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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, alternatively, three of those offices excluding the prime minister. [4] [5]
| Great Offices of State of His Majesty's Government [6] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Starmer ministry | |||||
| Office | Officeholder | Took office | Concurrent government office(s) | Previous government office | |
| Prime Minister |  | The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer MP for Holborn and St Pancras | 5 July 2024 | ||
| Chancellor of the Exchequer |  | The Right Honourable Rachel Reeves MP for Leeds West and Pudsey | 5 July 2024 | Second Lord of the Treasury | |
| Foreign Secretary (Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs) |  | The Right Honourable David Lammy MP for Tottenham | 5 July 2024 | ||
| Home Secretary (Secretary of State for the Home Department) |  | The Right Honourable Yvette Cooper MP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley | 5 July 2024 | Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2009–10) | |
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 marks the first instance since 2010, when the Conservatives assumed office, where no women occupy 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.
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 includes Angela Rayner as Deputy Prime Minister and Yvette Cooper as Home Secretary. [16] [17]
The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the Home Secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, making the home secretary one of the most senior and influential ministers in the government. The incumbent is a statutory member of the British Cabinet and National Security Council.
A parliamentary private secretary (PPS) is a member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a government minister or a shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the "eyes and ears" of the minister in the House of Commons.
Sir Michael Tyrone Ellis is a British politician and barrister who served as Attorney General for England and Wales between September and October 2022, having previously served in the position from March to September 2021 during the maternity leave of Suella Braverman. A member of the Conservative Party, he previously served as Paymaster General from 2021 to 2022 and as Minister for the Cabinet Office from February to September 2022. Ellis served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Northampton North from 2010 to 2024.
Rishi Sunak is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2022 to 2024. He has been Leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022; after the general election in July 2024, he became Leader of the Opposition. The first British Asian to hold those offices, he previously held two Cabinet positions under Boris Johnson, latterly as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022. Sunak has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond and Northallerton, previously Richmond (Yorks), since 2015. He is the most recent Conservative Party prime minister.
Sue-Ellen Cassiana "Suella" Braverman is a British politician and barrister who served as Home Secretary from 6 September 2022 to 19 October 2022, and again from 25 October 2022 to 13 November 2023. A member of the Conservative Party, she was chair of the European Research Group from 2017 to 2018 and Attorney General for England and Wales from 2020 to March 2021, and again from September 2021 to 2022. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fareham from 2015 until 2024 before the redrawing of UK constituency boundaries, and is currently the MP for Fareham and Waterlooville.
At various dates in the run up to the 2024 United Kingdom general election on 4 July 2024, various organisations have carried out opinion polling to gauge the opinions that voters hold towards political leaders. The polling companies listed are members of the British Polling Council (BPC) and abide by its disclosure rules. The date range for opinion polls is from the 2019 United Kingdom general election, held on 12 December, to the eve of the 2024 election.
The second Johnson ministry began on 16 December 2019, three days after Boris Johnson's audience with Queen Elizabeth II where she invited him to form a government following the 2019 general election. The Conservative Party was returned to power with a majority of 80 seats in the House of Commons. Initially the ministers were largely identical to those at the end of the first Johnson ministry, but changed significantly in cabinet reshuffles in February 2020 and September 2021.
Keir Starmer assumed the position of Leader of the Opposition after being elected as leader of the Labour Party on 4 April 2020; the election was triggered by Jeremy Corbyn's resignation following the Labour Party's electoral defeat at the 2019 general election when Boris Johnson formed a majority Conservative government. Starmer appointed his Shadow Cabinet on 5 and 6 April. He reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet five times: in June 2020, May 2021, June 2021, November 2021 and 2023.
A list of events relating to politics and government in the United Kingdom during 2022.
The July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered by Boris Johnson's announcement on 7 July 2022 that he would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, following a series of political controversies.
In early July 2022, 62 of the United Kingdom's 179 government ministers, parliamentary private secretaries, trade envoys, and party vice-chairmen resigned from their positions in the second administration formed by Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, culminating in Johnson's resignation on 7 July. Johnson's premiership had been considered in danger for months after several scandals, but it was the Chris Pincher scandal that was identified to have spurred on the resignations. Considered the "last straw" for the Prime Minister, the scandal arose after it was revealed that Johnson had promoted his Deputy Chief Government Whip Chris Pincher, who was publicly facing multiple allegations of sexual assault, to the position despite knowing of the allegations beforehand.
The Truss ministry began on 6 September 2022 when Liz Truss was invited by Queen Elizabeth II—two days before the monarch's death—to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister of the United Kingdom. Johnson resigned as leader of the Conservative Party the previous day after Truss was elected as his successor. The Truss ministry was formed from the 2019 Parliament of the United Kingdom, as a Conservative majority government.
Liz Truss's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 6 September 2022 when she accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding Boris Johnson, and ended 49 days later on 25 October upon her resignation. As prime minister, she served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Minister for the Union and Leader of the Conservative Party.
The October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered by Liz Truss's announcement that she would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, amid an economic and political crisis.
In September and October 2022, the Conservative Party government led by newly appointed prime minister Liz Truss faced a credibility crisis. It was caused by the September 2022 mini-budget and a disorganised vote in the House of Commons over a parliamentary vote to ban fracking, ultimately resulting in the loss of support of Conservative members of parliament (MPs).
Rishi Sunak's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 25 October 2022 when he accepted an invitation from King Charles III to form a government, succeeding Liz Truss, and ended upon his resignation on 5 July 2024. He is the first British Indian and the first Hindu to hold the office. His premiership was dominated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war, the cost-of-living crisis, and the Rwanda asylum plan. As prime minister, Sunak also served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Minister for the Union and Leader of the Conservative Party.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak carried out the second cabinet reshuffle of his premiership on 13 November 2023. Suella Braverman was replaced as Home Secretary by James Cleverly. Cleverly was replaced as Foreign Secretary by the former Prime Minister David Cameron, who was made a life peer as Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton.
Jeremy Hunt served as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 2022 and 2024, during the premierships of Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
A Conservative Party leadership election is expected to occur in 2024 to determine the successor to former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak following his declared intention to resign after the party's landslide defeat at the 2024 general election.
The Starmer ministry began on 5 July 2024 when Sir Keir Starmer was invited by King Charles III to form a government, following the resignation of Rishi Sunak after the general election on 4 July 2024.
He had held all four of the great offices of state
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