| Post: | Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury Chief Whip of the House of Commons |
| Insignia: | Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government) (2022).svg |
| Insigniacaption: | Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government |
| Department: | HM Treasury |
| Incumbent: | Alan Campbell |
| Incumbentsince: | 5 July 2024 |
| Appointer: | The Monarch |
| Reports To: | Prime Minister |
| Inaugural: | Sir Philip Warwick |
| Type: | Minister of the Crown |
| Seat: | Westminster |
| Formation: | 1660 |
| Salary: | £121,326 per annum [1] (including £86,584 MP salary)[2] |
| Website: | HM Treasury |
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury is the official title of the most senior whip of the governing party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Today, any official links between the Treasury and this office are nominal and the title of the office can be seen as a sinecure that allows the incumbent to draw a Government salary, attend Cabinet, and use a Downing Street residence, traditionally 12 Downing Street.
The position is currently held by Alan Campbell since July 2024.
The position of Secretary to the Treasury was created in 1660. Until 1711, there was only one Secretary to the Treasury; however, in that year, a second position was created to help deal with the increasing workload. This new position was known as the junior secretary to the Treasury, and the existing post as the senior secretary to the Treasury. Initially, when the position of Senior Secretary to the Treasury became vacant (except as the result of an election causing a change of government), the junior secretary was usually automatically promoted to the senior role. Over time, however, the roles of the Senior and Junior Secretaries began to diverge, the Senior Secretary post being used as a sinecure post for the chief whip, with no formal responsibilities to the Treasury. The junior secretary post remained a substantive position working in the Treasury. As such, the senior secretary became known as the parliamentary secretary to the Treasury while the junior secretary became known as Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and the 'automatic' promotion from Junior to Senior ceased. While the exact date on which this change occurred is disputed, it is agreed that the distinction was complete by 1830.[3] In the mid-nineteenth century, the parliamentary secretary to the Treasury was referred to as the patronage secretary to the Treasury.[4]
Colour key (for political parties):
| Secretary | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hilary Armstrong | 8 June 2001 | 5 May 2006 | Labour | Tony Blair | ||||
| Jacqui Smith | 5 May 2006 | 28 June 2007 | Tony Blair | |||||
| Geoff Hoon | 28 June 2007 | 3 October 2008 | Gordon Brown | |||||
| Nick Brown | 3 October 2008 | 11 May 2010 | Gordon Brown | |||||
| Patrick McLoughlin | 12 May 2010 | 4 September 2012 | Conservative | David Cameron | ||||
| Andrew Mitchell | 4 September 2012 | 19 October 2012 | David Cameron | |||||
| Sir George Young, Bt. CH | 19 October 2012 | 15 July 2014 | David Cameron | |||||
| Michael Gove | 15 July 2014 | 9 May 2015 | David Cameron | |||||
| Mark Harper | 9 May 2015 | 14 July 2016 | David Cameron | |||||
| Gavin Williamson | 14 July 2016 | 2 November 2017 | Theresa May | |||||
| Julian Smith | 2 November 2017 | 24 July 2019 | Theresa May | |||||
| Mark Spencer | 24 July 2019 | 8 February 2022 | Boris Johnson | |||||
| Chris Heaton-Harris | 8 February 2022 | 6 September 2022 | ||||||
| Wendy Morton | 6 September 2022 | 25 October 2022 | Liz Truss | |||||
| Simon Hart | 25 October 2022 | 5 July 2024 | Rishi Sunak | |||||
| Alan Campbell | 5 July 2024 | Incumbent | Labour | Keir Starmer | ||||