Great Offices of State

The Great Offices of State of the United Kingdom are the four highest and most prestigious offices of the British government. They are the offices of the Prime Minister , the Chancellor of the Exchequer , the Foreign Minister and the Interior Minister . It is also customary for the Prime Minister to announce the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the Interior first when appointing ministers, after election or a major reshuffle.

Current incumbent

Great Offices of State of Her Majesty's Government
Johnson cabinet
Office	Official		Taking office	Predecessor
prime minister		Boris Johnson	June 24, 2019 (since 1 year and 39 days)	Foreign Minister (2016-2018)
Chancellor of the Exchequer		Rishi Sunak	February 13, 2020 (for 0 years and 201 days)	Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2019-2020)
Foreign minister		Dominic Raab	June 24, 2019 (since 1 year and 39 days)	First Secretary of State (since 2019)
Interior minister		Priti Patel	June 24, 2019 (since 1 year and 39 days)	International Development Secretary (2016-2017)

history

In the Middle Ages, the Great Offices of State occupied the highest positions in the state after the crown. In the course of time these became honorary titles or became inheritable in certain families. Material duties were transferred to other persons whom the crown freely appointed. With its medieval origins, the Chancellery of the Exchequer is the oldest of the four offices. The Foreign Minister has been appointed since the 16th century. The office of prime minister emerged during the 18th and 19th centuries.

James Callaghan is the only person who has held all four offices. For the past century, Herbert Henry Asquith and Winston Churchill were Chancellors of the Exchequer, Prime Minister and Home Secretary, while Harold Macmillan and John Major were Prime Ministers, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State. Rab Butler and John Simon were Chancellors of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary. Two offices were held together more often. Ramsay MacDonald was last Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in 1924. Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington , was the only person who held three offices (Prime Minister, Home Secretary, and Secretary of State) simultaneously during a transitional government (November 17, 1834 to December 9, 1834).

Development in New Times

With much of the political power now residing in the House of Commons , it is no longer considered practical for a member of the House of Lords to hold such a prominent position. Since the House of Lords traditionally holds back in adopting the budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been a member of the House of Lords for a long time. The last peers to hold one of the offices were:

Prime Minister: Conservative Alec Douglas-Home (October 20-23, 1963): After his appointment as Prime Minister, he renounced his title as Earl and applied for a place in the House of Commons. The last Premier to remain a peer was the Conservative Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (June 25, 1895– July 11, 1902).
Chancellor of the Exchequer: Whig Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman (November 14th - December 15th, 1834) held the executive office, as he was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales , as did his predecessor Tory Charles Abbott, 1st Baron Tenterden (August 8 - September 3, 1827). The last regular holder of office was Whig James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope (April 15, 1717– March 20, 1718).
Secretary of State: Conservatives Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington (May 5, 1979– April 5, 1982): Carrington was the last peer to hold any of the Great Offices of State.
Home Secretary: Conservatives George Cave, 1st Viscount Cave (November 14, 1918– January 14, 1919): Sir George Cave was named a peer during his tenure as Secretary of the Interior. The final peer to assume office as such was Whig Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (December 28, 1852– February 6, 1855). However, he was a peer from the Peerage of Ireland and therefore had no seat in the House of Lords. The last peer to become Home Secretary as a member of the House of Lords was the Whig Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby (August 30, 1839– August 30, 1841).

It is extremely extraordinary that a holder of a Great Office of the State was neither a member of the House of Commons nor of the House of Lords. The last time the Alec Douglas Home was in 1963 was between giving up his peer title and being elected MP. Patrick Gordon Walker became Secretary of State in 1964 after losing the election in his constituency in Smethwick that same year. He only held the office for three months.

Women

Six women have held at least one of the four offices so far. So far there has not been a Chancellor of the Exchequer. Theresa May is so far the only woman who has held two of the offices. After she made Amber Rudd interior minister, two of the posts were held by women.

Prime minister:

Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990) (Conservative)
Theresa May (2016-2019) (Conservative)

Foreign Minister :

Margaret Beckett (2006-2007) (Labor)

Interior Minister :

Jacqui Smith (2007-2009) (Labor)
Theresa May (2010-2016) (Conservative)
Amber Rudd (2016-2018) (Conservative)
Priti Patel (since 2019) (Conservative)

Ethnic minorities

Benjamin Disraeli was the first member of an ethnic minority to hold a Great Offices of State as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1852. After the resignation of Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby in 1868, he became the first and so far only member of the Jewish minority to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . Malcolm Rifkind and David Miliband were Foreign Ministers , Michael Howard and Leon Brittan were Home Secretary, and Nigel Lawson was Chancellor of the Exchequer .

After Amber Rudd resigned in the Windrush scandal, Sajid Javid became Minister of the Interior and later Chancellor of the Exchequer. Priti Patel became Home Secretary under Boris Johnson , making her the first minority woman to hold one of the offices. With Priti Patel and Rishi Sunak, two ministers from a minority are in office for the first time.

Prime minister:

Benjamin Disraeli (1868, 1874–1880, Jewish minority) (Conservative)

Chancellor of the Exchequer:

Benjamin Disraeli (1852, 1858–1859, 1866–1868, Jewish minority) (Conservative)
Nigel Lawson (1983–1989, Jewish minority) (Conservative)
George Osborne (2010-2016, Jewish minority) (Conservative)
Sajid Javid (2019-2020, Pakistani minority) (Conservative)
Rishi Sunak (since 2020, Indian minority) (Conservative)

Foreign Minister:

Malcolm Rifkind (1995–1997, Jewish minority) (Conservative)
David Miliband (2007-2010, Jewish minority) (Labor)
Dominic Raab (since 2019, Jewish minority) (Conservative)

Interior Minister:

Leon Brittan (1983–1985, Jewish minority) (Conservative)
Michael Howard (1993–1997, Jewish minority) (Conservative)
Sajid Javid (2018-2019, Pakistani minority) (Conservative)
Priti Patel (since 2019, Indian minority) (Conservative)

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b David McKie: Lord Callaghan . In: politics.guardian.co.uk , Guardian Unlimited, March 28, 2005. Retrieved June 10, 2008. "He had held all four of the great offices of state"
^ Gary Eason: Callaghan's great education debate . In: BBC News , March 27, 2005.
^ Open Politics . In: news.bbc.co.uk , BBC News. Retrieved July 26, 2007.
↑ Article by John Rentoul . In: comment.independent.co.uk , The Independent, December 5, 2004. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved July 26, 2007.
↑ Lady Callaghan of Cardiff . In: The Independent , March 30, 2005.
↑ Who is Sajid Javid, the new home secretary? . In: BBC News , April 30, 2018.
^ Robert Philpot: Meet Sajid Javid, UK's top Muslim, pro-Israel politician, who just may become PM . In: The Times of Israel . May 13, 2018. Archived from the original on July 11, 2018. Retrieved on November 7, 2018.

[callaghan-1] David McKie: Lord Callaghan . In: politics.guardian.co.uk , Guardian Unlimited, March 28, 2005. Retrieved June 10, 2008. "He had held all four of the great offices of state"

[2] Gary Eason: Callaghan's great education debate . In: BBC News , March 27, 2005.

[3] Open Politics . In: news.bbc.co.uk , BBC News. Retrieved July 26, 2007.

[4] Article by John Rentoul . In: comment.independent.co.uk , The Independent, December 5, 2004. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved July 26, 2007.

[5] Lady Callaghan of Cardiff . In: The Independent , March 30, 2005.

[6] Who is Sajid Javid, the new home secretary? . In: BBC News , April 30, 2018.

[7] Robert Philpot: Meet Sajid Javid, UK's top Muslim, pro-Israel politician, who just may become PM . In: The Times of Israel . May 13, 2018. Archived from the original on July 11, 2018. Retrieved on November 7, 2018.