Financial Secretary to the Treasury

Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a junior Ministerial post in the British Treasury. It is the 4th most significant Ministerial role within the Treasury after the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and the Paymaster General. It is almost never a Cabinet office.

The incumbent as of July 2016 is Jane Ellison, MP, previously a parliamentary under secretary in the Department of Health. The previous office holder was David Gauke, who was promoted to the position of Chief Secretary to the Treasury in July 2016.

History

The role of Financial Secretary to the Treasury was created in 1711 and was known as the Junior Secretary to the Treasury to help deal with the increasing workload of the Senior Secretary to the Treasury. The first Junior Secretary to the Treasury is recorded as Thomas Harley who was appointed on 11 June 1711. The position has continued without any major interruption to the present day. Initially when the position of Senior Secretary to the Treasury became vacant not as the result of an election of 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 with the Senior Secretary post being used as a sinecure post for the Chief Whip, with no formal responsibilities to the Treasury. The Junior Secretary however 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 the 'Financial Secretary to the Treasury' and the 'automatic' promotion from Junior to Senior ceased. While the exact date this change occurred is disputed it is agreed that by 1830 the distinction was complete.^[1]

In 1923 Sir William Joynson-Hicks became the–to date–only Financial Secretary to serve in the Cabinet due to the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, also concurrently serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Appointment to the position of Financial Secretary to the Treasury is often considered an important stepping stone in a politican's career; the previous four holders of the office have gone on to hold Cabinet-level positions.

Notable former Financial Secretaries to the Treasury include Lord Frederick Cavendish, Austen Chamberlain, Stanley Baldwin, Enoch Powell, Nigel Lawson, and Norman Lamont.

Current role

The current responsibilities of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury include Departmental responsibility for the Office for National Statistics, and the Royal Mint. The Financial Secretary to the Treasury had Departmental responsibility for HM Customs & Excise until the merger with the Inland Revenue to form HM Revenue and Customs.

Financial Secretaries to the Treasury since 1830

see Secretary to the Treasury for earlier incumbents

1830–1900

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Liberal   Peelite   Tory   Whig

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister		Chancellor
	Thomas Spring Rice		26 November 1830	6 June 1834	Whig		Earl Grey	Viscount Althorp
	Francis Baring		6 June 1834	14 November 1834	Whig
							Viscount Melbourne
Office not in use			15 November 1834 - 19 December 1834				Duke of Wellington (Caretaker)	Lord Denman LCJ (interim)
	Sir Thomas Fremantle, Bt		20 December 1834	April 1835	Conservative or Tory		Peel	Peel
	Francis Baring		21 April 1835	26 August 1839	Whig		Viscount Melbourne	Spring Rice
	Robert Gordon		6 September 1839	1841	Whig			Baring
	Richard More O'Ferrall		9 June 1841	30 August 1841	Whig
	Sir George Clerk		8 September 1841	1845	Conservative		Peel	Goulburn
	Edward Cardwell		4 February 1845	29 June 1846	Conservative
	John Parker		7 July 1846	1849	Whig		Lord John Russell	Wood
	William Goodenough Hayter		22 May 1849	1850	Whig
	George Cornewall Lewis		9 July 1850	1852	Whig
	George Alexander Hamilton		2 March 1852	1852	Conservative		Earl of Derby	Disraeli
	James Wilson		5 January 1853	19 February 1858	Whig		Earl of Aberdeen (Coalition)	Gladstone
							Viscount Palmerston	Lewis
	George Alexander Hamilton		2 March 1858	1859	Conservative		Earl of Derby	Disraeli
	Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt		21 January 1859	1859	Conservative
	Samuel Laing		24 June 1859	1860	Liberal		Viscount Palmerston	Gladstone
	Frederick Peel		2 November 1860	1865	Liberal
	Hugh Childers		19 August 1865	26 June 1866	Liberal
							Earl Russell
	George Ward Hunt		14 July 1866	29 February 1868	Conservative		Earl of Derby	Disraeli
	George Sclater-Booth		4 March 1868	1 December 1868	Conservative		Disraeli	Hunt
	Acton Smee Ayrton		9 December 1868	1869	Liberal		Gladstone	Lowe
	James Stansfeld		2 November 1869	1871	Liberal
	William Edward Baxter		17 March 1871	11 August 1873	Liberal
	John Dodson		11 August 1873	1874	Liberal			Gladstone
	William Henry Smith		21 February 1874	1877	Conservative		Disraeli	Northcote
	Frederick Stanley		14 August 1877	1878	Conservative
	Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson, Bt		2 April 1878	21 April 1880	Conservative
	Lord Frederick Cavendish		28 April 1880	1882	Liberal		Gladstone	Gladstone
	Leonard Courtney		6 May 1882	12 December 1884	Liberal
								Childers
	J. T. Hibbert		12 December 1884	9 June 1885	Liberal
	Sir Henry Holland, Bt		24 June 1885	1885	Conservative		Marquess of Salisbury	Hicks Beach
	Sir Matthew White Ridley, Bt		1885	1886	Conservative
	William Jackson		1886	28 January 1886	Conservative
	Henry Fowler		6 February 1886	20 July 1886	Liberal		Gladstone	Harcourt
	William Jackson		3 August 1886	1891	Conservative		Marquess of Salisbury	Lord Randolph Churchill
								Viscount Goschen
	John Eldon Gorst		9 November 1891	11 August 1892	Conservative
	J. T. Hibbert		18 August 1892	22 June 1895	Liberal		Gladstone	Harcourt
							Earl of Rosebery
	Robert William Hanbury		29 June 1895	1900	Conservative		Marquess of Salisbury (Unionist Coalition)	Hicks Beach

1900–2001

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour   Liberal   Liberal National   Liberal Unionist   National Labour   None   Unionist

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister		Chancellor
	Austen Chamberlain		7 November 1900	8 August 1902	Liberal Unionist		Marquess of Salisbury (Unionist Coalition)	Hicks Beach
							Balfour (Unionist Coalition)
	William Fisher		8 August 1902	April 1903	Conservative			Ritchie
	Arthur Elliot		10 April 1903	9 October 1903	Conservative
	Victor Cavendish		9 October 1903	5 December 1905	Conservative			A. Chamberlain
	Reginald McKenna		12 December 1905	23 January 1907	Liberal		Campbell-Bannerman	Asquith
	Walter Runciman		29 January 1907	1908	Liberal
	Charles Hobhouse		12 April 1908	1911	Liberal		Asquith (I)	Lloyd George
	Thomas McKinnon Wood		23 October 1911	13 February 1912	Liberal
	Charles Masterman		13 February 1912	11 February 1914	Liberal
	Edwin Samuel Montagu		11 February 1914	3 February 1915	Liberal
	Francis Dyke Acland		3 February 1915	25 May 1915	Liberal
	Edwin Samuel Montagu		26 May 1915	9 July 1916	Liberal		Asquith (Coalition)	McKenna
	Thomas McKinnon Wood		9 July 1916	5 December 1916	Liberal
	Hardman Lever		15 December 1916	19 May 1919[Note 1]	None Civil servant		Lloyd George (Coalition)	Bonar Law (December 1916 – January 1919) A. Chamberlain (January 1919 – April 1921)
	Stanley Baldwin		18 June 1917[Note 1]	1 April 1921	Conservative
	Hilton Young		21 April 1921	19 October 1922	Liberal			Horne
	John Waller Hills		6 November 1922	1923	Conservative		Law	Baldwin
	Archibald Boyd-Carpenter		12 March 1923	May 1923	Conservative
	Sir William Joynson-Hicks, Bt		25 May 1923	27 August 1923[Note 2]	Conservative		Baldwin
	Walter Guinness		5 October 1923	1923	Conservative			N. Chamberlain
	William Graham		23 January 1924	4 November 1924	Labour		MacDonald	Snowden
	Walter Guinness		11 November 1924	5 November 1925	Conservative		Baldwin	Churchill
	Ronald McNeill		5 November 1925	1 November 1927	Conservative
	Arthur Samuel		1 November 1927	5 June 1929	Conservative
	Frederick Pethick-Lawrence		11 June 1929	August 1931	Labour		MacDonald (II)	Snowden
	Walter Elliot		24 August 1931	29 September 1932	Unionist		MacDonald (First National ministry)
							MacDonald (Second National ministry)	N. Chamberlain
	Leslie Hore-Belisha		29 September 1932	29 June 1934	Liberal National
	Duff Cooper		29 June 1934	22 November 1935	Conservative
							Baldwin (Third National ministry)
	William Morrison		22 November 1935	29 October 1936	Conservative
	John Colville		29 October 1936	1938	Unionist
							N. Chamberlain (Fourth National ministry)	Simon
	Euan Wallace		16 May 1938	?	Conservative
	Harry Crookshank		21 April 1939	7 February 1943	Conservative
							N. Chamberlain (War)
							Churchill (War)	Wood
	Ralph Assheton		7 February 1943	29 October 1944	Conservative
								Anderson
	Osbert Peake		29 October 1944	26 July 1945	Conservative
							Churchill (Caretaker)
	William Glenvil Hall		4 August 1945	2 March 1950	Labour		Attlee	Dalton
								Cripps
	Douglas Jay		2 March 1950	26 October 1951	Labour
								Gaitskell
	John Boyd-Carpenter		30 October 1951	28 July 1954	Conservative		Churchill	Butler
	Henry Brooke		28 July 1954	January 1957	Conservative
							Eden
								Macmillan
	Enoch Powell		January 1957	January 1958	Conservative		Macmillan	Thorneycroft
	Jocelyn Simon		January 1958	22 October 1959	Conservative			Heathcoat-Amory
	Sir Edward Boyle		22 October 1959	16 July 1962	Conservative
								Lloyd
	Anthony Barber		16 July 1962	20 October 1963	Conservative			Maudling
	Alan Green		23 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative		Douglas-Home
	Niall MacDermot		21 October 1964	29 August 1967	Labour		Wilson	Callaghan
	Harold Lever		29 August 1967	13 October 1969	Labour
								Jenkins
	Dick Taverne		13 October 1969	19 June 1970	Labour
	Patrick Jenkin		19 June 1970	7 April 1972	Conservative		Heath	Macleod
								Barber
	Terrence Higgins		7 April 1972	4 March 1974	Conservative
	John Gilbert		8 March 1974	17 June 1975	Labour		Wilson	Healey
	Robert Sheldon		17 June 1975	4 May 1979	Labour
							Callaghan
	Nigel Lawson		4 May 1979	14 September 1981	Conservative		Thatcher	Howe
	Nicholas Ridley		September 1981	11 June 1983	Conservative
	John Moore		19 October 1983	21 May 1986	Conservative			Lawson
	Norman Lamont		21 May 1986	24 July 1989	Conservative
	Peter Lilley		24 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative
								Major
	Francis Maude		28 November 1990	11 April 1992	Conservative		Major	Lamont
	Stephen Dorrell		11 April 1992	11 July 1994	Conservative
								Clarke
	Sir George Young, Bt		11 July 1994	5 July 1995	Conservative
	Michael Jack		5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative
	Dawn Primarolo		2 May 1997	4 January 1999	Labour		Blair	Brown
	Barbara Roche		4 January 1999	29 July 1999	Labour
	Stephen Timms		29 July 1999	8 June 2001	Labour

Note 1. ^ Between June 1917 and May 1919 Lever and Baldwin jointly held the position of Financial Secretary.
Note 2. ^ As Baldwin was both Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer Joynson-Hicks was a member of the Cabinet.

2001–present

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister		Chancellor
	Paul Boateng		8 June 2001	May 2002	Labour		Blair	Brown
	Ruth Kelly		May 2002	9 September 2004	Labour
	Stephen Timms		12 September 2004	6 May 2005	Labour
	John Healey		6 May 2005	28 June 2007	Labour
	Jane Kennedy		28 June 2007	5 October 2008	Labour		Brown	Darling
	Stephen Timms		5 October 2008	11 May 2010	Labour
	Mark Hoban		13 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative		Cameron (Coalition)	Osborne
	Greg Clark		4 September 2012	7 October 2013	Conservative
	Sajid Javid		7 October 2013	9 April 2014	Conservative
	Nicky Morgan		9 April 2014	15 July 2014	Conservative
	David Gauke		15 July 2014	14 July 2016	Conservative
							Cameron (II)
	Jane Ellison		15 July 2016	Incumbent	Conservative		May	Hammond

See also

• Secretary to the Treasury

References

External links

• British History Online List of Secretaries to the Treasury
• Treasury Ministerial responsibilities

Her Majesty's Treasury
Headquarters: 1, Horse Guards Road
Ministers	First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer and Second Lord of the Treasury Chief Secretary to the Treasury Financial Secretary to the Treasury Economic Secretary to the Treasury (City Minister) Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Commercial Secretary to the Treasury
Executive agencies	Debt Management Office
Other	Crown Estate Infrastructure and Projects Authority National Infrastructure Commission Office for Budget Responsibility Office of Tax Simplification Royal Mint UK Financial Investments

Ministers of Her Majesty's Treasury
Cabinet ministers	Theresa May (First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister) Philip Hammond (Second Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer) David Gauke* (Chief Secretary to the Treasury)
Junior ministers	Jane Ellison (Financial Secretary to the Treasury) Simon Kirby (Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister) Two offices not in use (Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and Commercial Secretary to the Treasury)
* also attending Cabinet