Third Churchill ministry

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Third Churchill ministry
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government, 1952-2022).svg
1951–1955
Churchill portrait NYP 45063.jpg
Date formed26 October 1951 (1951-10-26)
Date dissolved5 April 1955 (1955-04-05)
People and organisations
Monarch
Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill
Deputy Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden
Total no. of members149 appointments
Member party  Conservative Party
Status in legislature Majority
321 / 625(51%)
Opposition party  Labour Party
Opposition leader Clement Attlee
History
Election(s) 1951 general election
Legislature term(s) 40th UK Parliament
Predecessor Second Attlee ministry
Successor Eden ministry

Winston Churchill formed the third Churchill ministry in the United Kingdom after the 1951 general election. He was reappointed as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George VI and oversaw the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 and her coronation.

Contents

History

The Conservative Party returned to power in the United Kingdom after winning the 1951 general election following six years in opposition. This was the first majority Conservative government formed since Stanley Baldwin's 1924–1929 ministry. Winston Churchill became Prime Minister for a second time. Churchill's government had several prominent figures and up-and-coming stars. Rab Butler was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer while Sir Anthony Eden returned as Foreign Secretary. The noted Scottish lawyer Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, who had gained fame as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, became Home Secretary. He remained in this post until 1954, when he was ennobled as Viscount Kilmuir and appointed Lord Chancellor. Future Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan achieved his first major Cabinet position when he was made Minister of Defence in 1954.

Gwilym Lloyd George, younger son of former Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister David Lloyd George, replaced Sir David Maxwell Fyfe as Home Secretary in 1954. Florence Horsbrugh became the first woman to hold a Cabinet post in a Conservative government when she was appointed Minister of Education in 1951. Several figures who were later to achieve high offices held their first governmental posts. These included: future Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath, future Chancellors of the Exchequer Reginald Maudling, Peter Thorneycroft and Iain Macleod and future Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington. Other notable figures in the government were: John Profumo, Bill Deedes, David Ormsby-Gore and the Fifth Marquess of Salisbury.

The Churchill ministry was mainly concerned with international affairs, the widening Cold War and decolonialisation (especially the Mau Mau Uprising and the Malayan Emergency).

Despite suffering a stroke in 1953, Churchill remained in office until April 1955, when he resigned at the age of eighty. He was succeeded by his ambitious protégé and deputy, Sir Anthony Eden, who finally reached the post he had coveted for so long; although his premiership was to last for less than two years.

1955 cabinet

Prime Minister Winston Churchill's 1955 cabinet. See Wikimedia Commons for a guide to those pictured. Churchillcabinet1955.png
Prime Minister Winston Churchill's 1955 cabinet. See Wikimedia Commons for a guide to those pictured.

List of ministers

Members of the Cabinet are in bold face.

OfficeNameDatesNotes
Prime Minister
and First Lord of the Treasury
Winston Churchill 26 October 1951 – 5 April 1955Knighted 1953
Lord Chancellor The Lord Simonds 30 October 1951 
The Viscount Kilmuir 18 October 1954 
Lord President of the Council The Lord Woolton 28 October 1951 
The Marquess of Salisbury 24 November 1952also Leader of the House of Lords
Lord Privy Seal The Marquess of Salisbury 28 October 1951also Leader of the House of Lords
Harry Crookshank 7 May 1952also Leader of the House of Commons
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rab Butler 28 October 1951 
Minister of Economic Affairs Sir Arthur Salter 31 October 1951Office abolished 24 November 1952
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury Patrick Buchan-Hepburn 30 October 1951 
Financial Secretary to the Treasury John Boyd-Carpenter 31 October 1951 
Henry Brooke 28 July 1954 
Economic Secretary to the Treasury Reginald Maudling 24 November 1952 
Lords of the Treasury Harry Mackeson 7 November 1951 – 28 May 1952 
Herbert Butcher 7 November 1951 – 3 July 1953Knighted
Edward Heath 7 November 1951 – April 1955 
Tam Galbraith 7 November 1951 – 4 June 1954 
Dennis Vosper 7 November 1951 – 4 June 1954 
Hendrie Oakshott 28 May 1952 – April 1955 
Martin Redmayne 3 July 1953 – April 1955 
Richard Thompson 28 July 1954 – April 1955 
Gerard Wills 26 October 1954 – April 1955 
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Anthony Eden 28 October 1951Knighted 1954
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Selwyn Lloyd 30 October 1951 – 18 October 1954 
The Marquess of Reading 11 November 1953 – April 1955 
Anthony Nutting 18 October 1954 – April 1955 
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs The Marquess of Reading 31 October 1951 – 11 November 1953 
Anthony Nutting 31 October 1951 – 18 October 1954 
Douglas Dodds-Parker 11 November 1953 – 18 October 1954 
Robin Turton 18 October 1954 – April 1955 
Secretary of State for the Home Department
and Welsh Affairs
Sir David Maxwell Fyfe 28 October 1951 
Hon. Gwilym Lloyd George 18 October 1954 
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department David Llewellyn 5 November 1951 – 14 October 1952 
Sir Hugh Lucas-Tooth 3 February 1952 – April 1955 
The Lord Lloyd 24 November 1952 – 18 October 1954 
The Lord Mancroft 18 October 1954 – April 1955 
First Lord of the Admiralty James Thomas 31 October 1951Viscount Cilcennin
Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty Allan Noble 5 November 1951 
Civil Lord of the Admiralty Simon Wingfield Digby 5 November 1951 
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Sir Thomas Dugdale 31 October 1951Post in Cabinet from 3 September 1953
Derick Heathcoat-Amory 28 July 1954Combined with Minister of Food 18 October 1954
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries The Lord Carrington 5 November 1951 – 18 October 1954 
Richard Nugent 5 November 1951 – April 1955 
The Earl St Aldwyn 18 October 1954 – April 1955 
Secretary of State for Air The Lord de L'Isle and Dudley 31 October 1951 
Under-Secretary of State for Air Nigel Birch 3 November 1951 
Hon. George Ward 29 February 1952 
Secretary of State for the Colonies Oliver Lyttelton 28 October 1951 
Alan Lennox-Boyd 28 July 1954 
Minister of State for the Colonies Alan Lennox-Boyd 2 November 1951 
Henry Hopkinson 7 May 1952 
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies The Earl of Munster 5 November 1951 
The Lord Lloyd 18 October 1954 
Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations The Lord Ismay 28 October 1951 
The Marquess of Salisbury 12 March 1952also Leader of the House of Lords
The Viscount Swinton 24 November 1952 
Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations John Foster 3 November 1951 
Douglas Dodds-Parker 18 October 1954 
Minister for Coordination of Transport, Fuel and Power The Lord Leathers 30 October 1951Office abolished 3 September 1953
Minister of Defence Winston Churchill 28 October 1951As Prime Minister
The Earl Alexander of Tunis 1 March 1952 
Harold Macmillan 18 October 1954 
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Nigel Birch 28 February 1952 
The Lord Carrington 18 October 1954 
Minister of Education Florence Horsbrugh 2 November 1951Office in Cabinet from 3 September 1953
Sir David Eccles 18 October 1954 
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education Kenneth Pickthorn 5 November 1951 
Dennis Vosper 18 October 1954 
Minister of Food Gwilym Lloyd George 31 October 1951Office in Cabinet from 3 September 1953
Derick Heathcoat-Amory 18 October 1954Combined with Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food Charles Hill 31 October 1951 
Minister of Fuel and Power Geoffrey Lloyd 31 October 1951 
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Fuel and Power Lancelot Joynson-Hicks 5 November 1951 
Minister of Health Harry Crookshank 30 October 1951also Leader of the House of Commons
Iain Macleod 7 May 1952 
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health Patricia Hornsby-Smith 3 November 1951 
Minister of Housing and Local Government Harold Macmillan 30 October 1951 
Duncan Sandys 18 October 1954 
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government Ernest Marples 3 November 1951 
William Deedes 18 October 1954 
Minister of Labour and National Service Sir Walter Monckton 28 October 1951 
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour Sir Peter Bennett 31 October 1951 
Harold Watkinson 28 May 1952 
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The Viscount Swinton 31 October 1951Also Minister of Materials
The Lord Woolton 24 November 1952Office in Cabinet
Minister of Materials The Viscount Swinton 31 October 1951Also Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Sir Arthur Salter 24 November 1952 
The Lord Woolton 1 September 1953Also Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Office wound up 16 August 1954
Minister without Portfolio The Earl of Munster 18 October 1954 – April 1955 
Minister of National Insurance Osbert Peake 31 October 1951Combined with Minister of Pensions 3 September 1953
Paymaster General The Lord Cherwell 30 October 1951 
The Earl of Selkirk 11 November 1953Office not in Cabinet
Minister of Pensions Derick Heathcoat-Amory 5 November 1951Combined with Minister of National Insurance 1 September 1953
Osbert Peake 3 September 1953Office in Cabinet from 18 October 1954
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions John George Smyth 5 November 1951 – April 1955 
Robin Turton 5 November 1951 – 18 October 1954 
Ernest Marples 18 October 1954 – April 1955 
Postmaster-General The Earl De La Warr 5 November 1951 
Assistant Postmaster-General David Gammans 5 November 1951 
Secretary of State for Scotland James Stuart 30 October 1951 
Minister of State for Scotland The Earl of Home 2 November 1951 
Under-Secretary of State for Scotland Tom Galbraith 2 November 1951 – 5 April 1955 
William McNair Snadden 2 November 1951 – April 1955 
James Henderson Stewart 4 February 1952 – April 1955 
Minister of Supply Duncan Sandys 31 October 1951 
Selwyn Lloyd 18 October 1954 
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply Toby Low 3 November 1951 
Sir Edward Boyle 28 July 1954 
President of the Board of Trade Peter Thorneycroft 30 October 1951Office in Cabinet by 1955
Minister of State for Trade Derick Heathcoat-Amory 3 September 1953 
Derek Walker-Smith 18 October 1954 
Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade Henry Strauss 3 November 1951 
Secretary for Overseas Trade Henry Hopkinson 3 November 1951 
Harry Mackeson 28 May 1952Office replaced by Minister of State for Trade 3 September 1953
Minister of Transport John Maclay 31 October 1951 
Alan Lennox-Boyd 7 May 1952Ministries of Transport and Civil Aviation merged 1 October 1953
John Boyd-Carpenter 28 July 1954 
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport Joseph Gurney Braithwaite 5 November 1951 – 1 November 1953 
Reginald Maudling 18 April 1952 – 24 November 1952 
John Profumo 24 November 1952 – April 1955 
Hugh Molson 11 November 1953 – April 1955 
Secretary of State for War Anthony Head 31 October 1951 
Under-Secretary of State and Financial Secretary for War James Hutchison 5 November 1951 
Fitzroy Maclean 18 October 1954 
Minister of Works Sir David Eccles 1 November 1951 
Nigel Birch 18 October 1954 
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works Hugh Molson 3 November 1951 
Reginald Bevins 11 November 1953 
Attorney General Sir Lionel Heald 3 November 1951 
Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller 18 October 1954 
Solicitor General Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller 3 November 1951 
Sir Harry Hylton-Foster 18 October 1954 
Lord Advocate James Clyde 2 November 1951 
William Rankine Milligan 30 December 1954 
Solicitor General for Scotland William Rankine Milligan 2 November 1951Not an MP
William Grant 10 January 1955 
Treasurer of the Household Cedric Drewe 7 November 1951Knighted
Comptroller of the Household Roger Conant 7 November 1951 
Tam Galbraith 7 June 1954 
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household Henry Studholme 7 November 1951 
Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms The Earl Fortescue 5 November 1951 
Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard The Earl of Onslow 5 November 1951 
Lords in Waiting The Earl of Birkenhead 5 November 1951 – 28 January 1955 
The Earl of Selkirk 5 November 1951 – 11 November 1953 
The Lord Lloyd 7 November 1951 – 24 November 1952 
The Lord Mancroft 15 December 1952 – 18 October 1954 
The Lord Hawke 11 November 1953 – April 1955 
The Lord Fairfax of Cameron 18 October 1954 – April 1955 
The Lord Chesham 28 January 1955 – April 1955 

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References

Preceded by Government of the United Kingdom
1951–1955
Succeeded by