Chancellor of the Exchequer
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Gordon_Brown_Photo.jpg
One of the Chancellor's key roles involves the framing of the annual "Budget", which is revealed in a speech to the House of Commons. Traditionally the budget speech was delivered on a Tuesday (although not always) in March, as Britain's tax year follows the Julian Calendar. From 1993 the Budget was preceded by an annual 'Autumn Statement' which forecasts government spending in the next year and takes place in November. This preview of the next year's Budget is also referred to as the "mini-Budget". The 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2003 Budgets were delivered on a Wednesday.
The holder of the office of Chancellor is ex-officio Second Lord of the Treasury. As Second Lord, his official residence is Number 11 Downing Street in London, next door to the residence of the First Lord of the Treasury (a post usually though not always 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 a small apartment made from attic rooms previously resided in by servants. In 1997, the current First and Second Lords, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown respectively, swapped apartments, as the Chancellor's apartment in No. 11 was bigger and thus better suited to the needs of Blair (who had children) than Brown who was at that stage unmarried. So though No. 11 is still officially Brown's residence, he actually resides in the apartment in the attic of No. 10, and Blair — though officially residing in No. 10 — actually lives in the attic apartment of No. 11.
The Chancellor is also obliged to be a member of the Privy Council, and thus is styled the Right Honourable (Rt. Hon.)
The Chancellor's department is officially called the HM Treasury where she/he 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 to whom the negotiations with other government departments on the details of government spending are delegated.
List of Holders of the Office since 1559
Several Chancellors were also Prime Minister for some or all of their Chancellorship. These are indicated by a *
- Sir John Baker (unknown)
- Sir Walter Mildmay 1559-1589
- John Fortescue 1589-1603
- George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar (1605) 1603-1606
- Sir Julius Caesar 1606-1614
- Sir Fulke Greville 1614-1621
- Sir Richard Weston 1621-1628
- Edward Barrett, 1st Lord Barrett of Newburgh 1628-1629
- Francis Cottington, 1st Baron Cottington 1629-1642
- Sir John Culpepper 1642-1643
- Sir Edward Hyde (July 19, 1642 - 1646)
- Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (May 13, 1661 - November 22, 1672)
- Sir John Duncombe (November 22, 1672 - May 2, 1676)
- Sir John Ernle (May 2, 1676 - April 9, 1689)
- Henry Booth, 2nd Baron Delamere (April 9, 1689 - March 18, 1690)
- Richard Hampden (March 18, 1690 - May 10, 1694)
- Charles Montagu (May 10, 1694 - June 2, 1699)
- John Smith (June 2, 1699 - March 27, 1701)
- Henry Boyle (March 27, 1701 - April 22, 1708)
- John Smith (April 22, 1708 - August 11, 1710)
- Robert Harley (August 11, 1710 - June 4, 1711)
- Robert Benson (June 4, 1711 - August 21, 1713)
- Sir William Wyndham (August 21, 1713 - October 13, 1714)
- Sir Richard Onslow (October 13, 1714 - October 12, 1715)
- Robert Walpole (October 12, 1715 - April 15, 1717)
- James Stanhope, 1st Viscount Stanhope (April 15, 1717 - March 20, 1718)
- John Aislabie (March 20, 1718 - January 23, 1721) (resigned)
- Sir John Pratt (February 2, 1721 - April 3, 1721)
- Sir Robert Walpole (April 3, 1721 - February 12, 1742)*
- Samuel Sandys (February 12, 1742 - December 12, 1743)
- Henry Pelham (December 12, 1743 - March 8, 1754)*
- Sir William Lee (March 8, 1754 - April 6, 1754)
- Henry Bilson Legge (April 6, 1754 - November 25, 1755)
- Sir George Lyttelton (November 25, 1755 - November 16, 1756)
- Henry Bilson Legge (November 16, 1756 - April 13, 1757)
- William Murray, 1st Baron Mansfield (April 13, 1757 - July 2, 1757)
- Henry Bilson Legge (July 2, 1757 - March 19, 1761)
- William Wildman Barrington-Shute, 2nd Viscount Barrington (March 19, 1761 - May 29, 1762)
- Sir Francis Dashwood (May 29, 1762 - April 16, 1763)
- George Grenville (April 16, 1763 - July 16, 1765)*
- William Dowdeswell (July 16, 1765 - August 2, 1766)
- Charles Townshend (August 2, 1766 - September 4, 1767) (died in office)
- Frederick North, Lord North (September 11, 1767 - March 27, 1782)* (From 1770) (resigned)
- Lord John Cavendish (March 27, 1782 - July 10, 1782)
- William Pitt (July 10, 1782 - March 31, 1783) (resigned)
- Lord John Cavendish (April 2, 1783 - December 19, 1783)
- William Pitt (December 19, 1783 - March 14, 1801)*
- Henry Addington (March 14, 1801 - May 10, 1804)*
- William Pitt (May 10, 1804 - January 23, 1806)* (died in office)
- Lord Henry Petty (February 5, 1806 - March 26, 1807)
- Spencer Perceval (March 26, 1807 - May 12, 1812)* (From 1809) (assassinated)
- Nicholas Vansittart (May 12, 1812 - January 31, 1823)
- Frederick John Robinson (January 31, 1823 - April 20, 1827)
- George Canning (April 20, 1827 - August 8, 1827)* (died in office)
- Charles Abbott, 1st Baron Tenterden (August 8, 1827 - September 3, 1827)
- John Charles Herries (September 3, 1827 - January 26, 1828)
- Henry Goulburn (January 26, 1828 - November 22, 1830)
- John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp (November 22, 1830 - November 14, 1834)
- Lord Denman served as Chancellor pro tem (November 15 1834 - December 15 1834)
- Sir Robert Peel (December 2, 1834 - April 8, 1835)*
- Thomas Spring Rice (April 18, 1835 - August 26, 1839)
- Sir Francis Thornhill Baring (August 26, 1839 - August 30, 1841)
- Henry Goulburn (September 3, 1841 - June 27, 1846)
- Sir Charles Wood (July 6, 1846 - February 21, 1852)
- Benjamin Disraeli (February 27, 1852 - December 17, 1852)
- William Ewart Gladstone (December 28, 1852 - February 28, 1855)
- Sir George Cornewall Lewis (February 28, 1855 - February 21, 1858)
- Benjamin Disraeli (February 26, 1858 - June 11, 1859)
- William Ewart Gladstone (June 18, 1859 - June 26, 1866)
- Benjamin Disraeli (July 6, 1866 - February 29, 1868)
- George Ward Hunt (February 29, 1868 - December 1, 1868)
- Robert Lowe (December 9, 1868 - August 11, 1873)
- William Ewart Gladstone (August 11, 1873 - February 17, 1874)*
- Sir Stafford Henry Northcote (February 21, 1874 - April 21, 1880)
- William Ewart Gladstone (April 28, 1880 - December 16, 1882)*
- Hugh Childers (December 16, 1882 - June 9, 1885)
- Sir Michael Hicks Beach (June 24, 1885 - January 28, 1886)
- Sir William Vernon Harcourt (February 6, 1886 - July 20, 1886)
- Lord Randolph Churchill (August 3, 1886 - December 22, 1886) (resigned)
- George Joachim Goschen (January 14, 1887 - August 11, 1892)
- Sir William Vernon Harcourt (August 18, 1892 - June 21, 1895)
- Sir Michael Hicks Beach (June 29, 1895 - August 11, 1902)
- Charles Thomson Ritchie (August 11, 1902 - October 9, 1903)
- Austen Chamberlain (October 9, 1903 - December 4, 1905)
- Herbert Henry Asquith (December 10, 1905 - April 12, 1908)
- David Lloyd George (April 12, 1908 - May 25, 1915)
- Reginald McKenna (May 25, 1915 - December 10, 1916)
- Andrew Bonar Law (December 10, 1916 - January 10, 1919)
- Austen Chamberlain (January 10, 1919 - April 1, 1921)
- Sir Robert Stevenson Horne (April 1, 1921 - October 19, 1922)
- Stanley Baldwin (October 27, 1922 - August 27, 1923)* (From May 22, 1923)
- Neville Chamberlain (August 27, 1923 - January 22, 1924)
- Philip Snowden (January 22, 1924 - November 3, 1924)
- Winston Churchill (November 6, 1924 - June 4, 1929)
- Philip Snowden (June 7, 1929 - November 5, 1931)
- Neville Chamberlain (November 5, 1931 - May 28, 1937)
- Sir John Allsebrooke Simon (May 28, 1937 - May 12, 1940)
- Sir Kingsley Wood (May 12, 1940 - September 24, 1943)
- Sir John Anderson (September 24, 1943 - July 26, 1945)
- Hugh Dalton (July 27, 1945 - November 13, 1947) (resigned)
- Sir Stafford Cripps (November 13, 1947 - October 19, 1950)
- Hugh Gaitskell (October 19, 1950 - October 26, 1951)
- Rab Butler (October 28, 1951 - December 20, 1955)
- Harold Macmillan (December 20, 1955 - January 13, 1957)
- Peter Thorneycroft (January 13, 1957 - January 6, 1958) (resigned)
- Derick Heathcoat-Amory (January 6, 1958 - July 27, 1960)
- Selwyn Lloyd (July 27, 1960 - July 13, 1962)
- Reginald Maudling (July 13, 1962 - October 16, 1964)
- James Callaghan (October 16, 1964 - November 30, 1967)
- Roy Jenkins (November 30, 1967 - June 19, 1970)
- Iain Macleod (June 20, 1970 - July 20, 1970) (died in office)
- Anthony Barber (July 25, 1970 - March 4, 1974)
- Denis Healey (March 5, 1974 - May 4, 1979)
- Sir Geoffrey Howe (May 5, 1979 - June 11, 1983)
- Nigel Lawson (June 11, 1983 - October 26, 1989) (resigned)
- Sir John Major (October 26, 1989 - November 28, 1990)
- Norman Lamont (November 28, 1990 - May 27, 1993)
- Kenneth Clarke (May 27, 1993 - May 2, 1997)
- Gordon Brown (May 2, 1997 -)