| Post: | Chancellor of the Exchequer Second Lord of the Treasury |
| Insignia: | Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government) (2022).svg |
| Insigniacaption: | Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government |
| Incumbent: | Rachel Reeves |
| Incumbentsince: | 5 July 2024 |
| Department: | His Majesty's Treasury |
| Style: | The Chancellor The Right Honourable |
| Type: | Minister of the Crown |
| Status: | Great Office of State |
| Reports To: | First Lord of the Treasury |
| Seat: | Westminster |
| Residence: | 11 Downing Street |
| Nominator: | The Prime Minister |
| Appointer: | The Monarch |
| Termlength: | At His Majesty's pleasure |
| Salary: | £163,891 per annum [1] (including £91,346 MP salary)[2] |
| Formation: | c. 1221 |
| First: | Eustace of Fauconberg (in the Kingdom of England only) |
| Deputy: | Chief Secretary to the Treasury |
The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to Chancellor,[3] is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the chancellor is a high-ranking member of the British Cabinet.
Responsible for all economic and financial matters, the role is equivalent to that of a finance minister in other countries. The chancellor is now always second lord of the Treasury as one of at least six lords commissioners of the Treasury, responsible for executing the office of the Treasurer of the Exchequer the others are the prime minister and Commons government whips. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, it was common for the prime minister also to serve as Chancellor of the Exchequer if he sat in the Commons; the last Chancellor who was simultaneously prime minister and 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.[4] 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, and in recent times has come to be the most powerful office in British politics after the prime minister. It originally carried responsibility for the Exchequer, the medieval English institution for the collection and auditing of royal revenues. The earliest surviving records which are the results of the exchequer's audit, date from 1129 to 1130 under King Henry I and show continuity from previous years.[5] The chancellor has oversight of fiscal policy, therefore of taxation and public spending across government departments. It previously controlled monetary policy as well until 1997, when the Bank of England was granted independent control of its interest rates.
Since 1718, all chancellors of the exchequer, except at times the lord chief justice as interim holders, have been members of the House of Commons with Lord Stanhope being the last chancellor from the House of Lords.
The office holder works alongside the other Treasury ministers and the permanent secretary to the Treasury. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow chancellor of the Exchequer, and the chancellor is also scrutinised by the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson and the Treasury Select Committee.[6]
The current chancellor is Rachel Reeves, the first woman to serve as the chancellor of the exchequer over the role's eight hundred years of history.
The holder of the office of chancellor of the exchequer is ex officio second lord of the Treasury as a member of the commission exercising the ancient office of treasurer of the exchequer.[7] As second lord, her official residence is 11 Downing Street in London, next door to the residence of the first lord of the Treasury (a title that has for many years been 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 an apartment made from attic rooms previously resided in by servants.
Since 1827, the chancellor has always simultaneously held the office of second lord of the Treasury when that person has not also been the prime minister.
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."
The chancellor has considerable control over other departments as it is the Treasury that sets Departmental Expenditure Limits. The amount of power this gives to an individual chancellor depends on their personal forcefulness, their status within their party and their 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 the same position throughout his ten years as prime minister; making Brown an unusually dominant figure and the longest-serving chancellor since the Reform Act of 1832.[8] This has strengthened a pre-existing trend towards the chancellor occupying a clear second position among government ministers, elevated above his traditional peers, the foreign secretary and home secretary.
One part of the chancellor's key roles involves the framing of the annual year budget. As of 2017, the first is the Autumn Budget, also known as Budget Day which forecasts government spending in the next financial year and also announces new financial measures. The second is a Spring Statement, also known as a "mini-Budget". Britain's tax year has retained the old Julian end of year: 24 March (Old Style) / 5 April (New Style, i.e. Gregorian). From 1993, the Budget was in spring, preceded by an annual autumn statement. This was then called Pre-Budget Report. The Autumn Statement usually took place in November or December. The 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2016 budgets were all delivered on a Wednesday, summarised in a speech to the House of Commons.
The budget is a state secret until the chancellor reveals it in his speech to Parliament. Hugh Dalton, on his way to giving the budget speech in 1947, inadvertently blurted out key details to a newspaper reporter, and they appeared in print before he made his speech. Dalton was forced to resign.[9]
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.[10] 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 officially used.
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. Whilst not continuously in use, there can also be appointed a commercial secretary to the Treasury and an exchequer 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 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 financial matters by tradition confirmed by the Parliament Acts, the office is effectively limited to members of the House of Commons; apart from the occasions when the lord chief justice of the King's Bench has acted as interim Chancellor. The last peer to hold the office was Henry Booth, 2nd Baron Delamer (created Earl of Warrington shortly after leaving office) from 9 April 1689 to 18 March 1690. The chancellor holds the formerly independent office of Master of the Mint as a subsidiary office.[11]
The chancellor of the Exchequer has no official London residence as such but since 1828 in his role as Second Lord of the Treasury he lives in the second lord's official residence, No. 11 Downing Street.[12] In 1997, the then first and second Lords, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown respectively, swapped apartments, as the chancellor's larger apartment in No. 11 accommodated Blair's family and Brown was then unmarried.
See 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 215acres[13] of parkland, was allocated to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. It reverted to the chancellor in 2007, then Alistair Darling.[14]
The chancellor traditionally carries his budget speech to the House of Commons in a particular red despatch box. The so-called ‘Budget Box’ is identical to the cases used by all other government ministers (known as ministerial boxes or "despatch boxes") to transport their official papers, but is better known because the chancellor traditionally displays the box, containing the budget speech, to the press before leaving 11 Downing Street for the House of Commons.
The original budget box was first used by William Ewart Gladstone in 1853 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 despatch box 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.[15]
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 cypher and crest and the chancellor's title. In his first Budget, in March 2008, Alistair Darling reverted to using the original budget box and his successor, George Osborne, continued this tradition for his first budget, before announcing that it would be retired due to its fragile condition.[16] The key to the original budget box has been lost.[17]
By tradition, the chancellor has been allowed to drink whatever they wish while 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 and John Major), spritzer (Nigel Lawson) and sherry and beaten egg (William Gladstone).[18]
The chancellors after Clarke, Philip Hammond, George Osborne, Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown,[19] opted for water. In fact Darling drank what was named "Standard Water" in reference to, and support of, the London Evening Standard newspaper's campaign to have plain tap water available in restaurants at no charge to customers.[20]
The chancellor, as Master of the Mint, has a robe of office,[21] similar to that of the lord chancellor (as seen in several of the portraits depicted below). In recent times, it has only regularly been worn at coronations, but some chancellors (at least until the 1990s) have also worn it when attending the Trial of the Pyx as Master of the Mint. According to George Osborne, the robe (dating from Gladstone's time in office, and worn by the likes of Lloyd George and Churchill)[22] 'went missing' during Gordon Brown's time as chancellor.[23]
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Term of office | Monarch | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eustace of Fauconberg | scope=row rowspan=11 style="text-align:center" | Henry III | |||||
| John Maunsell | |||||||
| Ralph de Leicester | before 1248 | ||||||
| Edward of Westminster | 1248 | ||||||
| Albric de Fiscamp | before 1263 | ||||||
| John Chishull | 1263 | 1265 | |||||
| Walter Giffard | 1265 | 1266 | |||||
| Godfrey Giffard | 1266 | 1268 | |||||
| John Chishull | 1268 | 1269 | |||||
| Richard of Middleton | 1269 | 1272 | |||||
| Roger de la Leye | before 1283 | ||||||
| Geoffrey de Neuband | scope=row rowspan=3 style="text-align:center" | Edward I | |||||
| Philip de Willoughby | 1283 | 1305 | |||||
| John Benstead | 1305 | 1306 | |||||
| John Sandale | class=nowrap | 1307 | 1308 | scope=row rowspan=6 style="text-align:center" | Edward II | ||
| John of Markenfield | 1309 | 1312 | |||||
| John Hotham | 1312 | 1316 | |||||
| Hervey de Stanton | 1316 | ||||||
| Walter Stapledon | 1323 | ||||||
| Hervey de Stanton | 1324 | class=nowrap | 1327 | ||||
| Adam de Harvington | class=nowrap | 1327 | 1330 | scope=row rowspan=7 style="text-align:center" | Edward III | ||
| Robert Wodehouse | 1330 | 1331 | |||||
| Robert de Stratford | 1331 | 1334 | |||||
| John Hildesle | |||||||
| William de Everdon | 1341 | ||||||
| William Askeby | 1363 | ||||||
| Robert de Ashton | 1375 | class=nowrap | 1377 | ||||
| Sir Walter Barnham | class=nowrap | 1377 | class=nowrap | 1399 | scope=row style="text-align:center" | Richard II | |
| Henry Somer | 1410 | 1437 | scope=row style="text-align:center" | Henry IV | |||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" | Henry V | ||||||
| Henry VI | |||||||
| John Somerset | 1441 | 1447 | |||||
| Thomas Browne | 1440? | 1450? | |||||
| Thomas Witham | 1454 | ||||||
| Thomas Thwaites | class=nowrap | 1461 | scope=row rowspan=3 style="text-align:center" | Edward IV | |||
| Thomas Witham | 1465 | 1469 | |||||
| Richard Fowler | 1469 | class=nowrap rowspan=2 | 1471 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" | Henry VI | ||||||
| Thomas Thwaites | class=nowrap | 1471 | class=nowrap | 1483 | scope=row style="text-align:center" | Edward IV | |
| William Catesby | class=nowrap rowspan=2 | 1483 | scope=row style="text-align:center" | Edward V | |||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" | Richard III | ||||||
| Thomas Lovell | 1485 | 1524 | scope=row style="text-align:center" | Henry VII | |||
| Henry VIII | |||||||
| John Bourchier 2nd Baron Berners | 1524 | 1533? | |||||
| Thomas Cromwell 1st Earl of Essex Secretary of State | class=nowrap | 1533 | class=nowrap | 1540 | |||
| John Baker | 1545 | class=nowrap rowspan=4 | 1558 | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" | Edward VI | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" | Mary I | ||||||
Died in office.
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Term of office | Monarch | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Sackville[24] | class=nowrap | 1559 | class=nowrap | 1566 | scope=row colspan=2 rowspan=3 style="text-align:center" | Elizabeth I | ||
| Walter Mildmay | class=nowrap | 1566 | class=nowrap | 1589 | ||||
| John Fortescue | 1589 | 1603 | ||||||
| George Home 1st Earl of Dunbar | class=nowrap | 1603 | class=nowrap | 1606 | scope=row colspan=2 rowspan=4 style="text-align:center" | James I | ||
| Julius Caesar | class=nowrap | 1606 | class=nowrap | 1614 | ||||
| Fulke Greville | class=nowrap | 1614 | class=nowrap | 1621 | ||||
| Richard Weston | 1621 | 1628 | ||||||
| scope=row colspan=2 rowspan=5 style="text-align:center" | Charles I | |||||||
| Edward Barrett 1st Lord Barrett of Newburgh | class=nowrap | 1628 | class=nowrap | 1629 | ||||
| Francis Cottington 1st Baron Cottington | class=nowrap | 1629 | class=nowrap | 1642 | ||||
| John Colepeper | class=nowrap | 1642 | class=nowrap | 1643 | ||||
| Edward Hyde | class=nowrap | 1643 | class=nowrap | 1646 | ||||
| Vacancy during the Interregnum (1649–1660) | ||||||||
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Term of office | Ministry | Monarch | |||||
| Edward Hyde 1st Baron Hyde | class=nowrap | 1660 | class=nowrap | 1661 | Clarendon | scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=8 | Charles II | |
| Anthony Ashley Cooper 1st Baron Ashley | 1661 | 1672 | ||||||
| Cabal | ||||||||
| John Duncombe | 1672 | 1676 | ||||||
| Danby I | ||||||||
| John Ernle | 1676 | 1689 | ||||||
| Privy Council | ||||||||
| Chits | ||||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" | James II | |||||||
| William III &<br/>Mary II | ||||||||
| Henry Booth 2nd Baron Delamer | class=nowrap | 1689 | class=nowrap | 1690 | Carmarthen–Halifax | |||
| Richard Hampden | class=nowrap | 1690 | class=nowrap | 1694 | Carmarthen | |||
| Charles Montagu | class=nowrap rowspan=2 | 1694 | class=nowrap rowspan=2 | 1699 | Whig Junto I | |||
| William III | ||||||||
| John Smith | class=nowrap | 1699 | class=nowrap | 1701 | Pembroke | |||
| Henry Boyle | 1701 | 1708 | ||||||
| Godolphin–Marlborough | Anne | |||||||
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Term of office | Party | Ministry | Monarch | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Smith | class=nowrap | 1708 | class=nowrap | 1710 | Whig | Godolphin–Marlborough | scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=4 | Anne | ||||
| Robert Harley | class=nowrap | 1710 | class=nowrap | 1711 | Tory | rowspan=4 | Oxford–Bolingbroke | |||||
| Robert Benson | class=nowrap | 1711 | class=nowrap | 1713 | Tory | |||||||
| William Wyndham | class=nowrap rowspan=2 | 1713 | class=nowrap rowspan=2 | 1714 | rowspan=2 | Tory | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=7 | George I | |||||||||||
| Richard Onslow | class=nowrap | 1714 | class=nowrap | 1715 | Whig | rowspan=2 | Townshend | |||||
| Robert Walpole | class=nowrap | 1715 | class=nowrap | 1717 | Whig | |||||||
| James Stanhope 1st Earl Stanhope | class=nowrap | 1717 | class=nowrap | 1718 | Whig | Stanhope–Sunderland I | ||||||
| John Aislabie | class=nowrap | 1718 | class=nowrap | 1721 | Whig | rowspan=2 | Stanhope–Sunderland II | |||||
| John Pratt | class=nowrap | 1721 | class=nowrap | 1721 | Whig | |||||||
| height=20 style="background-color:; border-bottom: none" | Robert Walpole 1st Earl of Orford MP for King's Lynn | 1721 | 1742 | Whig | Walpole–Townshend | |||||||
| height=20 style="background-color:; border: none" | scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=12 | George II | ||||||||||
| height=20 style="background-color:; border: none" | Walpole | |||||||||||
| Samuel Sandys | class=nowrap | 1742 | class=nowrap | 1743 | Whig | Carteret | ||||||
| Henry Pelham | 1743 | 1754 | Whig | |||||||||
| Broad Bottom | ||||||||||||
| William Lee | class=nowrap | 1754 | class=nowrap | 1754 | Whig | Newcastle I | ||||||
| Henry Bilson-Legge | class=nowrap | 1754 | class=nowrap | 1755 | Whig | |||||||
| George Lyttelton | class=nowrap | 1755 | class=nowrap | 1756 | Whig | |||||||
| Henry Bilson-Legge | class=nowrap | 1756 | class=nowrap | 1757 | Whig | rowspan=2 | Pitt–Devonshire | |||||
| William Murray 1st Earl of Mansfield Lord Chief Justice (interim) | class=nowrap rowspan=2 | 1757 | class=norwap rowspan=2 | 1757 | Whig | |||||||
| 1757 Caretaker | ||||||||||||
| Henry Bilson-Legge | class=nowrap rowspan=2 | 1757 | class=nowrap rowspan=2 | 1761 | Whig | Pitt–Newcastle | ||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=20 | George III | |||||||||||
| William Barrington 2nd Viscount Barrington | class=nowrap | 1761 | class=nowrap | 1762 | Whig | |||||||
| Francis Dashwood MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis | class=nowrap | 1762 | class=nowrap | 1763 | Tory | Bute | ||||||
| George Grenville | class=nowrap | 1763 | class=nowrap | 1765 | Whig | Grenville | ||||||
| William Dowdeswell | class=nowrap | 1765 | class=nowrap | 1766 | Whig | Rockingham I | ||||||
| Charles Townshend | class=nowrap | 1766 | class=nowrap | 1767 | Whig | Chatham | ||||||
| Frederick North Lord North | 1767 | 1782 | Tory | |||||||||
| Grafton | ||||||||||||
| North | ||||||||||||
| Lord John Cavendish | class=nowrap | 1782 | class=nowrap | 1782 | Whig | Rockingham II | ||||||
| William Pitt the Younger | class=nowrap | 1782 | class=nowrap | 1783 | Whig | Shelburne | ||||||
| Lord John Cavendish | class=nowrap | 1783 | class=nowrap | 1783 | Whig | Fox–North | ||||||
| William Pitt the Younger | class=nowrap | 1783 | class=nowrap | 1801 | Tory | Pitt I | ||||||
| Henry Addington | class=nowrap | 1801 | class=nowrap | 1804 | Tory | Addington | ||||||
| William Pitt the Younger | class=nowrap | 1804 | class=nowrap | 1806 | Tory | Pitt II | ||||||
| Edward Law 1st Baron Ellenborough Lord Chief Justice (interim) | class=nowrap | 1806 | class=nowrap | 1806 | Tory | All the Talents | ||||||
| Lord Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice | class=nowrap | 1806 | class=nowrap | 1807 | Whig | |||||||
| Spencer Perceval | class=nowrap rowspan=2 | 1807 | class=nowrap rowspan=2 | 1812 | Tory | Portland II | ||||||
| Perceval | ||||||||||||
| Nicholas Vansittart | class=nowrap | 1812 | class=nowrap | 1817 | Tory | Liverpool | ||||||
Although the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland had been united by the Acts of Union 1800, the Exchequers of the two Kingdoms were not consolidated until 1817 under the Consolidated Fund Act 1816 (56 Geo. 3. c. 98).[25] [26] For the holders of the Irish office before this date, see Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland.
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Term of office | Party | Ministry | Monarch | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas Vansittart | 12 July 1817 | 31 January 1823 | Tory | rowspan=3 | Liverpool | scope=row style="text-align:center" | George III | ||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=6 | George IV | ||||||||
| Frederick John Robinson | 31 January 1823 | 27 April 1827 | Tory | ||||||
| George Canning | 27 April 1827 | 8 August 1827 | Tory | Canning | |||||
| Charles Abbott 1st Baron Tenterden | 8 August 1827 | 5 September 1827 | Tory | Goderich | |||||
| John Charles Herries | 5 September 1827 | 26 January 1828 | Tory | ||||||
| Henry Goulburn | 26 January 1828 | 22 November 1830 | Tory | Wellington–Peel | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=6 | William IV | ||||||||
| John Spencer Viscount Althorp | 22 November 1830 | 14 November 1834 | Whig | Grey | |||||
| Melbourne I | |||||||||
| Thomas Denman 1st Baron Denman | 14 November 1834 | 15 December 1834 | Whig | Wellington Caretaker | |||||
| Robert Peel MP for Tamworth | 15 December 1834 | 8 April 1835 | Conservative | Peel I | |||||
| Thomas Spring Rice | 18 April 1835 | 26 August 1839 | Whig | Melbourne II | |||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=24 | Victoria | ||||||||
| Francis Baring | 26 August 1839 | 30 August 1841 | Whig | ||||||
| Henry Goulburn | 3 September 1841 | 27 June 1846 | Conservative | Peel II | |||||
| Charles Wood | 6 July 1846 | 21 February 1852 | Whig | Russell I | |||||
| Benjamin Disraeli | 27 February 1852 | 17 December 1852 | Conservative | Who? Who? | |||||
| William Ewart Gladstone | 28 December 1852 | 28 February 1855 | Peelite | Aberdeen | |||||
| George Cornewall Lewis | 28 February 1855 | 21 February 1858 | Whig | Palmerston I | |||||
| Benjamin Disraeli | 26 February 1858 | 11 June 1859 | Conservative | Derby–Disraeli II | |||||
| William Ewart Gladstone | 18 June 1859 | 26 June 1866 | Liberal | Palmerston II | |||||
| Russell II | |||||||||
| Benjamin Disraeli | 6 July 1866 | 29 February 1868 | Conservative | Derby–Disraeli III | |||||
| George Ward Hunt | 29 February 1868 | 1 December 1868 | Conservative | ||||||
| Robert Lowe | 9 December 1868 | 11 August 1873 | Liberal | Gladstone I | |||||
| William Ewart Gladstone | 11 August 1873 | 17 February 1874 | Liberal | ||||||
| Stafford Northcote | 21 February 1874 | 21 April 1880 | Conservative | Disraeli II | |||||
| William Ewart Gladstone | 28 April 1880 | 16 December 1882 | Liberal | Gladstone II | |||||
| Hugh Childers | 16 December 1882 | 9 June 1885 | Liberal | ||||||
| Michael Hicks Beach | 24 June 1885 | 28 January 1886 | Conservative | Salisbury I | |||||
| William Harcourt | 6 February 1886 | 20 July 1886 | Liberal | Gladstone III | |||||
| Lord Randolph Churchill | 3 August 1886 | 22 December 1886 | Conservative | rowspan=2 | Salisbury II | ||||
| George Goschen | 14 January 1887 | 11 August 1892 | Liberal Unionist | ||||||
| William Harcourt | 18 August 1892 | 21 June 1895 | Liberal | Gladstone IV | |||||
| Rosebery | |||||||||
| Michael Hicks Beach | 29 June 1895 | 11 August 1902 | Conservative | rowspan=2 | Salisbury | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=5 | Edward VII | ||||||||
| Charles Ritchie | 11 August 1902 | 9 October 1903 | Conservative | Balfour | |||||
| Austen Chamberlain | 9 October 1903 | 4 December 1905 | Liberal Unionist | ||||||
| Herbert Henry Asquith | 10 December 1905 | 16 April 1908 | Liberal | Campbell-Bannerman | |||||
| David Lloyd George | 16 April 1908 | 25 May 1915 | Liberal | rowspan=2 | Asquith | ||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=14 | George V | ||||||||
| Reginald McKenna | 25 May 1915 | 10 December 1916 | Liberal | Asquith Coalition | |||||
| Bonar Law | 10 December 1916 | 10 January 1919 | Conservative | rowspan=3 | Lloyd George | ||||
| Austen Chamberlain | 10 January 1919 | 1 April 1921 | Conservative | ||||||
| Robert Horne | 1 April 1921 | 19 October 1922 | Conservative | ||||||
| Stanley Baldwin | 27 October 1922 | 27 August 1923 | Conservative | Law | |||||
| Baldwin I | |||||||||
| Neville Chamberlain | 27 August 1923 | 22 January 1924 | Conservative | ||||||
| Philip Snowden | 22 January 1924 | 3 November 1924 | Labour | MacDonald I | |||||
| Winston Churchill | 6 November 1924 | 4 June 1929 | Conservative | Baldwin II | |||||
| Philip Snowden | 7 June 1929 | 5 November 1931 | Labour | MacDonald II | |||||
| National Labour | National I | ||||||||
| Neville Chamberlain | 5 November 1931 | 28 May 1937 | Conservative | National II | |||||
| National III | |||||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" | Edward VIII | ||||||||
| scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=10 | George VI | ||||||||
| John Simon | 28 May 1937 | 12 May 1940 | Liberal National | National IV | |||||
| Chamberlain War | |||||||||
| Kingsley Wood | 12 May 1940 | 21 September 1943 | Conservative | rowspan=2 | Churchill War | ||||
| John Anderson | 24 September 1943 | 26 July 1945 | Independent | ||||||
| Churchill Caretaker | |||||||||
| Hugh Dalton | 27 July 1945 | 13 November 1947 | Labour | Attlee | |||||
| Stafford Cripps | 13 November 1947 | 19 October 1950 | Labour | ||||||
| Hugh Gaitskell | 19 October 1950 | 26 October 1951 | Labour | ||||||
| height=20 style="background-color: ; border-bottom:none" | Richard Austen Butler | 26 October 1951 | 20 December 1955 | Conservative | Churchill III | ||||
| height=20 style="background-color: ; border:none" | scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=32 | Elizabeth II | |||||||
| height=20 style="background-color: ; border-top:none" | Eden | ||||||||
| Harold Macmillan | 20 December 1955 | 13 January 1957 | Conservative | ||||||
| Peter Thorneycroft | 13 January 1957 | 6 January 1958 | Conservative | Macmillan | |||||
| Derick Heathcoat-Amory | 6 January 1958 | 27 July 1960 | Conservative | ||||||
| Selwyn Lloyd | 27 July 1960 | 13 July 1962 | Conservative | ||||||
| Reginald Maudling | 16 July 1962 | 16 October 1964 | Conservative | ||||||
| Douglas-Home | |||||||||
| James Callaghan | 17 October 1964 | 29 November 1967 | Labour | Wilson | |||||
| Roy Jenkins | 29 November 1967 | 19 June 1970 | Labour | ||||||
| Iain Macleod | 20 June 1970 | 20 July 1970 | Conservative | Heath | |||||
| Anthony Barber | 25 July 1970 | 4 March 1974 | Conservative | ||||||
| Denis Healey | 5 March 1974 | 4 May 1979 | Labour | Wilson | |||||
| Callaghan | |||||||||
| Geoffrey Howe | 4 May 1979 | 11 June 1983 | Conservative | Thatcher I | |||||
| Nigel Lawson | 11 June 1983 | 26 October 1989 | Conservative | Thatcher II | |||||
| Thatcher III | |||||||||
| John Major | 26 October 1989 | 28 November 1990 | Conservative | ||||||
| Norman Lamont | 28 November 1990 | 27 May 1993 | Conservative | Major I | |||||
| Major II | |||||||||
| Kenneth Clarke | 27 May 1993 | 2 May 1997 | Conservative | ||||||
| Gordon Brown | 2 May 1997 | 27 June 2007 | Labour | Blair | |||||
| Alistair Darling | 28 June 2007 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | Brown | |||||
| George Osborne | 11 May 2010 | 13 July 2016 | Conservative | Cameron–Clegg | |||||
| Cameron II | |||||||||
| Philip Hammond[27] | 13 July 2016 | 24 July 2019 | Conservative | May I | |||||
| May II | |||||||||
| Sajid Javid[28] [29] | 24 July 2019 | 13 February 2020 | Conservative | Johnson I | |||||
| Johnson II | |||||||||
| Rishi Sunak[30] | 13 February 2020 | 5 July 2022 | Conservative | ||||||
| Nadhim Zahawi[31] | 5 July 2022 | 6 September 2022 | Conservative | ||||||
| Kwasi Kwarteng[32] | 6 September 2022 | 14 October 2022 | Conservative | Truss | |||||
| Charles III | |||||||||
| Jeremy Hunt[33] [34] | 14 October 2022 | 5 July 2024 | Conservative | ||||||
| Sunak | |||||||||
| Rachel Reeves | 5 July 2024 | Incumbent | Labour | Starmer | |||||