Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Incumbent Vacant since 5 November 2024
Appointer	Leader of the Opposition
Website	Shadow Cabinet

The Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is a position in the United Kingdom's Shadow Cabinet that was created on 6 December 2005 by the then-Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron for his shadow cabinet. From 2005 to 2010, the office was known as Senior Member of the Shadow Cabinet, and from 2015 to 2023, the office was known as Shadow First Secretary of State. From 2010 to 2015 and again since 2023, the office has been known as Shadow Deputy Prime Minister.

Even though the role has no specific responsibilities attached to it, the holder of the position shadows the First Secretary of State and/or Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and deputises for the Leader of the Opposition in Prime Minister's Questions when the First Secretary or Deputy PM is deputising for the Prime Minister. ^[1]

Since 5 November 2024, the position is vacant with Alex Burghart informally deputising for the Leader of the Opposition. The most recent holder of the position is Oliver Dowden.

List of Shadow Deputy Prime Ministers

Deputy Leader			Term of Office		Concurrent position	Political Party	Leader of the Opposition
	Arthur Greenwood		23 May 1945	26 July 1945	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party	Labour	Clement Attlee
	Anthony Eden		26 July 1945	26 October 1951	Shadow Foreign Secretary	Conservative	Winston Churchill
	Oliver Stanley Acting		January 1949 [2]	March 1949	Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative
	Herbert Morrison		26 October 1951	25 November 1955	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party	Labour	Clement Attlee
	Unknown		25 November 1955	2 February 1956		Labour	Herbert Morrison
							Hugh Gaitskell
	Jim Griffiths		2 February 1956	24 October 1959	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party	Labour
	Aneurin Bevan		24 October 1959	6 July 1960	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary	Labour
	Unknown		6 July 1960	10 November 1960		Labour
	George Brown		10 November 1960	18 January 1963	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Shadow Minister of Defence (1960–1962) Shadow Home Secretary (1962–1963)	Labour
	Unknown		18 January 1963	14 February 1963		Labour	George Brown
	George Brown		14 February 1963	16 October 1964	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Shadow Home Secretary	Labour	Harold Wilson
	Reginald Maudling		29 October 1964	20 June 1970	Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (1964–1965) Shadow Foreign Secretary (1965) Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party (1965–1970) Shadow Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs (1966–1968) Shadow Secretary of State for Defence (1968)	Conservative	Alec Douglas-Home Edward Heath
	Unknown		20 June 1970	8 July 1970		Labour	Harold Wilson
	Roy Jenkins		8 July 1970	10 April 1972	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer	Labour
	Unknown		10 April 1972	25 April 1972		Labour
	Edward Short		25 April 1972	4 March 1974	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science (1972) Shadow Leader of the House of Commons (1972–1974)	Labour
	Robert Carr		12 March 1974	11 February 1975	Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	Edward Heath
	William Whitelaw		11 February 1975	4 May 1979	Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party Shadow Home Secretary (1976–1979)	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher
	Michael Foot		4 May 1979	13 November 1980	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Shadow Leader of the House of Commons	Labour	James Callaghan
	Denis Healey		13 November 1980	2 October 1983	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary	Labour	Michael Foot
	Roy Hattersley		2 October 1983	18 July 1992	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (1983–1987) Shadow Home Secretary (1987–1992)	Labour	Neil Kinnock
	Margaret Beckett		18 July 1992	12 May 1994	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Shadow Leader of the House of Commons	Labour	John Smith
	Unknown		12 May 1994	21 July 1994		Labour	Margaret Beckett
	John Prescott		21 July 1994	2 May 1997	Deputy Leader of the Labour Party	Labour	Tony Blair
	Michael Heseltine		2 May 1997	19 June 1997	Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster	Conservative	John Major
	Unknown		19 June 1997	1 June 1998		Conservative	William Hague
	Peter Lilley		1 June 1998	15 June 1999	Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party	Conservative
	Unknown		15 June 1999	1 February 2000		Conservative
	Michael Portillo		1 February 2000	18 September 2001	Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative
	Michael Ancram		18 September 2001	6 December 2005	Shadow Foreign Secretary (2001–2005) Shadow Secretary of State for Defence (2005)	Conservative	Iain Duncan Smith Michael Howard
Senior Member			Term of Office		Concurrent position	Political Party	Leader of the Opposition
	William Hague		6 December 2005	11 May 2010	Shadow Foreign Secretary	Conservative	David Cameron
Shadow Deputy Prime Minister			Term of Office		Concurrent position	Political Party	Leader of the Opposition
	Jack Straw		11 May 2010	25 September 2010	Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Shadow Lord Chancellor	Labour	Harriet Harman
	Harriet Harman		7 October 2010	8 May 2015	Deputy Leader of the Opposition Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Chair of the Labour Party Shadow Secretary of State for International Development (2010–2011) Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (2011–2015)	Labour	Ed Miliband
Shadow First Secretary			Term of Office		Concurrent position	Political Party	Leader of the Opposition
	Hilary Benn		11 May 2015	13 September 2015	Shadow Foreign Secretary	Labour	Harriet Harman
	Angela Eagle		13 September 2015	27 June 2016	Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills	Labour	Jeremy Corbyn
Office not in use from June 2016 to June 2017.
	Emily Thornberry		14 June 2017	5 April 2020	Shadow Foreign Secretary	Labour	Jeremy Corbyn
	Angela Rayner		9 April 2020	4 September 2023	Deputy Leader of the Opposition Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Chair of the Labour Party (2020–2021) Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (2021–2023) Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office (2021–2023)	Labour	Keir Starmer
Shadow Deputy Prime Minister			Term of Office		Concurrent position	Political Party	Leader of the Opposition
	Angela Rayner		4 September 2023	5 July 2024	Deputy Leader of the Opposition Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities	Labour	Keir Starmer
	Oliver Dowden		5 July 2024	5 November 2024	Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster	Conservative	Rishi Sunak
Office not in use Since November 2024.

See also

• Official Opposition frontbench
• Shadow Cabinet of Rishi Sunak
• Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office

References

1. "Brexit: Green and Thornberry Prime Minister's Questions clash". BBC News Online . Retrieved 12 July 2017.
2. "Mr Oliver Stanley 's Lifetime of Political Service". The Glasgow Herald. 12 December 1950. p. 8. Retrieved 9 May 2025.