas Spring Rice 26 November 1830 6 June 1834 Whig Earl Grey Viscount Althorp
Francis Baring 6 June 1834 14 November 1834 Whig
Viscount Melbourne
Office not in use 15 November 1834 – 19 December 1834 Duke of Wellington
(Caretaker)
Lord Denman
LCJ (interim)
Thomas Fremantle 20 December 1834 April 1835 Conservative
or Tory
Peel Peel
Francis Baring 21 April 1835 26 August 1839 Whig Viscount Melbourne Spring Rice
Robert Gordon 6 September 1839 1841 Whig Baring
Richard More O'Ferrall 9 June 1841 30 August 1841 Whig
George Clerk 8 September 1841 1845 Conservative Peel Goulburn
Edward Cardwell 4 February 1845 29 June 1846 Conservative
John Parker 7 July 1846 1849 Whig Lord John Russell Wood
William Goodenough Hayter 22 May 1849 1850 Whig
George Cornewall Lewis 9 July 1850 1852 Whig
George Alexander Hamilton 2 March 1852 1852 Conservative Earl of Derby Disraeli
James Wilson 5 January 1853 19 February 1858 Whig Earl of Aberdeen
(Coalition)
Gladstone
Viscount Palmerston Lewis
George Alexander Hamilton 2 March 1858 1859 Conservative Earl of Derby Disraeli
Stafford Northcote 21 January 1859 1859 Conservative
Samuel Laing 24 June 1859 1860 Liberal Viscount Palmerston Gladstone
Frederick Peel 2 November 1860 1865 Liberal
Hugh Childers 19 August 1865 26 June 1866 Liberal
Earl Russell
George Ward Hunt 14 July 1866 29 February 1868 Conservative Earl of Derby Disraeli
George Sclater-Booth 4 March 1868 1 December 1868 Conservative Disraeli Hunt
Acton Smee Ayrton 9 December 1868 1869 Liberal Gladstone Lowe
James Stansfeld 2 November 1869 1871 Liberal
William Edward Baxter 17 March 1871 11 August 1873 Liberal
John Dodson 11 August 1873 1874 Liberal Gladstone
William Henry Smith 21 February 1874 1877 Conservative Disraeli Northcote
Frederick Stanley 14 August 1877 1878 Conservative
Henry Selwin-Ibbetson 2 April 1878 21 April 1880 Conservative
Lord Frederick Cavendish 28 April 1880 1882 Liberal Gladstone Gladstone
Leonard Courtney 6 May 1882 12 December 1884 Liberal
Childers
J. T. Hibbert 12 December 1884 9 June 1885 Liberal
Henry Holland 24 June 1885 1885 Conservative Marquess of Salisbury Hicks Beach
Matthew White Ridley 1885 1886 Conservative
William Jackson 1886 28 January 1886 Conservative
Henry Fowler 6 February 1886 20 July 1886 Liberal Gladstone Harcourt
William Jackson 3 August 1886 1891 Conservative Marquess of Salisbury Lord Randolph Churchill
Viscount Goschen
John Eldon Gorst 9 November 1891 11 August 1892 Conservative
J. T. Hibbert 18 August 1892 22 June 1895 Liberal Gladstone Harcourt
Earl of Rosebery
Robert William Hanbury 29 June 1895 1900 Conservative Marquess of Salisbury
(Unionist Coalition)
Hicks Beach
Austen Chamberlain 7 November 1900 11 August 1902 Liberal Unionist Marquess of Salisbury
(Unionist Coalition)
Hicks Beach
Balfour
(Unionist Coalition)
William Fisher 11 August 1902 April 1903 Conservative Ritchie
Arthur Elliot 10 April 1903 9 October 1903 Conservative
Victor Cavendish 9 October 1903 5 December 1905 Conservative A. Chamberlain
Reginald McKenna 12 December 1905 23 January 1907 Liberal Campbell-Bannerman Asquith
Walter Runciman 29 January 1907 1908 Liberal
Charles Hobhouse 12 April 1908 1911 Liberal Asquith
(I)
Lloyd George
Thomas McKinnon Wood 23 October 1911 13 February 1912 Liberal
Charles Masterman
MP for Bethnal Green South West
13 February 1912 11 February 1914 Liberal
Edwin Montagu
MP for Chesterton
11 February 1914 3 February 1915 Liberal
Francis Dyke Acland
MP for Camborne
3 February 1915 25 May 1915 Liberal
Edwin Montagu
MP for Chesterton
26 May 1915 9 July 1916 Liberal Asquith
(Coalition)
McKenna
Thomas McKinnon Wood
MP for Glasgow St Rollox
9 July 1916 5 December 1916 Liberal
Hardman Lever
Baronet
15 December 1916 19 May 1919
[Note 1]
None
Civil servant
Lloyd George
(Coalition)
Law
(December 1916
– January 1919)

A. Chamberlain
(January 1919
– April 1921)
Stanley Baldwin
MP for Bewdley
18 June 1917
[Note 1]
1 April 1921 Conservative
Hilton Young
MP for Norwich
21 April 1921 19 October 1922 Liberal Horne
John Hills
MP for City of Durham
6 November 1922 1923 Conservative Law Baldwin
Archibald Boyd-Carpenter
MP for Bradford North
12 March 1923 May 1923 Conservative
William Joynson-Hicks
MP for Twickenham
25 May 1923 27 August 1923
[Note 2]
Conservative Baldwin
Walter Guinness
MP for Bury St Edmunds
5 October 1923 1923 Conservative N. Chamberlain
William Graham
MP for Edinburgh Central
23 January 1924 4 November 1924 Labour MacDonald Snowden
Walter Guinness
MP for Bury St Edmunds
11 November 1924 5 November 1925 Conservative Baldwin Churchill
Ronald McNeill
MP for Canterbury
5 November 1925 1 November 1927 Conservative
Arthur Samuel
MP for Farnham
1 November 1927 5 June 1929 Conservative
Frederick Pethick-Lawrence
MP for Leicester West
11 June 1929 August 1931 Labour MacDonald
(II)
Snowden
Walter Elliot
MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove
24 August 1931 29 September 1932 Unionist MacDonald
(First National ministry)
MacDonald
(Second National ministry)
N. Chamberlain
Leslie Hore-Belisha
MP for Plymouth Devonport
29 September 1932 29 June 1934 Liberal National
Duff Cooper
MP for Westminster St George's
29 June 1934 22 November 1935 Conservative
Baldwin
(Third National ministry)
William Morrison
MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury
22 November 1935 29 October 1936 Conservative
John Colville
MP for Midlothian and Peebles Northern
29 October 1936 1938 Unionist
N. Chamberlain
(Fourth National ministry)
Simon
Euan Wallace
MP for Hornsey
16 May 1938 21 April 1939 Conservative
Harry Crookshank
MP for Gainsborough
21 April 1939 7 February 1943 Conservative
N. Chamberlain
(War)
Churchill
(War)
Wood
Ralph Assheton
MP for Rushcliffe
7 February 1943 29 October 1944 Conservative
Anderson
Osbert Peake
MP for Leeds North
29 October 1944 26 July 1945 Conservative
Churchill
(Caretaker)
William Glenvil Hall
MP for Colne Valley
4 August 1945 2 March 1950 Labour Attlee Dalton
Cripps
Douglas Jay
MP for Battersea North
2 March 1950 26 October 1951 Labour
Gaitskell
John Boyd-Carpenter
MP for Kingston-upon-Thames
30 October 1951 28 July 1954 Conservative Churchill Butler
Henry Brooke
MP for Hampstead
28 July 1954 January 1957 Conservative
Eden
Macmillan
Enoch Powell
MP for Wolverhampton South West
14 January 1957 15 January 1958 Conservative Macmillan Thorneycroft
Jack Simon
MP for Middlesbrough West
15 January 1958 22 October 1959 Conservative Heathcoat-Amory
Edward Boyle
MP for Birmingham Handsworth
22 October 1959 16 July 1962 Conservative
Lloyd
Anthony Barber
MP for Doncaster
16 July 1962 20 October 1963 Conservative Maudling
Alan Green
MP for Preston South
23 October 1963 16 October 1964 Conservative Douglas-Home
Niall MacDermot
MP for Derby North
21 October 1964 29 August 1967 Labour Wilson Callaghan
Harold Lever
MP for Manchester Cheetham
29 August 1967 13 October 1969 Labour
Jenkins
Dick Taverne
MP for Lincoln
13 October 1969 19 June 1970 Labour
Patrick Jenkin
MP for Wanstead and Woodford
19 June 1970 7 April 1972 Conservative Heath Macleod
Barber
Terrence Higgins
MP for Worthing
7 April 1972 4 March 1974 Conservative
John Gilbert
MP for Dudley East
8 March 1974 17 June 1975 Labour Wilson Healey
Robert Sheldon
MP for Ashton under Lyne
17 June 1975 4 May 1979 Labour
Callaghan
Nigel Lawson
MP for Blaby
4 May 1979 14 September 1981 Conservative Thatcher Howe
Nicholas Ridley
MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury
September 1981 11 June 1983 Conservative
John Moore
MP for Croydon Central
19 October 1983 21 May 1986 Conservative Lawson
Norman Lamont
MP for Kingston-upon-Thames
21 May 1986 24 July 1989 Conservative
Peter Lilley
MP for St Albans
24 July 1989 14 July 1990 Conservative
Major
Francis Maude
MP for North Warwickshire
14 July 1990 9 April 1992 Conservative Major Lamont
Stephen Dorrell
MP for Loughborough
11 April 1992 11 July 1994 Conservative
Clarke
George Young
MP for Ealing Acton
11 July 1994 5 July 1995 Conservative
Michael Jack
MP for Fylde
5 July 1995 2 May 1997 Conservative
Dawn Primarolo
MP for Bristol South
2 May 1997 4 January 1999 Labour Blair Brown
Barbara Roche
MP for Hornsey and Wood Green
4 January 1999 29 July 1999 Labour
Stephen Timms
MP for East Ham
29 July 1999 8 June 2001 Labour
Paul Boateng
MP for Brent South
8 June 2001 May 2002 Labour
Ruth Kelly
MP for Bolton West
May 2002 9 September 2004 Labour
Stephen Timms
MP for East Ham
12 September 2004 6 May 2005 Labour
John Healey
MP for Wentworth
6 May 2005 28 June 2007 Labour
Jane Kennedy
MP for Liverpool Wavertree
28 June 2007 5 October 2008 Labour Brown Darling
Stephen Timms
MP for East Ham
5 October 2008 11 May 2010 Labour
Mark Hoban
MP for Fareham
13 May 2010 4 September 2012 Conservative Cameron
(Coalition)
Osborne
Greg Clark
MP for Tunbridge Wells
4 September 2012 7 October 2013 Conservative
Sajid Javid
MP for Bromsgrove
7 October 2013 9 April 2014 Conservative
Nicky Morgan
MP for Loughborough
9 April 2014 15 July 2014 Conservative
David Gauke
MP for South West Hertfordshire
15 July 2014 14 July 2016 Conservative
Cameron
(II)
Jane Ellison
MP for Battersea
15 July 2016 9 June 2017 Conservative May
(I)
Hammond
Mel Stride
MP for Central Devon
12 June 2017 23 May 2019 Conservative May
(II)
Jesse Norman
MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire
23 May 2019 16 September 2021 Conservative
Johnson Javid
Sunak
Lucy Frazer
MP for South East Cambridgeshire
16 September 2021 7 September 2022 Conservative
Zahawi
Andrew Griffith
MP for Arundel and South Downs
8 September 2022 27 October 2022 Conservative Truss Kwarteng
Hunt
Victoria Atkins
MP for Louth and Horncastle
27 October 2022 13 November 2023 Conservative Sunak
Nigel Huddleston
MP for Mid Worcestershire
13 November 2023 5 July 2024 Conservative
Lord Livermore 8 July 2024 Incumbent Labour Starmer Reeves

Note 1. ^ Between June 1917 and May 1919 Lever and Baldwin jointly held the position of Financial Secretary.
Note 2. ^ As Baldwin was both Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer Joynson-Hicks was a member of the Cabinet.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Elgot, Jessica. "The Guardian". Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Secretaries 1660-1870". British History Online. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  3. ^ Andrea Leadsom MP appointed new City Minister for HMT, Tech UK, 10 April 2014, retrieved 4 August 2016
[edit]