A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Financial Secretary to the Treasury | |
---|---|
![]() Royal Arms as used by Her Majesty's Government | |
HM Treasury | |
Appointer | Elizabeth II |
Inaugural holder | Thomas Harley |
Formation | 11 June 1711 |
Website | HM Treasury |
Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in the British 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 incumbent as of September 2021 is Lucy Frazer, who previously served as Solicitor General for England and Wales and as Minister of State for Prisons. The previous office holder was Jesse Norman, who left the government in Boris Johnson's 2021 British cabinet reshuffle.
The position is shadowed by the Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury.
History
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.[1]
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.[2]
Appointment to the position of Financial Secretary to the Treasury is often considered an important stepping stone in a politician's career; the four of previous five 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
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 and Customs.[citation needed]
Financial Secretaries to the Treasury since 1830
- see Secretary to the Treasury for earlier incumbents
1830–1900
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Liberal
Peelite
Tories
Whig
1900–2001
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Labour
Liberal
Liberal National
Liberal Unionist
National Labour
None
Unionist
Name | Portrait | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | Chancellor | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sir 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 (1873–1927) |
![]() |
13 February 1912 | 11 February 1914 | Liberal | ||||
Edwin Montagu
MP for Chesterton (1879–1924) |
![]() |
11 February 1914 | 3 February 1915 | Liberal | ||||
Francis Dyke Acland
MP for Camborne (1874–1939) |
![]() |
3 February 1915 | 25 May 1915 | Liberal | ||||
Edwin Montagu
MP for Chesterton (1879–1924) |
![]() |
26 May 1915 | 9 July 1916 | Liberal | Asquith (Coalition) |
McKenna | ||
Thomas McKinnon Wood
MP for Glasgow St Rollox (1855–1927) |
![]() |
9 July 1916 | 5 December 1916 | Liberal | ||||
Sir Hardman Lever | ![]() |
15 December 1916 | 19 May 1919 | None Civil servant |
Lloyd George (Coalition) |
Law (December 1916 – January 1919) A. Chamberlain (January 1919 – April 1921) | ||
Stanley Baldwin
MP for Bewdley (1867–1947) |
![]() |
18 June 1917 | 1 April 1921 | Conservative | ||||
Hilton Young
MP for Norwich (1879–1960) |
![]() |
21 April 1921 | 19 October 1922 | Liberal | Horne | |||
John Hills
MP for City of Durham (1867–1938) |
![]() |
6 November 1922 | 1923 | Conservative | Law | Baldwin | ||
Archibald Boyd-Carpenter
MP for Bradford North (1873–1937) |
![]() |
12 March 1923 | May 1923 | Conservative | ||||
Sir William Joynson-Hicks
MP for Twickenham (1865–1932) |
![]() |
25 May 1923 | 27 August 1923 | Conservative | Baldwin | |||
Walter Guinness
MP for Bury St Edmunds (1880–1944) |
![]() |
5 October 1923 | 1923 | Conservative | N. Chamberlain | |||
William Graham
MP for Edinburgh Central (1887–1932) |
![]() |
23 January 1924 | 4 November 1924 | Labour | MacDonald | Snowden | ||
Walter Guinness
MP for Bury St Edmunds (1880–1944) |
![]() |
11 November 1924 | 5 November 1925 | Conservative | Baldwin | Churchill | ||
Ronald McNeill
MP for Canterbury (1861–1934) |
![]() |
5 November 1925 | 1 November 1927 | Conservative | ||||
Arthur Samuel
MP for Farnham (1872–1942) |
1 November 1927 | 5 June 1929 | Conservative | |||||
Frederick Pethick-Lawrence
MP for Leicester West (1871–1961) |
![]() |
11 June 1929 | August 1931 | Labour | MacDonald (II) |
Snowden | ||
Walter Elliot
MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove (1888–1958) |
![]() |
24 August 1931 | 29 September 1932 | Unionist | MacDonald (First National ministry) | |||
MacDonald (Second National ministry) |
N. Chamberlain | |||||||
Leslie Hore-Belisha
MP for Plymouth Devonport (1893–1957) |
![]() |
29 September 1932 | 29 June 1934 | Liberal National | ||||
Duff Cooper
MP for Westminster St George's (1890–1954) |
![]() |
29 June 1934 | 22 November 1935 | Conservative | ||||
Baldwin (Third National ministry) | ||||||||
William Morrison
MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (1893–1961) |
![]() |
22 November 1935 | 29 October 1936 | Conservative | ||||
John Colville
MP for Midlothian and Peebles Northern (1894–1954) |
29 October 1936 | 1938 | Unionist | |||||
N. Chamberlain (Fourth National ministry) |
Simon | |||||||
Euan Wallace
MP for Hornsey (1892–1941) |
![]() |
16 May 1938 | 21 April 1939 | Conservative | ||||
Harry Crookshank
MP for Gainsborough (1893–1961) |
![]() |
21 April 1939 | 7 February 1943 | Conservative | ||||
N. Chamberlain (War) | ||||||||
Churchill (War) |
Wood | |||||||
Ralph Assheton
MP for Rushcliffe (1901–1984) |
7 February 1943 | 29 October 1944 | Conservative | |||||
Anderson |