Lord High Treasurer

The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer is an old English (after 1707, British) government position. The holder of the post is third highest of the Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President of the Council. The Lord High Treasurer functions as the head of Her Majesty's Treasury.

Since the 17th century the office has been often held not by a single person but by a board of several individuals known as Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, a practice that become permanent after the resignation of Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury in 1714.

In modern times, by convention, the Prime Minister serves as the "First Lord of the Treasury," and the Chancellor of the Exchequer serves as the "Second Lord of the Treasury." Other members of the Government (usually whips in the House of Commons) are appointed to serve as the junior Lords Commissioner.

Origins

The English Treasury seems to have come into existence around 1126, during the reign of Henry I, as the financial responsibilities were separated from the rest of the job that evolved into Lord Great Chamberlain. The Treasury was originally a section of the Royal Household with custody of the King's money. In 1216, a Treasurer was appointed to take control of the Treasury in Winchester. The Treasurer was also an officer of the Exchequer, and supervised the royal accounts. By Tudor times, the Lord High Treasurer had achieved a place among the Great Officers of State, behind the Lord Chancellor and above the Master of the Horse.

During the sixteenth century, the Lord High Treasurer was often considered the most important official of the government, and became a "de facto" Prime Minister. Exemplifying the power of the Lord High Treasurer is William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, who served in the post from 1572 to 1598. During his tenure, he dominated the administration under Elizabeth I.

The modern commissioners

A rarely-varied system has evolved since then. Today, the First Lord of the Treasury is as a rule the Prime Minister, and the Second Lord of the Treasury is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has inherited most of the functional financial responsibilities.

The next highest ranking commissioners are the Secretaries to the Treasury. They are The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who is also of Cabinet rank and is the senior deputy to the Chancellor of the Exchequer; "The Financial Secretary to the Treasury", who ranks alongside Ministers of State; the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, who rank alongside Parliamentary Under-Secretaries; the "Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury" who doesn't actually have any responsibilities in the Treasury but is instead the Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons and finally the "Permanent Secretary to the Treasury" who must be distinguished from the other secretaries, as he is not a politician but the department's senior civil servant, considered second in rank among all civil servants to the Secretary to the Cabinet.

After the secretaries rank the "Junior Lords of the Treasury" who, though theoretically members of the Treasury Board, in practice serve as Government Whips under the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip).

ee also

*List of Lord High Treasurers
*List of Lords Commissioners of the Treasury