Minister without portfolio (United Kingdom) explained

Minister without portfolio (United Kingdom) should not be confused with Minister of State without Portfolio.

Post:	United Kingdom Minister without Portfolio
Flag:	Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
Flagsize:	110px
Flagcaption:	Flag of the United Kingdom
Insignia:	Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government) (2022).svg
Insigniasize:	100px
Insigniacaption:	Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government
Incumbent:	Ellie Reeves
Incumbentsince:	6 July 2024
Style:	The Right Honourable
Appointer:	The British Monarch
Nominator:	The Prime Minister
Reports To:	The Prime Minister
Department:	Cabinet Office
Termlength:	No fixed term
Salary:	£159,038 per annum ^[1] (including £86,584 MP salary)^[2]
Website:	GOV.UK

In the United Kingdom, the minister without portfolio is often a cabinet position, or often attends cabinet. The role is sometimes used to enable the chairman of the governing party, contemporarily either the chairman of the Conservative Party or the chair of the Labour Party, to attend cabinet meetings. (If so, they hold the title of "Party chairman"). The sinecure positions of Lord Privy Seal, Paymaster General, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which have few responsibilities and have a higher rank in the order of precedence than minister without portfolio can also be used to similar effect. The office is currently held by Ellie Reeves, following the 2024 General Election.

The corresponding shadow minister is the Shadow Minister without Portfolio.

List of office holders

• The Lord Somers, as part of the Townshend ministry
• Henry Seymour Conway, as part of the Chatham ministry and Grafton ministry

Minister			Concurrent office(s)	Tenure	Political party	Prime Minister
		William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland		nowrap	January 1805 – February 1806	Whig		William Pitt the Younger
		William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam		nowrap	October 1806 – March 1807			William Grenville (Ministry of All the Talents)
		William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland		4 October 1809 – 30 October 1809	Tory		Spencer Perceval
		Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby		nowrap	November 1809 – June 1812	Tory (Pittite)
		John Pratt, 2nd Earl Camden (created 1st Marquess Camden, August 1812)		8 April 1812 – December 1812	Tory
				Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
		Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave				nowrap	January 1819 – May 1820
		Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne		nowrap	April 1827 – July 1827	Whig		George Canning
		William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland		nowrap	July 1827 – September 1827	Tory (Canningite)
		George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle		nowrap	22 November 1830 – 5 June 1834	Whig		Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
		Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington		nowrap	3 September 1841 – July 1846	Conservative		Robert Peel
		Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne		nowrap rowspan=2	28 December 1852 – 21 February 1858	Whig		George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (until February 1855)
				Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
		Lord John Russell		nowrap	February 1853 – June 1854			George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
		Spencer Horatio Walpole		nowrap	May 1867 – February 1868	Conservative		Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
		Michael Hicks Beach		nowrap	7 March 1887 – 20 February 1888			Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
		Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne		nowrap	25 May 1915 – December 1916	Liberal Unionist		H. H. Asquith (Coalition)
		Arthur Henderson	Member of the War Cabinet	nowrap	10 December 1916 – 12 August 1917	Labour		David Lloyd George (Coalition)
		Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner		nowrap	10 December 1916 – 18 April 1918	Conservative
		Jan Smuts		nowrap	22 June 1917 – 10 January 1919	South African Party
		Edward Carson		nowrap	17 July 1917 – 21 January 1918	Ulster Unionist Party (Irish Unionist)
		George Barnes	Member of the War Cabinet (until October 1919)	nowrap	13 August 1917 – 27 January 1920	Labour
		Austen Chamberlain	Member of the War Cabinet	nowrap	18 April 1918 – 10 January 1919	Conservative
		Eric Campbell Geddes		10 January 1919 – 31 October 1919
		Laming Worthington-Evans	Member of the War Cabinet (until October 1919)	nowrap	10 January 1919 – 13 February 1921
		Christopher Addison		1 April 1921 – 14 July 1921	Liberal
		Anthony Eden	Minister for League of Nations affairs	7 June 1935 – 22 December 1935	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin (Coalition)
		Eustace Percy		nowrap		7 June 1935 – 31 March 1936
		Leslie Burgin	Minister of Supply-designate	21 April 1939 – 14 July 1939	National Liberal Party		Neville Chamberlain (Coalition)
		Maurice Hankey	Member of the War Cabinet	nowrap	September 1939 – 10 May 1940	no party		Neville Chamberlain (Coalition)
		Arthur Greenwood		nowrap	11 May 1940 – 22 February 1942	Labour		Winston Churchill (Coalition)
		William Jowitt		nowrap	30 December 1942 – 8 October 1944
		A. V. Alexander		4 October 1946 – 20 December 1946	Labour Co-operative		Clement Attlee
		Arthur Greenwood		17 April 1947 – 29 September 1947	Labour
		Geoffrey FitzClarence, 5th Earl of Munster		nowrap rowspan=2	18 October 1954 – 1957	Conservative		Winston Churchill
				Anthony Eden
		Stormont Mancroft, 2nd Baron Mancroft		nowrap	11 June 1957 – 1958			Harold Macmillan
		Henry Scrymgeour-Wedderburn, 11th Earl of Dundee		nowrap	23 October 1958 – 1961	Unionist
		Percy Mills, 1st Baron Mills	Deputy Leader of the House of Lords	nowrap	9 October 1961 – 13 July 1962	Conservative
		Bill Deedes		13 July 1962 – 16 October 1964
				Alec Douglas-Home
		Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington	Leader of the House of Lords		nowrap		20 October 1963 – 16 October 1964
		Eric Fletcher		nowrap	19 October 1964 – 6 April 1966	Labour		Harold Wilson
		Arthur Champion, Baron Champion	Deputy Leader of the House of Lords	nowrap	21 October 1964 – 7 January 1967
		Douglas Houghton		nowrap	6 April 1966 – 7 January 1967
		Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton	Deputy Leader of the House of Lords	nowrap	7 January 1967 – 16 January 1968
		Patrick Gordon Walker		7 January 1967– 21 August 1967
		George Thomson		nowrap	17 October 1968 – 6 October 1969
		Peter Shore		nowrap	6 October 1969 – 19 June 1970
		Niall Macpherson, 1st Baron Drumalbyn		nowrap	15 October 1970 – 1974	Unionist		Edward Heath
		Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare		8 January – March 1974	Conservative
		David Young, Baron Young of Graffham	advising on unemployment	nowrap		11 September 1984 – 3 September 1985		Margaret Thatcher
		Jeremy Hanley	Chairman of the Conservative Party	nowrap		20 July 1994 – 5 July 1995	John Major
		Brian Mawhinney		nowrap		5 July 1995 – 2 May 1997
		Peter Mandelson^[3]	called the "Dome Secretary"^[4]	nowrap	5 May 1997 – 26 July 1998	Labour		Tony Blair
		Charles Clarke^[5]	Labour Party Chair	nowrap	8 June 2001 – 24 October 2002	Labour		Tony Blair
		John Reid^[6]		nowrap	24 October 2002 – 4 April 2003
		Ian McCartney^[7]		nowrap	4 April 2003 – 5 May 2006
		Hazel Blears^[8]		nowrap	5 May 2006 – 28 June 2007
no appointment				nowrap	28 June 2007 – 12 May 2010			Gordon Brown
		Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi^[9] ^[10]	Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party	nowrap	12 May 2010 – 6 September 2012	Conservative		David Cameron (Coalition)
		Grant Shapps^[11]		nowrap	6 September 2012 – 8 May 2015
		Kenneth Clarke^[12]	Trade envoy	nowrap	6 September 2012 – 14 July 2014
		John Hayes^[13]	Senior Parliamentary Adviser to the Prime Minister (Cabinet Office)	nowrap	28 March 2013 – 15 July 2014
		Robert Halfon^[14]	Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party	nowrap	8 May 2015 – 17 July 2016			David Cameron
no appointment				nowrap	17 July 2016 – 8 January 2018			Theresa May
		Brandon Lewis^[15]	Chairman of the Conservative Party	nowrap	8 January 2018 – 24 July 2019
		James Cleverly^[16]		nowrap	24 July 2019 – 13 February 2020			Boris Johnson
		Amanda Milling^[17]		nowrap	13 February 2020 – 15 September 2021
		Oliver Dowden^[18]		nowrap	15 September 2021 – 24 June 2022
no appointment				nowrap	24 June 2022 – 7 July 2022
		Andrew Stephenson	Chairman of the Conservative Party	nowrap	7 July 2022 – 6 September 2022
		Sir Jake Berry		nowrap	6 September 2022 – 25 October 2022			Liz Truss
		Nadhim Zahawi		nowrap	25 October 2022 – 29 January 2023			Rishi Sunak
		Greg Hands		nowrap	7 February 2023 – 13 November 2023
		Richard Holden		nowrap	13 November 2023 – 5 July 2024
		Ellie Reeves	Chair of the Labour Party	nowrap	6 July 2024 – present	Labour		Keir Starmer

See also

• Minister without portfolio

Notes and References

1. Web site: Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23 . 15 December 2022.
2. Web site: Pay and expenses for MPs . 15 December 2022 . parliament.uk.
3. Web site: Lord Mandelson . UK Parliament . 27 July 2021.
4. Web site: Mandelson and Heseltine defend Dome . BBC News . 28 January 1998 . 28 July 2021 . The Minister without Portfolio, Peter Mandelson, has told MPs the Millennium Dome is "on time and on budget" as he faced Conservative criticisms of "secrecy and arrogance" in the House of Commons. The so-called 'Dome Secretary' was joined by Michael Heseltine in a robust defence of the project....
5. Web site: Rt Hon Charles Clarke . UK Parliament . 28 July 2021.
6. Web site: Lord Reid of Cardowan . UK Parliament . 27 July 2021.
7. Web site: Sir Ian McCartney . UK Parliament . 28 July 2021.
8. Web site: Rt Hon Hazel Blears . UK Parliament . 27 July 2021.
9. Web site: Baroness Warsi . UK Parliament . 27 July 2021.
10. Web site: Ministers Reflect - Minister Baroness Warsi . Institute for Government . 24 April 2017 . 28 July 2021 . Sayeeda Warsi looks back on her time in the Coalition Government, starting with figuring out what exactly was a Minister without Portfolio..
11. Web site: Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP . UK Parliament . 26 July 2021.
12. Web site: Lord Clarke of Nottingham . UK Parliament . 26 July 2021.
13. Web site: Rt Hon John Hayes MP . UK Parliament . 26 July 2021.
14. Web site: Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP . UK Parliament . 26 July 2021.
15. Web site: Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP . UK Parliament . 26 July 2021.
16. Web site: Rt Hon James Cleverly MP . UK Parliament . 26 July 2021.
17. Web site: Rt Hon Amanda Milling MP . UK Parliament . 26 July 2021.
18. Web site: Rt Hon Oliver Dowdon MP . UK Parliament . 15 September 2021.