Chancellor of the Exchequer

Chancellor of the Exchequer
Arms of Her Majesty's Government Her Majesty's Treasury
Incumbent George Osborne since 11 May 2010
Style	The Right Honourable
Residence	11 Downing Street London, England, United Kingdom
Appointer	The Prime Minister
Inaugural holder	Hervey de Stanton (England only)
Formation	22 June 1316

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The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the Treasury in other nations. The position is considered one of the four Great Offices of State and in recent times has come to be the most powerful office in British politics after the Prime Minister. It is the only office of the four Great Offices not to have been occupied by a woman.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is now always Second Lord of the Treasury as one of the Lords Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Treasurer. In the 18th and early 19th centuries it was common for the Prime Minister to also serve as Chancellor of the Exchequer if he sat in the Commons; the last Chancellor who was simultaneously Prime Minister & Chancellor of the Exchequer was Stanley Baldwin in 1923. Formerly, in cases when the Chancellorship was vacant, the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench would act as Chancellor pro tempore.^[1] The last Lord Chief Justice to serve in this way was Lord Denman in 1834.

The Chancellor is the third-oldest major state office in English and British history,^{[citation needed]} one which originally carried responsibility for the Exchequer, the medieval English institution for the collection of royal revenues, The Exchequer dates from the time of Henry I. The Chancellor controlled monetary policy as well as fiscal policy until 1997, when the Bank of England was granted independent control of its interest rates. The Chancellor also has oversight of public spending across Government departments.

The office should not be confused with those of the Lord Chancellor or the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, both Cabinet posts, the Chancellor of the High Court, a senior judge, or the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, a defunct judicial office.

The current Chancellor of the Exchequer is George Osborne.

Roles and responsibilities

A previous Chancellor, Robert Lowe, described the office in the following terms in the House of Commons, on 11 April 1870: "The Chancellor of the Exchequer is a man whose duties make him more or less of a taxing machine. He is entrusted with a certain amount of misery which it is his duty to distribute as fairly as he can."

Fiscal policy

The Chancellor has considerable control over other departments as it is the Treasury which sets departmental expenditure limits. The amount of power this gives to an individual Chancellor depends on his personal forcefulness, his status with his party and his relationship with the Prime Minister. Gordon Brown, who became Chancellor when Labour came into Government in 1997, had a large personal power base in the party. Perhaps as a result, Tony Blair chose to keep him in his job throughout his ten years as Prime Minister; making Brown an unusually dominant figure and the longest serving Chancellor since the Reform Act of 1832.^[2] This situation has strengthened a pre-existing trend towards the Chancellorship moving into a clear second among government offices, elevated above its traditional peers, the Foreign Secretaryship and Home Secretaryship.

One part of the Chancellor's key roles involves the framing of the annual Budget, which is summarised in a speech to the House of Commons. Traditionally the budget speech was delivered on Budget Day, a Tuesday (although not always) in March, as Britain's tax year follows the Julian Calendar. From 1993, the Budget was preceded by an annual 'Autumn Statement', now called the Pre-Budget Report, which forecasts government spending in the next year and usually takes place in November or December. This preview of the next year's Budget is also referred to as the "mini-Budget". The 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Budgets were all delivered on a Wednesday.

Monetary policy

Although the Bank of England is responsible for setting interest rates, the Chancellor also plays an important part in the monetary policy structure. He sets the inflation target which the Bank must set interest rates to meet. Under the Bank of England Act 1998 the Chancellor has the power of appointment of four out of nine members of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee - the so-called 'external' members. He also has a high level of influence over the appointment of the Bank's Governor and Deputy Governors, and has the right of consultation over the appointment of the two remaining MPC members from within the Bank.^[3] The Act also provides that the Government has the power to give instructions to the Bank on interest rates for a limited period in extreme circumstances. This power has never been used.

Ministerial arrangements

At HM Treasury the Chancellor is supported by a political team of four junior ministers and by permanent civil servants. The most important junior minister is the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, a member of the Cabinet, to whom the negotiations with other government departments on the details of government spending are delegated, followed by the Paymaster General, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. Two other officials are given the title of a Secretary to the Treasury, although neither is a government minister in the Treasury: the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury is the Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons; the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury is not a minister but the senior civil servant in the Treasury.

The holder of the office of Chancellor is ex-officio Second Lord of the Treasury. As Second Lord, his official residence is Number 11 Downing Street in London, next door to the residence of the First Lord of the Treasury (a post usually, though not always, held by the Prime Minister), who resides in 10 Downing Street. While in the past both houses were private residences, today they serve as interlinked offices, with the occupant living in a small apartment made from attic rooms previously resided in by servants.

The Chancellor is obliged to be a member of the Privy Council, and thus is styled the Right Honourable (Rt. Hon.). Because the House of Lords is excluded from Finance bills, the office is effectively limited to members of the House of Commons.

Perquisites of office

Official residence

The Chancellor's official residence is No. 11 Downing Street. In 1997, the then First and Second Lords, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown respectively, swapped apartments, as the Chancellor's apartment in No. 11 was bigger and thus better suited to the needs of Blair (who had children) than Brown who was at that stage unmarried. So although No. 11 was still officially Brown's residence, he actually resided in the apartment in the attic of No. 10, and Blair — although officially residing in No. 10 — actually lived in the attic apartment of No. 11.

Dorneywood

Main article: Dorneywood

Dorneywood is the summer residence that is traditionally made available to the Chancellor, though it is the Prime Minister who ultimately decides who may use it. Gordon Brown, on becoming Chancellor in 1997, refused to use it and the house, which is set in 215 acres (87 ha)^[4] of parkland, was allocated to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. It reverted to the Chancellor in 2007, then Alistair Darling.^[5]

Budget box

Budget box or Gladstone box, c. 1860

The Chancellor traditionally carries his Budget speech to the House of Commons in a particular red briefcase. The Chancellor's red briefcase is identical to the briefcases used by all other government ministers (known as ministerial boxes or "red boxes") to transport their official papers but is better known because the Chancellor traditionally displays the briefcase, containing the Budget speech, to the press in the morning before delivering the speech.

The original Budget briefcase was first used by William Ewart Gladstone in 1860 and continued in use until 1965 when James Callaghan was the first Chancellor to break with tradition when he used a newer box. Prior to Gladstone, a generic red briefcase of varying design and specification was used. The practice is said to have begun in the late 16th century, when Queen Elizabeth I's representative Francis Throckmorton presented the Spanish Ambassador, Bernardino de Mendoza, with a specially constructed red briefcase filled with black puddings.^{[citation needed]}

In July 1997, Gordon Brown became the second Chancellor to use a new box for the Budget. Made by industrial trainees at Babcock Rosyth Defence Ltd ship and submarine dockyard in Fife, the new box is made of yellow pine, with a brass handle and lock, covered in scarlet leather and embossed with the Royal initials and crest and the Chancellor's title. In his first Budget, in March 2008, Alistair Darling reverted to using the original budget briefcase and his successor, George Osborne, continued this tradition for his first budget, before announcing that it would be retired due to its fragile condition.^[6] The key to the original budget box has been lost. ^[7]

Budget tipple

By tradition, the Chancellor has been allowed to drink whatever he or she wishes whilst making the annual Budget Speech to parliament. This includes alcohol, which is otherwise banned under parliamentary rules.

Previous Chancellors have opted for whisky (Kenneth Clarke), gin and tonic (Geoffrey Howe), brandy and water (Benjamin Disraeli), spritzer (Nigel Lawson) and sherry and beaten egg (William Gladstone).^[8]

The most recent former Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has, like his predecessor Gordon Brown, opted for water.^[9]

List of Chancellors of the Exchequer

Colour key
(for political parties)

  Whig

  Tory

  Conservative

  Peelite/Whig

  Liberal

  Liberal Unionist

  Labour

  National Labour

  National Liberal

  National

Chancellors of the Exchequer of England, 1316-c. 1558

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office
Hervey de Stanton		1316	1327
William Catesby		1483
John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex		1533	1540

Chancellors of the Exchequer of England, c. 1558-1708

John Fortescue of Salden, Chancellor to Queen Elizabeth I and King James I of England for 14 years

Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office
Sir John Baker		c. 1558	c. 1559
Sir Richard Sackville		c. 1559	1566
Sir Walter Mildmay		1566	1589
Sir John Fortescue		1589	1603
The Earl of Dunbar		1603	1606
Sir Julius Caesar		1606	1614
Sir Fulke Greville		1614	1621
Sir Richard Weston		1621	1628
The Lord Barrett of Newburgh		1628	1629
Francis Cottington, Lord Cottington from 1631		1629	1642
Sir John Colepeper MP		2 January 1642	22 February 1643 [10]
Sir Edward Hyde		February 1643 [11]	1646
The Lord Ashley		13 May 1661	22 November 1672
Sir John Duncombe MP		22 November 1672	2 May 1676
Sir John Ernle MP		2 May 1676	9 April 1689
The Lord Delamere		9 April 1689	18 March 1690
Richard Hampden MP		18 March 1690	10 May 1694
Charles Montagu MP		10 May 1694	2 June 1699
John Smith MP		2 June 1699	27 March 1701
Henry Boyle MP		27 March 1701	22 April 1708

Chancellors of the Exchequer of Great Britain, 1708-1817

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
	Sir John Smith		22 April 1708	11 August 1710	Whig
	Robert Harley		11 August 1710	4 June 1711	Tory
	Robert Benson		4 June 1711	21 August 1713	Tory
	Sir William Wyndham, Bt		21 August 1713	13 October 1714	Tory
	Sir Richard Onslow, Bt		13 October 1714	12 October 1715	Whig
	Robert Walpole		12 October 1715	15 April 1717	Whig
	The Viscount Stanhope		15 April 1717	20 March 1718	Whig
	John Aislabie		20 March 1718	23 January 1721	Whig
	Sir John Pratt (interim - Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench)		2 February 1721	3 April 1721	Whig
	Sir Robert Walpole		3 April 1721	12 February 1742	Whig	Sir Robert Walpole
	Samuel Sandys		12 February 1742	12 December 1743	Whig	The Earl of Wilmington
	Henry Pelham[12]		12 December 1743	8 March 1754	Whig	Henry Pelham
	Sir William Lee (interim - Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench)		8 March 1754	6 April 1754	Whig	The Duke of Newcastle
	Henry Bilson Legge		6 April 1754	25 November 1755	Whig
	Sir George Lyttelton, Bt		25 November 1755	16 November 1756	Whig
	Henry Bilson Legge		16 November 1756	13 April 1757	Whig	The Duke of Devonshire
	The Lord Mansfield (interim - Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench)		13 April 1757	2 July 1757	Whig	The Duke of Newcastle
	Henry Bilson Legge		2 July 1757	19 March 1761	Whig
	The Viscount Barrington (Held an Irish Peerage and sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain)		19 March 1761	29 May 1762	Whig
	Sir Francis Dashwood, Bt		29 May 1762	16 April 1763	Tory	The Earl of Bute
	George Grenville[12]		16 April 1763	16 July 1765	Whig	George Grenville
	William Dowdeswell		16 July 1765	2 August 1766	Whig	The Marquess of Rockingham
	Charles Townshend[13]		2 August 1766	4 September 1767 (died)	Whig	The Earl of Chatham
	Lord North[12] (Held a courtesy title and sat in the Commons)		11 September 1767	27 March 1782	Tory	The Duke of Grafton
						Lord North
	Lord John Cavendish		27 March 1782	10 July 1782	Whig	The Marquess of Rockingham
	William Pitt the Younger		10 July 1782	31 March 1783	Whig	The Earl of Shelburne
	Lord John Cavendish		2 April 1783	19 December 1783	Whig (Fox-North Coalition)	The Duke of Portland
	William Pitt the Younger[12]		19 December 1783	14 March 1801	Tory	William Pitt the Younger
	Henry Addington[12]		14 March 1801	10 May 1804	Tory	Henry Addington
	William Pitt the Younger [12][13]		10 May 1804	23 January 1806 (died)	Tory	William Pitt the Younger
	Lord Henry Petty		5 February 1806	26 March 1807	Whig (Ministry of All the Talents)	Lord Grenville
	Spencer Perceval[13]		26 March 1807	12 May 1812 (died)	Tory	The Duke of Portland
						Spencer Perceval
	Nicholas Vansittart		12 May 1812	12 July 1817	Tory	Lord Liverpool

Chancellors of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, 1817-1902

Although the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland had been united by the Act of Union 1800 (39 & 40 Geo. III c. 67), the Exchequers of the two Kingdoms were not consolidated until 1817 under 56 Geo. III c. 98.^[14] For the holders of the Irish office before this date, see Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
	Nicholas Vansittart		12 July 1817	31 January 1823	Tory	Lord Liverpool
	F. J. Robinson		31 January 1823	20 April 1827	Tory
	George Canning[13]		20 April 1827	8 August 1827 (died)	Tory	George Canning
	The Lord Tenterden (interim - Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench)		8 August 1827	3 September 1827	Tory	The Viscount Goderich
	John Charles Herries		3 September 1827	26 January 1828	Tory
	Henry Goulburn		26 January 1828	22 November 1830	Tory	The Duke of Wellington
	Viscount Althorp		22 November 1830	14 November 1834	Whig	The Earl Grey
						The Viscount Melbourne
	The Lord Denman (interim - Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench)		14 November 1834	15 December 1834	Whig (Conservative Provisional Government)	The Duke of Wellington
	Sir Robert Peel, Bt		15 December 1834	8 April 1835	Conservative	Sir Robert Peel, Bt
	Thomas Spring Rice		18 April 1835	26 August 1839	Whig	The Viscount Melbourne
	Francis Baring		26 August 1839	30 August 1841	Whig
	Henry Goulburn		3 September 1841	27 June 1846	Conservative	Sir Robert Peel, Bt
	Sir Charles Wood, Bt		6 July 1846	21 February 1852	Whig	Lord John Russell
	Benjamin Disraeli		27 February 1852	17 December 1852	Conservative	The Earl of Derby
	William Ewart Gladstone		28 December 1852	28 February 1855	Peelite (Coalition)	The Earl of Aberdeen
	Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bt		28 February 1855	21 February 1858	Whig	The Viscount Palmerston
	Benjamin Disraeli		26 February 1858	11 June 1859	Conservative	The Earl of Derby
	William Ewart Gladstone		18 June 1859	26 June 1866	Liberal	The Viscount Palmerston
						The Earl Russell
	Benjamin Disraeli		6 July 1866	29 February 1868	Conservative	The Earl of Derby
	George Ward Hunt		29 February 1868	1 December 1868	Conservative	Benjamin Disraeli
	Robert Lowe		9 December 1868	11 August 1873	Liberal	William Ewart Gladstone
	William Ewart Gladstone[12]		11 August 1873	17 February 1874	Liberal
	Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt		21 February 1874	21 April 1880	Conservative	Benjamin Disraeli
	William Ewart Gladstone[12]		28 April 1880	16 December 1882	Liberal	William Ewart Gladstone
	Hugh Childers		16 December 1882	9 June 1885	Liberal
	Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt		24 June 1885	28 January 1886	Conservative	The Marquess of Salisbury
	Sir William Vernon Harcourt		6 February 1886	20 July 1886	Liberal	William Ewart Gladstone
	Lord Randolph Churchill		3 August 1886	22 December 1886	Conservative	The Marquess of Salisbury
	George Goschen		14 January 1887	11 August 1892	Liberal Unionist
	Sir William Vernon Harcourt		18 August 1892	21 June 1895	Liberal	William Ewart Gladstone
						The Earl of Rosebery
	Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt		29 June 1895	11 August 1902	Conservative	The Marquess of Salisbury

Chancellors of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, 1902 to date

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
	Charles Ritchie		11 August 1902	9 October 1903	Conservative	Arthur Balfour
	Austen Chamberlain		9 October 1903	4 December 1905	Liberal Unionist
	H. H. Asquith		10 December 1905	12 April 1908	Liberal	Henry Campbell-Bannerman
	David Lloyd George		12 April 1908	25 May 1915	Liberal	H. H. Asquith
	Reginald McKenna		25 May 1915	10 December 1916	Liberal (Coalition)
	Andrew Bonar Law		10 December 1916	10 January 1919	Conservative (Coalition)	David Lloyd George
	Austen Chamberlain		10 January 1919	1 April 1921
	Sir Robert Horne		1 April 1921	19 October 1922
	Stanley Baldwin		27 October 1922	27 August 1923	Conservative	Andrew Bonar Law
						Stanley Baldwin
	Neville Chamberlain		27 August 1923	22 January 1924	Conservative
	Philip Snowden		22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour	Ramsay MacDonald
	Winston Churchill		6 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative	Stanley Baldwin
	Philip Snowden		7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour	Ramsay MacDonald
			24 August 1931	5 November 1931	National Labour (National Government)
	Neville Chamberlain		5 November 1931	28 May 1937	Conservative (National Government)
						Stanley Baldwin
	Sir John Simon		28 May 1937	12 May 1940	Liberal National (National Government; War Government)	Neville Chamberlain
	Sir Kingsley Wood [13]		12 May 1940	21 September 1943 (died)	Conservative (Coalition)	Winston Churchill
	Sir John Anderson		24 September 1943	26 July 1945	National Independent (Coalition)
	Hugh Dalton		27 July 1945	13 November 1947	Labour	Clement Attlee
	Sir Stafford Cripps		13 November 1947	19 October 1950	Labour
	Hugh Gaitskell		19 October 1950	26 October 1951	Labour
	R. A. Butler		26 October 1951	20 December 1955	Conservative	Sir Winston Churchill
	Harold Macmillan		20 December 1955	13 January 1957	Conservative	Sir Anthony Eden
	Peter Thorneycroft		13 January 1957	6 January 1958	Conservative	Harold Macmillan
	Derick Heathcoat-Amory		6 January 1958	27 July 1960	Conservative
	Selwyn Lloyd		27 July 1960	13 July 1962	Conservative
	Reginald Maudling		13 July 1962	16 October 1964	Conservative
						Sir Alec Douglas-Home
	James Callaghan		16 October 1964	30 November 1967	Labour	Harold Wilson
	Roy Jenkins		30 November 1967	19 June 1970	Labour
	Iain Macleod[13]		20 June 1970	20 July 1970 (died)	Conservative	Edward Heath
	Anthony Barber		25 July 1970	28 February 1974	Conservative
	Denis Healey		1 March 1974	4 May 1979	Labour	Harold Wilson
						James Callaghan
	Sir Geoffrey Howe		4 May 1979	11 June 1983	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher
	Nigel Lawson		11 June 1983	26 October 1989	Conservative
	John Major		26 October 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative
	Norman Lamont		28 November 1990	27 May 1993	Conservative	John Major
	Kenneth Clarke		27 May 1993	2 May 1997	Conservative
	Gordon Brown		2 May 1997	27 June 2007	Labour	Tony Blair
	Alistair Darling		28 June 2007	11 May 2010	Labour	Gordon Brown
	George Osborne		11 May 2010	incumbent	Conservative (Coalition)	David Cameron

See also

• List of Lord High Treasurers
• Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

Notes and references

1. ^ Joseph Haydn, Horace Ockerby (ed.): The Book of Dignities, 3rd edition, Part III (Political and Official), p. 164. W.H. Allen & Co., London 1894, reprinted by Firecrest Publishing Ltd, Pancakes, 1969
2. ^ "Gordon Brown: Encyclopedia II - Gordon Brown - Chancellor of the Exchequer". Experiencefestival.com. http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Gordon_Brown_-_Chancellor_of_the_Exchequer/id/1434949. Retrieved 2010-05-02. 
3. ^ "Monetary Policy | Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) | Framework". Bank of England. 1997-05-06. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetarypolicy/framework.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-02. 
4. ^ Burnham Parish Council - Local History
5. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
6. ^ The Guardian, 11 March 2011
7. ^ Alistair Darling, Back from the Brink(2011)
8. ^ "UK Parliament - budget". Parliament.uk. http://www.parliament.uk/faq/budget.cfm. Retrieved 2010-05-02. 
9. ^ Lydall, Ross. "Chancellor names his preferred Budget tipple â€" a glass of plain London tap water - The Scotsman". Thescotsman.scotsman.com. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/politics/Chancellor--names-his-preferred.3848558.jp. Retrieved 2010-05-02. 
10. ^ DNB
11. ^ DNB
12. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Also served as Prime Minister for some or all of their Chancellorship.
13. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Died in office.
14. ^ Joseph Haydn, Horace Ockerby (ed.): The Book of Dignities, 3rd edition, Part X (Ireland), p. 562. W.H. Allen & Co., London 1894, reprinted by Firecrest Publishing Ltd, Bath, 1969

External links