The Government frontbench in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, also known as the Treasury Bench, consists of the Cabinet and all other ministers. [1]
Parliamentary opposition to the Government frontbench is provided by the Official Opposition frontbench, the Liberal Democrat frontbench team (when not in government), and the Scottish National Party frontbench team.
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Politics of the United Kingdom |
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United Kingdomportal |
Political offices in the UK government |
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List of political offices |
Member of the House of Commons | |
Member of the House of Lords | |
Privy Council member | |
Cabinet full members in bold | |
Cabinet attendees in bold italics | |
Leader of the Government | |||
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Prime Minister of the United Kingdom First Lord of the Treasury Minister for the Civil Service Minister for the Union | Rishi Sunak | ||
Cabinet Office | |||
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Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Secretary of State in the Cabinet Office Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | Oliver Dowden | ||
Paymaster General Minister for the Cabinet Office | John Glen | ||
Minister without Portfolio Party Chairman | Richard Holden (unpaid) | ||
Minister without Portfolio | Esther McVey | ||
Minister of State for Veterans' Affairs | Johnny Mercer | ||
Minister of State for the Investment Security Unit | Nusrat Ghani (also with Business and Trade) | ||
Minister of State | Baroness Neville-Rolfe | ||
Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office | Alex Burghart | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State | Alan Mak (also with Business and Trade) |
Government Equalities Office (working with Cabinet Office) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Minister for Women and Equalities Secretary of State for Business and Trade | Kemi Badenoch | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Women) | Maria Caulfield (also with Health and Social Care) | ||
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities) | Stuart Andrew (also with Culture and Business and Trade) | ||
Government spokesperon | Baroness Barran (unpaid; also with Education) |
Home Office | ||||
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Secretary of State for the Home Department | James Cleverly | |||
Minister of State for Security | Tom Tugendhat | |||
Minister of State for Illegal Migration | Michael Tomlinson KC | |||
Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire | Chris Philp | |||
Minister of State for Legal Migration and Delivery | Tom Pursglove | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Victims and Safeguarding | Laura Farris (jointly with Justice) | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State | Lord Sharpe of Epsom |
Justice | ||||
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Secretary of State for Justice Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain | Alex Chalk KC | |||
Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation | Edward Argar | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts and Legal Services | Mike Freer | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice | Lord Bellamy (unpaid) | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sentencing | Gareth Bacon | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Victims and Safeguarding | Laura Farris (jointly with Home Office) |
Law Officers | |||
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Attorney General Advocate General for Northern Ireland | Victoria Prentis KC | ||
Solicitor General | Robert Courts | ||
Advocate General for Scotland | Lord Stewart of Dirleton KC |
Department for Business and Trade | ||||
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Secretary of State for Business and Trade President of the Board of Trade Minister for Women and Equalities | Kemi Badenoch | |||
Minister of State for Industry and Economic Security | Nusrat Ghani (jointly with Cabinet Office) | |||
Minister of State for Investment Minister of State for Regulatory Reform | Lord Johnson of Lainston (unpaid) | |||
Minister of State for Trade Policy Minister for London | Greg Hands | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exports | Lord Offord of Garvel (unpaid), also with Scotland Office | |||
Minister of State for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business | Kevin Hollinrake | |||
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities) | Stuart Andrew (also with Culture) | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Women) | Maria Caulfield (also with Health and Social Care) | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State | Alan Mak (also with the Cabinet Office) |
Work and Pensions | |||
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Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | Mel Stride | ||
Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work | Vacant | ||
Minister of State | Jo Churchill | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression | Mims Davies | ||
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State | Paul Maynard | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | Viscount Younger of Leckie |
Education | |||
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Secretary of State for Education | Gillian Keegan | ||
Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education | Luke Hall | ||
Minister of State for Schools | Damian Hinds | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing | David Johnston | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the School System and Student Finance | Baroness Barran (unpaid; also with Equalities Office) |
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology | |||
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Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology | Michelle Donelan | ||
Minister of State for Data and Digital Infrastructure | Julia Lopez (jointly with Culture Media and Sport) | ||
Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation | Andrew Griffith (unpaid) | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property | Viscount Camrose (unpaid) | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy | Saqib Bhatti |
Health and Social Care | ||||
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Secretary of State for Health and Social Care | Victoria Atkins | |||
Minister of State for Social Care | Helen Whately | |||
Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care | Andrew Stephenson | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Women's Health Strategy | Maria Caulfield (also with Equalities) (jointly with Business and Trade) | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State | Lord Markham (unpaid) | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care | Andrea Leadsom |
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | ||||
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Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Steve Barclay | |||
Minister of State for Food, Farming and Fisheries | Mark Spencer | |||
Minister of State for Climate, Environment and Energy | Lord Benyon (unpaid) (also with FCDO) | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nature | Rebecca Pow | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water and Rural Growth | Robbie Moore | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Biosecurity, Animal Health and Welfare | Lord Douglas-Miller | |||
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero | ||||
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Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero | Claire Coutinho | |||
Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero | Graham Stuart | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nuclear and Networks | Andrew Bowie | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Consumers and Affordability | Amanda Solloway (also a Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury (unpaid) | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance | Lord Callanan |
Department for Culture, Media and Sport | |||
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Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport | Lucy Frazer KC | ||
Minister of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport | Julia Lopez (jointly with Science, Innovation and Technology) | ||
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport, Gambling and Civil Society | Stuart Andrew (also with Equalities) | ||
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Arts and Heritage | Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay |
Transport | |||
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Secretary of State for Transport | Mark Harper | ||
Minister of State for Rail and HS2 | Huw Merriman | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State | Anthony Browne | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State | Guy Opperman | ||
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State | Lord Davies of Gower |
Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | |||
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Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Minister for Intergovernmental Relations | Michael Gove | ||
Minister of State for Housing, Planning and Building Safety | Lee Rowley | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Homelessness | Felicity Buchan | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up | Jacob Young | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Housing and Faith | Baroness Scott of Bybrook | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State | Simon Hoare | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State | Baroness Penn |
Scotland | |||
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Secretary of State for Scotland | Alister Jack | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland | John Lamont | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland | Lord Offord of Garvel (unpaid), also with Department for Business and Trade |
Wales | |||
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Secretary of State for Wales | David TC Davies | ||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales | Fay Jones |
House of Commons Whips | ||||
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Chief Whip of the House of Commons Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury | Simon Hart | |||
Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Commons Treasurer of the Household | Marcus Jones | |||
Government Whip Comptroller of the Household | Rebecca Harris | |||
Government Whip Vice-Chamberlain of the Household | Stuart Anderson | |||
Government Whips Lords Commissioners of the Treasury | Amanda Milling | |||
Scott Mann | ||||
Amanda Solloway (also with Energy Security and Net Zero) (unpaid) | ||||
Joy Morrissey | ||||
Mike Wood | ||||
Assistant Government Whips | Ruth Edwards | |||
Robert Largan | ||||
Gagan Mohindra | ||||
Mark Jenkinson | ||||
Mark Fletcher | ||||
Suzanne Webb | ||||
Aaron Bell |
House of Lords Whips | |||
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Chief Whip of the House of Lords Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms | Baroness Williams of Trafford | ||
Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Lords Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard | Earl of Courtown | ||
Lords- and Baroness-in-Waiting | Lord Harlech | ||
Lord Evans of Rainow | |||
Lord Caine (also with the Northern Ireland Office) (unpaid) | |||
Baroness Swinburne (unpaid) | |||
Lord Gascoigne | |||
Lord Roborough (unpaid) |
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the senior decision-making body of His Majesty's Government. A committee of the Privy Council, it is chaired by the Prime Minister and its members include Secretaries of State and other senior ministers. Members of the Cabinet are appointed by the Prime Minister and are by convention chosen from members of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The shadow cabinet or shadow ministry is a feature of the Westminster system of government. It consists of a senior group of opposition spokespeople who, under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition, form an alternative cabinet to that of the government, and whose members shadow or mirror the positions of each individual member of the Cabinet. Their areas of responsibility, in parallel with the ruling party's ministries, may be referred to as a shadow portfolio. Members of a shadow cabinet have no executive power. It is the shadow cabinet's responsibility to scrutinise the policies and actions of the government, as well as to offer alternative policies. The shadow cabinet makes up the majority of the Official Opposition frontbench, as part of frontbenchers to the parliament. Smaller opposition parties in Britain and Ireland have Frontbench Teams.
In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then known as being on the frontbench and are described as frontbenchers. Those sitting behind them are known as backbenchers. Independent and minority parties sit to the side or on benches between the two sides, and are referred to as crossbenchers. Frontbenchers may be part of a Frontbench Team with other members of their political party.
The Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, or His Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition Shadow Cabinet, but usually simply the Shadow Cabinet, is the committee of senior members of the Official Opposition who scrutinise the work of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. Each Shadow Cabinet member is typically given a position which corresponds to that of a government minister in Cabinet. Shadow Cabinet members, known as Shadow Ministers, are usually appointed by the Leader of the Opposition. The roles of Shadow Ministers are to develop alternative policies, hold the government to account for its actions and responses, and act as spokespeople for the opposition party in their own specific policy areas. By convention, Shadow Ministers are drawn either from serving members of the House of Commons or the House of Lords, with most chosen from the former. Since May 2010, Labour has been the Official Opposition, and its leadership therefore forms the current Shadow Cabinet.
The Liberal Democrats are a political party in the United Kingdom. While in opposition, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats appoints a frontbench team of Members of Parliament (MPs), Peers, Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and Members of the Senedd (MSs), to speak for the party on different issues. Their areas of responsibility broadly corresponded to those of Government ministers. The frontbench team is divided into departmental sub-units, the principal ones being the economy, foreign policy, and home affairs. Sometimes the frontbench team consists of more than just the principal positions.
The frontbench of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom consists of the Shadow Cabinet and other official shadow ministers of the political party currently serving as the Official Opposition. The Opposition front bench provide Parliamentary opposition to the British Government front bench, and is currently the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer since April 2020.
The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury, ranked below the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster General and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and alongside the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. It ranks at Parliamentary Secretary level and is not a Cabinet office.
Unlike in the Parliament at Westminster where there is an Official Opposition to the government of the day, all parties in the Scottish Parliament that are not in government are all technically on the same footing as 'opposition parties'. With the Scottish National Party (SNP) currently in government, the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour each have a Shadow Cabinet composed of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and prospective parliamentary candidates.
The minister of state for security is a senior ministerial position in the government of the United Kingdom, falling under the Home Office. The post was created by then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 3 June 2009 by splitting the now-defunct post of the minister for security, counter-terrorism, crime and policing between this post and the new post of Minister for Crime and Policing.
The Welsh Shadow Cabinet is formed from members of the official opposition in the Senedd, the largest party not part of the Welsh Government, to scrutinise ministers in the Welsh Cabinet. It is led by the Leader of the Opposition, who typically appoints members of the Senedd (MSs) from their party as shadow ministers with portfolios which mirror ministerial posts in the Cabinet who scrutinise ministers and can propose their own alternative policies. Other opposition parties in the Senedd also appoint frontbench teams of spokespeople who perform the same function. These are also sometimes styled as "shadow cabinets" by their parties, though unlike the Shadow Cabinet they have no official recognition. Since 2021, the Shadow Cabinet has been formed from members of the Welsh Conservatives led by Andrew RT Davies, who have alternated with Plaid Cymru as the official opposition in the Senedd since its establishment as the National Assembly for Wales in 1999.
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In Australian federal politics, the shadow cabinet is the opposition's equivalent to the federal cabinet. It comprises the most senior figures within the opposition, headed by the leader of the opposition as the counterpart to the prime minister of Australia.
The list that follows was an unofficial shadow cabinet of the SNP led by Angus Robertson from 2015 to June 2017, after the Scottish National Party (SNP) became the third-largest party in the UK Parliament after the 2015 general election, and up until the defeat of Angus Robertson and other key SNP politicians in the 2017 general election. The Frontbench Team consisted exclusively of Members of the House of Commons, since the SNP has a policy of not appointing peers to the House of Lords.
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His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, commonly known as the Official Opposition in the United Kingdom, is the main political opposition to His Majesty's Government. This is usually the political party with the second-largest number of seats in the House of Commons, as the largest party will usually form the government. Since May 2010, the Official Opposition has been the Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer since 2020.
The Frontbench Team of Ian Blackford was the team of Scottish National Party Spokespersons in the House of Commons from 2017 to 2022.
Davey was appointed as Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats following the resignation of Jo Swinson. Davey announced his first frontbench team as Acting Leader in January 2020.
Keir Starmer became Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom after being elected as Leader of the Labour Party on 4 April 2020. He appointed his Shadow Cabinet on 5 and 6 April. Starmer has reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet five times: in June 2020, May 2021, June 2021, November 2021 and September 2023.
The shadow ministry of Peter Dutton is the current shadow cabinet of Australia since 5 June 2022, serving in opposition to the Albanese government. The shadow ministry is the Opposition's alternative to the Albanese ministry, which was sworn in on 1 June 2022.
The frontbench of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom consists of the Shadow cabinet and other shadow ministers of the political party currently serving as the Official Opposition. From 2020 to 2024, His Majesty's Loyal Opposition was the Labour Party, and the Leader of the Opposition was Keir Starmer.
A frontbencher is either a Government minister or an Opposition shadow spokesperson.