Political Secretary to the Prime Minister | |
---|---|
Prime Minister's Office | |
Appointer | Prime minister |
Formation | 1964 |
First holder | Marcia Williams |
Website | 10 Downing Street |
The Political Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is a senior official in the United Kingdom Civil Service who advises the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Established by Prime Minister Harold Wilson, but continued by subsequent Prime Ministers, the Political Secretary was originally not a civil servant, but was later incorporated into the Civil Service.
Political secretary | Years | Prime Minister | |
---|---|---|---|
Marcia Williams [1] [2] | 1964–1970 | Harold Wilson | |
Douglas Hurd [3] [4] | 1970–1974 | Edward Heath | |
Marcia Williams [5] [6] | 1974–1976 | Harold Wilson | |
Tom McNally [7] [8] [9] | 1976–1979 | James Callaghan | |
Richard Ryder [10] [11] [12] | 1979–1981 | Margaret Thatcher | |
Derek Howe [13] | 1981–1983 | ||
Stephen Sherbourne [14] [15] | 1983–1988 | ||
John Whittingdale [16] [17] | 1988–1990 | ||
Judith Chaplin [18] | 1990–1992 | John Major | |
Jonathan Hill [19] | 1992–1994 | ||
Howell James [20] [21] [22] | 1994–1997 | ||
Sally Morgan [23] [24] | 1997–2001 | Tony Blair | |
Robert Hill [25] | 2001–2002 | ||
Pat McFadden [26] [27] [28] | 2002–2005 | ||
John McTernan [29] [30] | 2005–2007 | ||
Joe Irvin [31] | 2007–2010 | Gordon Brown | |
Stephen Gilbert [32] [33] | 2010–2015 | David Cameron | |
Laurence Mann [34] | 2015–2016 | ||
Stephen Parkinson [35] | 2016–2019 | Theresa May | |
Danny Kruger [36] [37] [38] | 2019–2019 | Boris Johnson | |
Benjamin Gascoigne [39] [40] [41] | 2019–2021 | ||
Declan Lyons [42] | 2021–2022 | ||
Sophie Jarvis [43] | 2022 | Liz Truss | |
James Forsyth [44] | 2022–2024 | Rishi Sunak |
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the senior decision-making body of the Government of the United Kingdom. A committee of the Privy Council, it is chaired by the Prime Minister and its members include Secretaries of State and senior Ministers of State. 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.
Hilary Jane Armstrong, Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top, DL is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham from 1987 to 2010.
Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos, is a British Labour Party politician and diplomat who served as the eighth UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Before her appointment to the UN, she served as British High Commissioner to Australia. She was created a life peer in 1997, serving as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council from 2003 to 2007.
Alastair John Campbell is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster, and activist, who is known for his political roles during Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair's spokesman and campaign director in opposition (1994–1997), then as Downing Street Press Secretary, and as the Prime Minister's Official Spokesperson (1997–2000). He then became Downing Street's director of communications and spokesman for the Labour Party (2000–2003).
Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, is a British Conservative Party politician who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1979 to 1995.
Margaret Ann Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington,, is a British politician for the Labour Party and former BBC television producer and presenter.
Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal,, is a British diplomat, barrister and politician, serving as the sixth secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations. She was elected at the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and took office on 1 April 2016. She is the first woman to hold the post. She was elevated to the House of Lords in 1997 and, as a British Labour Party politician, served in ministerial positions within the UK Government, most notably as the Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland. She is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Dominica, where she was born.
Marcia Matilda Williams, Baroness Falkender, CBE, also known as Marcia Falkender, was known as the private secretary for, and then the political secretary and head of political office to, UK Labour prime minister Harold Wilson.
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He is the second-longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.
Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi, is a British lawyer, politician, and member of the House of Lords who served as co-chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2012. She served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition, first as the Minister without portfolio between 2010 and 2012, then as the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as the Minister of State for Faith and Communities, until her resignation citing her disagreement with the Government's policy relating to the Israel–Gaza conflict in August 2014.
Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera, is a Ugandan-born British investment banker, and has been chair of Prudential plc since January 2021, having joined the board in May 2020. Until September 2009, she was a government minister jointly for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office. She was chair of Santander UK from March 2015 to October 2020, the first woman to head a major British bank.
The office of Downing Street Chief of Staff is the most senior political appointee in the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, acting as a senior aide to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The holder of the office retains a highly powerful, non-ministerial position within His Majesty's Government.
Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, is a British Labour Party politician and journalist who served in HM Government for five years in the Blair ministry and the Brown ministry. He served as Secretary of State for Transport from 2009 to 2010, and as Chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission from 2015 to 2017. He was Chair of the European Movement, from March 2021 until December 2022 having previously served as Vice-Chairman from 2019 to 2021. He is currently a columnist for The New European.
The Ministerial Code is a document setting out "rules" and standards for government ministers in the United Kingdom. Separate codes exist for ministers of the Scottish Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Welsh Government.
Louise Casey, Baroness Casey of Blackstock,, is a Crossbench peer and former British government official.
The Organisation of Scottish Labour is a body established under the national rules of the UK Labour Party.
The Downing Street Press Secretary is an adviser to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on news media and how to manage the image of the British government to the press. The position is part of the Prime Minister's Office and involves using information on what is happening in the UK and around the world, to decide on how the Prime Minister should present his or her reaction to the media. The incumbent also advises on how to handle news stories and other information which could affect the current Prime Minister or the Ministry.
Natalie Jessica Evans, Baroness Evans of Bowes Park,, is a British politician and member of the House of Lords. A member of the Conservative Party, she was made a life peer in 2014 and from 2016 to 2022 was Leader of the House of Lords. She was the first Leader of the House of Lords to serve under two different prime ministers since Lord Shepherd in 1974, and the longest serving Lords leader since 1951.
Daniel Rayne Kruger is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Wiltshire. He was previously the MP for Devizes in Wiltshire from 2019 until 2024.
Andrew Hood is a British businessman and adviser to the Government of the United Kingdom.