Great Offices of State

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The Great Offices of State are senior offices in the UK government. They are the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary, [1] [2] [3] or the three offices excluding the prime minister. [4] [5]

Contents

Current

Great Offices of State of His Majesty's Government [6]
Coat of arms of the United Kingdom (2022, lesser arms).svg
Starmer ministry
OfficeOfficeholderTook officeConcurrent government office(s)Previous government office
Prime Minister Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer Official Portrait (cropped).jpg The Right Honourable
Sir Keir Starmer
MP for Holborn and St Pancras 		5 July 2024
(14 months ago)
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024 (cropped 2) (cropped).jpg The Right Honourable
Rachel Reeves
MP for Leeds West and Pudsey 		5 July 2024
(14 months ago)		 Second Lord of the Treasury
Foreign Secretary
(Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs)		 Yvette Cooper Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024 (cropped) 2.jpg The Right Honourable
Yvette Cooper
MP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley 		5 September 2025
(1 day ago)		 Home Secretary
(2024–25)
Home Secretary
(Secretary of State for the Home Department)		 Shabana Mahmood Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024 (cropped) 2.jpg The Right Honourable
Shabana Mahmood
MP for Birmingham Ladywood 		5 September 2025
(1 day ago)		 Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
(2024–25)

Justice Secretary
(2024–25)

History

The Great Offices of State are derived from the most senior positions in the Royal Household – the Great Officers of State. These eventually became hereditary and honorary titles, while the substantive duties of the Officers passed to individuals who were appointed on behalf of the Crown. [7] James Callaghan is the first and, to date, only person to have served in all four positions. [1] [8]

According to a YouGov poll conducted in 2017, the British public view the three most senior Cabinet ministers as the Chancellor, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and the Secretary of State for Defence, with the office of Home Secretary coming in fourth place, and that of Foreign Secretary in just ninth place, preceded by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and followed by the Secretary of State for International Trade. The office of Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was viewed as least important, with just 3% of respondents saying they viewed it as one of the most important positions. [9]

The Truss ministry formed on 6 September 2022 and initially had no white men holding positions in the Great Offices of State, for the first time in British political history. [10] [11] [12] This remained the case for just 38 days until the appointment of Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor of the Exchequer on 14 October 2022, replacing Kwasi Kwarteng who had been the first black Chancellor. [13] Five days later on 19 October 2022, Grant Shapps was appointed Home Secretary, replacing Suella Braverman, [14] although Braverman was then reappointed by incoming Prime Minister Rishi Sunak just six days later. Following Sunak's reshuffle in November 2023, this marked the first instance since May 2010 where no women occupied a Great Office of State. It also marked the first 21st century instance of a former prime minister holding a Great Office of State, with David Cameron being appointed as Foreign Secretary in the Sunak ministry, becoming the first former prime minister to serve in a ministerial post since Alec Douglas-Home in 1970−1974.[ citation needed ]

Following the general election on 4 July, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer appointed Rachel Reeves as Chancellor of the Exchequer, thus making Reeves the first female Chancellor in the 708 year history of HM Treasury. [15] Starmer appointed women to a record half of the Cabinet, including three of the five top positions in the British government. Besides Reeves, this included Angela Rayner as Deputy Prime Minister and Yvette Cooper as Home Secretary. [16] [17]

Following a cabinet reshuffle on 5 September 2025, Prime Minister Keir Starmer appointed David Lammy as the new Deputy Prime Minister, and Shabana Mahmood as the new Home Secretary. The changes followed the resignation of Angela Rayner as Deputy PM following an investigation into her alleged breach of the Ministerial Code. [18] [19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 McKie, David (28 March 2005). "Lord Callaghan". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 3 November 2007. Retrieved 10 June 2008. He had held all four of the great offices of state
  2. ↑ Eason, Gary (27 March 2005). "Callaghan's great education debate". BBC News. Archived from the original on 15 January 2009. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  3. ↑ "The Conservative Party | People | Members of Parliament | Kenneth Clarke". Conservative Party. 10 February 2010. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  4. ↑ "The Cabinet - Cabinet and the Great Offices of State". Britpolitics. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  5. ↑ "The Great Offices of State". BBC. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  6. ↑ "Ministers". UK Government. Archived from the original on 2 June 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  7. ↑ Phillips, Owen Hood; Chalmers, Dalzell (1952). The Constitutional Law of Great Britain and the Commonwealth. London: Sweet & Maxwell. p. 240. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  8. ↑ "Lady Callaghan of Cardiff". The Independent. London. 30 March 2005.[ dead link ]
  9. ↑ "What do the public think are the real Great Offices of State?", YouGov, retrieved 18 September 2017
  10. ↑ Khan, Aina J. (5 September 2022). "UK's four great offices of state may soon not feature a white man for first time". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  11. ↑ Zeffman, Henry (5 September 2022). "Great offices of state set to contain no white men". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  12. ↑ Martin, Daniel (6 September 2022). "Liz Truss forms most diverse Cabinet in history with no white males in top jobs". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  13. ↑ "PM confirms Hunt as new chancellor". BBC News. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  14. ↑ "Liz Truss's government on the brink after Suella Braverman's parting shot". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  15. ↑ "Rachel Reeves: Who is the UK's new chancellor?".
  16. ↑ "Who is in Keir Starmer's new cabinet". BBC News. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  17. ↑ Adam, Karla; Taylor, Adam; Timsit, Annabelle (5 July 2024). "Who is in Keir Starmer's new U.K. government?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  18. ↑ "Angela Rayner resigns after underpaying tax on Hove flat". BBC News. 5 September 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ↑ "Starmer government reshuffle: PM changes top team after Rayner's exit". Institute for Government.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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