The Chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to Chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the chancellor is a high-ranking member of the British Cabinet.
John Anderson Cunningham, Baron Cunningham of Felling, PC, DL is a British politician who was a Labour Member of Parliament for over 30 years, serving for Whitehaven from 1970 to 1983 and then Copeland until the 2005 general election, and had served in the Cabinet of Tony Blair.
Winifred Ann Taylor, Baroness Taylor of Bolton, is a British politician and life peer who served in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton West from 1974 to 1983, and Dewsbury from 1987 to 2005.
Sir Stephen Rothwell O'Brien, is a British politician and diplomat who was the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. O'Brien assumed office on 29 May 2015, succeeding Valerie Amos.
David Leonard Watts, Baron Watts is a British politician and life peer who served in the Blair and Brown governments as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from 2005 to 2010 and chaired the Parliamentary Labour Party as a backbencher from 2012 to 2015. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for St Helens North from 1997 to 2015.
Angela Evans Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon is a British politician and life peer serving as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords since 2015. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Basildon from 1997 to 2010.
Archibald Gavin Hamilton, Baron Hamilton of Epsom, is a British Conservative Party politician. A member of the House of Lords, he served as Minister of State for the Armed Forces under John Major.
Thomas Pendry, Baron Pendry, was a British Labour politician and member of the House of Lords. He was previously the Labour member of parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde from 1970 to 2001. In 2000, prior to his retirement as an MP he was made a member of the Privy Council on the recommendation of Tony Blair. After the 2001 election he was elevated to the peerage on 4 July as Baron Pendry, of Stalybridge in the County of Greater Manchester. He was president of the Football Foundation Ltd and was formerly sports advisor to Tameside District Council Sports Trust.
Bruce Joseph Grocott, Baron Grocott is a British politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2001. A member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament for four terms between 1973 and 2001, representing Staffordshire constituencies.
The 1999 Eddisbury by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 22 July 1999 for the British House of Commons constituency of Eddisbury in Cheshire.
Sir David George Hanson is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Delyn from 1992 to 2019. He held several ministerial offices in the Blair and Brown governments, serving in the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Wales Office, Northern Ireland Office and Whips' Office. Hanson sat on Ed Miliband's opposition front bench as a Shadow Treasury Minister, and later the Shadow Immigration Minister.
John Steven Bassam, Baron Bassam of Brighton, is a British Labour and Co-operative politician and a member of the House of Lords.
Eddisbury is a constituency in Cheshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Edward Timpson, a Conservative.
Nicholas Le Quesne Herbert, Baron Herbert of South Downs, is a British Conservative Party politician and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Arundel and South Downs from 2005 to 2019. He was Minister of State for Police and Criminal Justice, with his time split between the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, from 2010 to 2012. On 5 November 2019 he announced his decision not to stand for re-election in the 2019 general election. On 31 July 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Herbert would enter the House of Lords.
Major General John Mark Lancaster, Baron Lancaster of Kimbolton, is a British Conservative Party politician, a Member of the House of Lords and a British Army reserve officer, who has served as Director Reserves since October 2023.
"Tony's Cronies" was a term in British politics and media given to people who were viewed as being given positions of power because of their personal friendships with Prime Minister Tony Blair, during his premiership between 1997 and 2007. These included those granted life peerages and public positions based on their friendship with Blair rather than their individual merits. The phrase was created by the Conservative Party after the 1997 United Kingdom general election and was continually used in the media throughout Blair's premiership.
Stanley Clinton Clinton-Davis, Baron Clinton-Davis, was a British politician and solicitor. A member of the Labour Party, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney Central from 1970 to 1983, and was a minister in the Labour governments of Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Tony Blair. He was European Commissioner in the Delors Commission (1985–1989). In 1990, he became a life peer, sitting on the Labour benches in the House of Lords until his retirement in 2018.
The 1997 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours were officially announced in two supplements to The London Gazette of 1 August 1997 and marked the May 1997 resignation of the Prime Minister, John Major.
The 2005 Dissolution Honours List was issued after the General Election of the same year on the advice of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
On 27 July 1999, British Prime Minister Tony Blair held his first major cabinet reshuffle of his government.
