Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Infobox minister office
border = parliamentary
minister = not_prime
office = Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
&
President of the Board of Trade


incumbent = The Rt. Hon. Peter Mandelson
tookoffice = 3 October 2008
appointed_by = Gordon Brown
governor = Prime Minister
first_minister = Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury
date = (September 16 1672)

The Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry before the June 28, 2007 reshuffle) is a cabinet position in the United Kingdom government. Its secondary title is the President of the Board of Trade. The Secretary of State is responsible for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly the Department of Trade and Industry). The current holder of the post is Peter Mandelson, since 3 October, 2008.

The idea of a Board of Trade was first translated into action by Oliver Cromwell in 1655 when he appointed his son Richard Cromwell to head a body of Lords of the Privy Council, Judges and merchants to consider measures to promote trade. Charles II established a Council of Trade on November 7, 1660 followed by a Council of Foreign Plantations on December 1 that year. The two were united on September 16, 1672 as the Board of Trade and Plantations.

After the Board was re-established in 1696, there were 15 (and later 16) members of the Board - 7 (later 8) Great officers of state, and 8 unofficial members, who did the majority of the work. The senior unofficial member of the board was the President of the Board, commonly known as the First Lord of Trade. The board was abolished on July 11, 1782, but a Committee of the Privy Council was established on March 5, 1784 for the same purposes. On August 23, 1786 a new Committee was set up, more strongly focused on commercial functions than the previous boards of trade. At first the President of the Board of Trade only occasionally sat in the Cabinet, but from the early 19th century it was usually a cabinet level position.

During the government of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the then President of the Board of Trade Edward Heath was given in addition the job of Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development. This title was not continued under Harold Wilson, but when Heath became Prime Minister in 1970 he decided to merge the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology to create the Department of Trade and Industry. The head of this department became known as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and President of the Board of Trade.

When Harold Wilson re-entered office in March 1974, the office was split into the Department of Trade, the Department of Industry and the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection. The title President of the Board of Trade became the secondary title of the Secretary of State for Trade. In 1979 the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection was abolished by the incoming Conservative government and its responsibilities were reintegrated into the Department of Trade. In 1983 the offices of trade and industry were remerged and the title of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry was recreated. When Michael Heseltine held this office, he preferred to be known by the older title of President of the Board of Trade, and this practice was also followed by Ian Lang and Margaret Beckett. Heseltine's decision to reuse the old title caused some comment and it was discovered that the Board of Trade had not in fact met since the mid-nineteenth century.

First Lord of Trade (1672–1782)

* William Vesey Fitzgerald (also Treasurer of the Navy) (June 11, 1828 - February 2, 1830)
* John Charles Herries (also Master of the Mint (February 2, 1830 - November 22, 1830)
* George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland (also Master of the Mint) (November 22, 1830 - June 5, 1834)
* Charles Edward Poulett Thomson (also Treasurer of the Navy) (June 5, 1834 - November 14, 1834)
* Alexander Baring (also Master of the Mint) (December 15, 1834 -April 8, 1835)
* Charles Edward Poulett Thomson (April 18, 1835 - August 29, 1839)
* Henry Labouchere (also Master of the Mint) (August 29, 1839 - August 30, 1841)
* Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon (September 3, 1841 - May 15, 1843)
* William Ewart Gladstone (May 15, 1843 - February 5, 1845)
* James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 10th Earl of Dalhousie (February 5, 1845 - June 27, 1846)
* George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (July 6, 1846 - July 22, 1847)
* Henry Labouchere (July 22, 1847 - February 21, 1852)
* J. W. Henley (February 27, 1852 - December 17, 1852)
* Edward Cardwell (December 28, 1852 - March 31, 1855)
* Edward John Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley (March 31, 1855 - February 21, 1858)
* J. W. Henley (February 26, 1858 - March 3, 1859)
* Richard John Hely-Hutchinson, 4th Earl of Donoughmore (March 3, 1859 - June 11, 1859)
* Thomas Milner Gibson (July 6, 1859 - June 26, 1866)
* Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt (July 6, 1866 - March 8, 1867)
* Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond (March 8, 1867 - December 1, 1868)
* John Bright (December 9, 1868 - January 14, 1871)
* Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue (January 14, 1871 - February 17, 1874)
* Sir Charles Adderley (February 21, 1874 - April 4, 1878)
* Dudley Francis Stuart Ryder, Viscount Sandon (April 4, 1878 - April 21, 1880)
* Joseph Chamberlain (May 3, 1880 - June 9, 1885)
* Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond (June 24, 1885 - August 19, 1885)
* Edward Stanhope (August 19, 1885 - January 28, 1886)
* Anthony John Mundella (February 17, 1886 - July 20, 1886)
* Frederick Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Preston (August 3, 1886 - February 21, 1888)
* Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Bt (February 21, 1888 - August 11, 1892)
* Anthony John Mundella (August 18, 1892 - May 28, 1894)
* James Bryce (May 28, 1894 - June 21, 1895)
* Charles Thomson Ritchie (June 29, 1895 - November 7, 1900)

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and President of the Board of Trade (1970–1974)

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and President of the Board of Trade (1983–2007)

† - Primarily referred to as President of the Board of Trade, and not as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

†† - Alan Johnson was initially announced on May 6, 2005, after the General Election, as being "Secretary of State for Productivity, Energy and Industry and President of the Board of Trade", but after just a week, on May 13, it was declared that the title's and department's name would not be renamed, after widespread derision of the new name.

ecretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, President of the Board of Trade (since 2007)