- Secretary of State for Transport
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Secretary of State for Transport 
Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Department for TransportStyle The Right Honourable Appointer David Cameron Inaugural holder Eric Campbell Geddes Formation 19 May 1919 Website Transport United Kingdom 
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The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors.[citation needed] The office used to be called the Minister of Transport and has been merged with the Department for the Environment at various times.
The current Secretary of State for Transport is Justine Greening.
The Secretary of State is supported by a small team of junior Ministers. Each Minister is a Member of Parliament from either the House of Commons or the House of Lords. The number of Ministers supporting the Secretary of State for Transport vary from time to time, but is usually about 3. The titles given to these Ministers also vary. Currently the positions are held by one Minister of State for Transport and two Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State for Transport.
Unfortunately, as far as clarity is concerned, during the tenure of different governments the title of Minister of/for Transport has been used to refer to the Secretary of State for Transport, one or more of the junior Ministers or even both the Secretary of State and the junior Ministers at the same time.
From 2003 until June 2007 the role of Secretary of State for Transport was combined with the role of Secretary of State for Scotland. This arrangement changed on 28 June 2007, when in the appointment of his first Cabinet, Prime Minister Gordon Brown assigned the responsibilities of Secretary of State for Scotland to Des Browne, his Secretary of State for Defence.
The names provided in the sections below are those who have served in a position equivalent to the Secretary of State for Transport.
Minister of Transport
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister Eric Campbell Geddes 19 May 1919 7 November 1921 Conservative David Lloyd George The Viscount Peel 7 November 1921 12 April 1922 Conservative The Earl of Crawford 12 April 1922 31 October 1922 Conservative Sir John Baird, Bt 31 October 1922 22 January 1924 Conservative Andrew Bonar Law Stanley Baldwin Harry Gosling 24 January 1924 3 November 1924 Labour Ramsay MacDonald Wilfrid Ashley 11 November 1924 4 June 1929 Conservative Stanley Baldwin Herbert Morrison 7 June 1929 24 August 1931 Labour Ramsay MacDonald Percy Pybus 3 September 1931 22 February 1933 Liberal Hon. Oliver Stanley 22 February 1933 29 June 1934 Conservative Leslie Hore-Belisha 29 June 1934 28 May 1937 National Liberal Stanley Baldwin Leslie Burgin 28 May 1937 21 April 1939 National Liberal Neville Chamberlain Euan Wallace 21 April 1939 14 May 1940 Conservative John Reith 14 May 1940 3 October 1940 National Independent Winston Churchill John Moore-Brabazon 3 October 1940 1 May 1941 Conservative Minister of War Transport
The Ministry of Transport absorbed the Ministry of Shipping and was renamed the Ministry of War Transport in 1941, but resumed its previous name at the end of the war.
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister The Lord Leathers 1 May 1941 26 July 1945 Conservative Winston Churchill Minister of Civil Aviation
The Ministry of Civil Aviation was created by Winston Churchill in 1944 to look at peaceful ways of using aircraft and to find something for the aircraft factories to do after the war. The new Conservative Government in 1951 appointed the same Minister to Transport and Civil Aviation, finally amalgamating the Ministries on 1 October 1953.
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister The Viscount Swinton 8 October 1944 26 July 1945 Conservative Winston Churchill The Lord Winster 4 August 1945 4 October 1946 Labour Clement Attlee The Lord Nathan 4 October 1946 31 May 1948 Labour The Lord Pakenham 31 May 1948 1 June 1951 Labour The Lord Ogmore 1 June 1951 26 October 1951 Labour Hon. John Maclay 31 October 1951 7 May 1952 National Liberal Sir Winston Churchill Alan Lennox-Boyd 7 May 1952 1 October 1953 Conservative Minister of Transport
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister Alfred Barnes 3 August 1945 26 October 1951 Labour Clement Attlee Hon. John Maclay 31 October 1951 7 May 1952 National Liberal Sir Winston Churchill Alan Lennox-Boyd 7 May 1952 1 October 1953 Conservative Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister Alan Lennox-Boyd 1 October 1953 28 July 1954 Conservative Sir Winston Churchill John Boyd-Carpenter 28 July 1954 20 December 1955 Conservative Harold Watkinson 20 December 1955 14 October 1959 Conservative Sir Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan Minister of Transport
The Ministry was renamed back to the Ministry of Transport on 14 October 1959.
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister Ernest Marples 14 October 1959 16 October 1964 Conservative Harold Macmillan Sir Alec Douglas-Home Thomas Fraser 16 October 1964 23 December 1965 Labour Harold Wilson Barbara Castle 23 December 1965 6 April 1968 Labour Richard Marsh 6 April 1968 6 October 1969 Labour Fred Mulley 6 October 1969 19 June 1970 Labour John Peyton 23 June 1970 15 October 1970 Conservative Edward Heath Transport responsibilities were subsumed by the Department of the Environment from 15 October 1970 to 10 September 1976. This shows the junior minister responsible for transport within that department.
Minister for Transport Industries
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister John Peyton 15 October 1970 4 March 1974 Conservative Edward Heath Minister for Transport
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister Fred Mulley 7 March 1974 12 June 1975 Labour Harold Wilson John Gilbert 12 June 1975 10 September 1976 Labour Secretary of State for Transport
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister Bill Rodgers 10 September 1976 4 May 1979 Labour James Callaghan Minister of Transport
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister Norman Fowler 11 May 1979 5 January 1981 Conservative Margaret Thatcher Secretary of State for Transport
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister Norman Fowler 5 January 1981 14 September 1981 Conservative Margaret Thatcher David Howell 14 September 1981 11 June 1983 Conservative Tom King 11 June 1983 16 October 1983 Conservative Hon. Nicholas Ridley 16 October 1983 21 May 1986 Conservative John Moore 21 May 1986 13 June 1987 Conservative Paul Channon 13 June 1987 24 July 1989 Conservative Cecil Parkinson 24 July 1989 28 November 1990 Conservative Malcolm Rifkind 28 November 1990 10 April 1992 Conservative John Major John MacGregor 10 April 1992 20 July 1994 Conservative Brian Mawhinney 20 July 1994 5 July 1995 Conservative Sir George Young, Bt 5 July 1995 2 May 1997 Conservative Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was created in 1997 for Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
Name Portrait Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister John Prescott 
2 May 1997 8 June 2001 Labour Tony Blair From 1997 to 2001, the Ministers of State with responsibility for Transport were:
- Gavin Strang (3 May 1997 - 27 July 1998)
- John Reid (27 July 1998 - 17 May 1999)
- Helen Liddell (17 May 1999 - 29 July 1999)
- Lord Macdonald of Tradeston (29 July 1999 - 8 June 2001)
John Reid attended cabinet meetings, but was not formally a member of the cabinet whereas Gavin Strang was given a seat in the cabinet when he held the position.
Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was widely considered unwieldy and so was broken up, with the Transport functions now combined with Local Government and the Regions in the DTLR (Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions). Critics argued from the outset that this was a mistake and that a post of Secretary of State for Transport was needed in its own right.
Name Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister Stephen Byers 8 June 2001 29 May 2002 Labour Tony Blair After Byers' resignation, such a division was made, with the portfolios of Local Government and the Regions transferred to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
During the lifetime of DTLGR, John Spellar served as Minister of State for Transport with a right to attend Cabinet.
Secretary of State for Transport
Name Portrait Took office Left office Political party Prime Minister Alistair Darling 
29 May 2002 5 May 2006 Labour Tony Blair Douglas Alexander 
5 May 2006 27 June 2007 Labour Ruth Kelly 
28 June 2007 3 October 2008 Labour Gordon Brown Geoff Hoon 
3 October 2008 5 June 2009 Labour The Lord Adonis 
5 June 2009 11 May 2010 Labour Philip Hammond 
12 May 2010[1] 14 October 2011 Conservative David Cameron Justine Greening 14 October 2011 Incumbent Conservative David Cameron See also
References
- ^ "Out with the old cabinet, in with the new". Public Service. http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=12922. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
External links
Department for Transport of the United Kingdom 55 Victoria Street · Great Minster House · SouthsideMinisters Secretary of State for Transport · Minister of State for Transport · 2 Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of StateExecutive agencies Non-departmental public bodies British Transport Police Authority · Northern Lighthouse Board · Passenger Focus · Trinity House Lighthouse ServiceOther Categories:- Lists of government ministers of the United Kingdom
- Current ministerial offices in the United Kingdom
- Department for Transport
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