Cabinet of Eden
The Eden Cabinet was formed on April 6, 1955 by Prime Minister Anthony Eden . The cabinet replaced Churchill's third cabinet and was in office for 645 days until January 9, 1957. This was followed by the formation of the Macmillan cabinet .
Cabinet formation
On April 6, 1955, Eden succeeded the resigned Winston Churchill as chairman of the Conservative Party and prime minister. He left Rab Butler as Chancellor of the Exchequer until December 1955 , before he was transferred to the less influential position of Lord Seal Keeper, although Butler as such also became Leader of the House of Commons , i.e. leader of the government majority in the House of Commons. Eden's own successor as Foreign Minister was the future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan , who, however, was in turn Butler's successor as Chancellor of the Exchequer in December 1955.
Selwyn Lloyd assumed his first office as Cabinet Secretary when he succeeded Macmillan's successor as Secretary of Defense in April 1955. In December 1955 he also succeeded Macmillan's foreign minister. Another future Prime Minister, Alec Douglas-Home , joined in 1955 as Minister for Commonwealth Relations. Gwilym Lloyd George , the son of the former head of the Liberal Party , David Lloyd George , was interior minister.
The term of office of the Eden Cabinet was marked by the Suez crisis , which culminated in the fall of 1956 in a military intervention by an alliance of Great Britain , France and Israel in Egypt . At that time, Eden's health was already in bad shape, so in January 1957 he resigned as Prime Minister and Chairman of the Conservative Party. In the successor as Prime Minister and Chairman of the Conservative Party, Harold Macmillan was able to prevail against Rab Butler.
Cabinet members 1955 to 1957
| Office | Surname | Term of office | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury |
Sir Anthony Eden | April 6, 1955 - January 9, 1957 | |
| Lord Chancellor | David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir | April 1955 | |
| Lord President of the Council | Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury | April 1955 | at the same time Leader of the House of Lords |
| Lord Seal Keeper | Harry Crookshank | April 1955 | also Leader of the House of Commons |
| Rab butler | December 20, 1955 | ||
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Rab butler | April 1955 | |
| Harold Macmillan | December 20, 1955 | ||
| Foreign minister | Harold Macmillan | April 7, 1955 | |
| Selwyn Lloyd | December 20, 1955 | ||
| Home Secretary and Minister for Wales |
Gwilym Lloyd-George | April 1955 | |
| First Lord of the Admiralty | James Thomas, 1st Viscount Cilcennin | April 1955 | 1955 Elevation to Viscount Cilcennin |
| Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone | 2nd September 1956 | ||
| Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries | Derick Heathcoat-Amory | April 1955 | Merged with the Ministry of Food in April 1955 |
| Aviation Minister | William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle | April 1955 | |
| Nigel Birch | December 20, 1955 | ||
| Colonial minister | Alan Lennox-Boyd | April 1955 | |
| Minister for Commonwealth Relations | Alec Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home | April 7, 1955 | |
| Defense Minister | Selwyn Lloyd | April 7, 1955 | |
| Walter Monckton | December 20, 1955 | ||
| Anthony Head | October 18, 1956 | ||
| Minister of Education | David Eccles | April 1955 | |
| Minister of Food | Derick Heathcoat-Amory | April 1955 | Merged with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in April 1955 |
| Minister for Fuel and Energy | Geoffrey Lloyd | April 1955 | |
| Aubrey Jones | December 20, 1955 | ||
| Minister of Health | Iain Macleod | April 1955 | |
| Robin Turton | December 20, 1955 | ||
| Minister for Housing and Local Government | Duncan Sandys | April 1955 | |
| Minister of Labor and the National Service | Walter Monckton | April 1955 | |
| Iain Macleod | December 20, 1955 | ||
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | Frederick Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton | April 1955 | Cabinet Minister |
| George Nigel Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk | December 20, 1955 | ||
| Minister with no portfolio | Geoffrey FitzClarence, 5th Earl of Munster | April 1955 - January 8, 1957 | |
| Paymaster General | George Nigel Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk | April 1955 | |
| Vacant | December 20, 1955 | ||
| Walter Monckton | October 18, 1956 | ||
| Pension Minister | Osbert Peake | April 1955 | |
| John Boyd-Carpenter | December 20, 1955 | No cabinet minister | |
| Postmaster General | Charles Hill | April 7, 1955 | |
| Minister for Scotland | James Stuart | April 1955 | |
| Minister of Supply | Reginald Maudling | April 7, 1955 | |
| Minister of Commerce | Peter Thorneycroft | April 1955 | |
| Transport Minister | John Boyd-Carpenter | April 1955 | |
| Harold Watkinson | December 20, 1955 | ||
| Minister of War | Anthony Head | April 1955 | |
| John Hare | |||
| Minister for Public Works | Nigel Birch | April 1955 | |
| Patrick Buchan-Hepburn | December 20, 1955 | Cabinet Minister | |
| Attorney General for England and Wales | Reginald Manningham-Buller | April 1955 | |
| Solicitor General for England and Wales | Harry Hylton-Foster | April 1955 | |
| Lord Advocate | William Rankine Milligan | April 1955 | |
| Solicitor General for Scotland | William Grant | April 1955 |
Web links
- UK Governments (rulers.org)