Financial Secretary to the Treasury

United Kingdom
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
United Kingdom; Financial Secretary to the Treasury
	Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
	Incumbent; Lord Livermore; since 8 July 2024
	His Majesty's Treasury
Reports to	First Lord of the Treasury ; Chancellor of the Exchequer & Second Lord of the Treasury
Nominator	Prime Minister
Appointer	The King; (on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holder	Thomas Harley
Formation	11 June 1711
Website	Official website

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the chief secretary to the Treasury, and the paymaster general. However, the role of First Lord of the Treasury is always held by the prime minister who is not a Treasury minister, and the position of Paymaster General is a sinecure often held by the Minister for the Cabinet Office to allow the holder of that office to draw a government salary. In practice it is, therefore, the third most senior Treasury minister and has attended Cabinet in the past.

The current holder of the position is Lord Livermore, who was appointed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer following the Labour Party’s victory in the 2024 General Election.^[1] The position is shadowed by the shadow financial secretary to the treasury.

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.^[2]

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.

In May 2010 as part of the ministerial reorganisation by the First Cameron ministry, the Financial Secretary was given the additional semi-official title of City Minister. This position was retained until April 2014 when following the promotion of Sajid Javid to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport the portfolio of City Minister was moved from the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury.^[3]

Appointment to the position of Financial Secretary to the Treasury is often considered an important stepping stone in a politician's career; six of the ten most recent 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.^{[citation needed]} The Financial Secretary to the Treasury had Departmental responsibility for HM Customs & Excise until the merger with the Inland Revenue to form HM Revenue & Customs.^{[citation needed]}

List of financial secretaries to the Treasury since 1830

see Secretary to the Treasury for earlier incumbents

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

Financial Secretary		Term of office		Political party		Chancellor
	Thomas Spring Rice	26 November 1830	6 June 1834	Whig	Earl Grey	Viscount Althorp
	Francis Baring	6 June 1834	14 November 1834	Whig	Earl Grey
	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)
	Thomas Fremantle	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		Baring
	George Clerk	8 September 1841	1845	Conservative	Peel	Goulburn
	Edward Cardwell	4 February 1845	29 June 1846	Conservative	Peel	Goulburn
	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
	James Wilson	5 January 1853	19 February 1858	Whig	Viscount Palmerston	Lewis
	George Alexander Hamilton	2 March 1858	1859	Conservative	Earl of Derby	Disraeli
	Stafford Northcote	21 January 1859	1859	Conservative	Earl of Derby	Disraeli
	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
	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
	Henry Selwin-Ibbetson	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		Gladstone
	Leonard Courtney	6 May 1882	12 December 1884	Liberal		Childers
	J. T. Hibbert	12 December 1884	9 June 1885	Liberal		Childers
	Henry Holland	24 June 1885	1885	Conservative	Marquess of Salisbury	Hicks Beach
	Matthew White Ridley	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
	William Jackson	3 August 1886	1891	Conservative		Viscount Goschen
	John Eldon Gorst	9 November 1891	11 August 1892	Conservative		Viscount Goschen
	J. T. Hibbert	18 August 1892	22 June 1895	Liberal	Gladstone	Harcourt
	J. T. Hibbert	18 August 1892	22 June 1895	Liberal	Earl of Rosebery	Harcourt
	Robert William Hanbury	29 June 1895	1900	Conservative	Marquess of Salisbury (Unionist Coalition)	Hicks Beach
	Austen Chamberlain	7 November 1900	11 August 1902	Liberal Unionist	Marquess of Salisbury (Unionist Coalition)	Hicks Beach
	Austen Chamberlain	7 November 1900	11 August 1902	Liberal Unionist	Balfour (Unionist Coalition)	Hicks Beach
	William Fisher	11 August 1902	April 1903	Conservative		Ritchie
	Arthur Elliot	10 April 1903	9 October 1903	Conservative		Ritchie
	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	Campbell-Bannerman	Asquith
	Charles Hobhouse	12 April 1908	1911	Liberal	Asquith (I)	Lloyd George
	Thomas McKinnon Wood	23 October 1911	13 February 1912	Liberal
	Charles Masterman MP for Bethnal Green South West	13 February 1912	11 February 1914	Liberal
	Edwin Montagu MP for Chesterton	11 February 1914	3 February 1915	Liberal
	Francis Dyke Acland MP for Camborne	3 February 1915	25 May 1915	Liberal
	Edwin Montagu MP for Chesterton	26 May 1915	9 July 1916	Liberal	Asquith (Coalition)	McKenna
	Thomas McKinnon Wood MP for Glasgow St Rollox	9 July 1916	5 December 1916	Liberal	Asquith (Coalition)	McKenna
	Hardman Lever Baronet	15 December 1916	19 May 1919 ^{[Note 1]}	None Civil servant	Lloyd George (Coalition)	Law (December 1916 – January 1919) A. Chamberlain (January 1919 – April 1921)
	Stanley Baldwin MP for Bewdley	18 June 1917 ^{[Note 1]}	1 April 1921	Conservative
	Hilton Young MP for Norwich	21 April 1921	19 October 1922	Liberal		Horne
	John Hills MP for City of Durham	6 November 1922	1923	Conservative	Law	Baldwin
	Archibald Boyd-Carpenter MP for Bradford North	12 March 1923	May 1923	Conservative	Law
	William Joynson-Hicks MP for Twickenham	25 May 1923	27 August 1923 ^{[Note 2]}	Conservative	Baldwin
	Walter Guinness MP for Bury St Edmunds	5 October 1923	1923	Conservative	Baldwin	N. Chamberlain
	William Graham MP for Edinburgh Central	23 January 1924	4 November 1924	Labour	MacDonald	Snowden
	Walter Guinness MP for Bury St Edmunds	11 November 1924	5 November 1925	Conservative	Baldwin	Churchill
	Ronald McNeill MP for Canterbury	5 November 1925	1 November 1927	Conservative
	Arthur Samuel MP for Farnham	1 November 1927	5 June 1929	Conservative
	Frederick Pethick-Lawrence MP for Leicester West	11 June 1929	August 1931	Labour	MacDonald (II)	Snowden
	Walter Elliot MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove	24 August 1931	29 September 1932	Unionist	MacDonald (First National ministry)	Snowden
	Walter Elliot MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove	24 August 1931	29 September 1932	Unionist	MacDonald (Second National ministry)	N. Chamberlain
	Leslie Hore-Belisha MP for Plymouth Devonport	29 September 1932	29 June 1934	Liberal National
	Duff Cooper MP for Westminster St George's	29 June 1934	22 November 1935	Conservative
	Duff Cooper MP for Westminster St George's	29 June 1934	22 November 1935	Conservative	Baldwin (Third National ministry)
	William Morrison MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury	22 November 1935	29 October 1936	Conservative
	John Colville MP for Midlothian and Peebles Northern	29 October 1936	1938	Unionist
	John Colville MP for Midlothian and Peebles Northern	29 October 1936	1938	Unionist	N. Chamberlain (Fourth National ministry)	Simon
	Euan Wallace MP for Hornsey	16 May 1938	21 April 1939	Conservative
	Harry Crookshank MP for Gainsborough	21 April 1939	7 February 1943	Conservative
					N. Chamberlain (War)
					Churchill (War)	Wood
	Ralph Assheton MP for Rushcliffe	7 February 1943	29 October 1944	Conservative		Wood
	Ralph Assheton MP for Rushcliffe	7 February 1943	29 October 1944	Conservative		Anderson
	Osbert Peake MP for Leeds North	29 October 1944	26 July 1945	Conservative
	Osbert Peake MP for Leeds North	29 October 1944	26 July 1945	Conservative	Churchill (Caretaker)
	William Glenvil Hall MP for Colne Valley	4 August 1945	2 March 1950	Labour	Attlee	Dalton
	William Glenvil Hall MP for Colne Valley	4 August 1945	2 March 1950	Labour		Cripps
	Douglas Jay MP for Battersea North	2 March 1950	26 October 1951	Labour		Cripps
	Douglas Jay MP for Battersea North	2 March 1950	26 October 1951	Labour		Gaitskell
	John Boyd-Carpenter MP for Kingston-upon-Thames	30 October 1951	28 July 1954	Conservative	Churchill	Butler
	Henry Brooke MP for Hampstead	28 July 1954	January 1957	Conservative	Churchill
					Eden
					Eden	Macmillan
	Enoch Powell MP for Wolverhampton South West	14 January 1957	15 January 1958	Conservative	Macmillan	Thorneycroft
	Jack Simon MP for Middlesbrough West	15 January 1958	22 October 1959	Conservative		Heathcoat-Amory
	Edward Boyle MP for Birmingham Handsworth	22 October 1959	16 July 1962	Conservative		Heathcoat-Amory
	Edward Boyle MP for Birmingham Handsworth	22 October 1959	16 July 1962	Conservative		Lloyd
	Anthony Barber MP for Doncaster	16 July 1962	20 October 1963	Conservative		Maudling
	Alan Green MP for Preston South	23 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative	Douglas-Home	Maudling
	Niall MacDermot MP for Derby North	21 October 1964	29 August 1967	Labour	Wilson	Callaghan
	Harold Lever MP for Manchester Cheetham	29 August 1967	13 October 1969	Labour		Callaghan
	Harold Lever MP for Manchester Cheetham	29 August 1967	13 October 1969	Labour		Jenkins
	Dick Taverne MP for Lincoln	13 October 1969	19 June 1970	Labour		Jenkins
	Patrick Jenkin MP for Wanstead and Woodford	19 June 1970	7 April 1972	Conservative	Heath	Macleod
	Patrick Jenkin MP for Wanstead and Woodford	19 June 1970	7 April 1972	Conservative		Barber
	Terrence Higgins MP for Worthing	7 April 1972	4 March 1974	Conservative		Barber
	John Gilbert MP for Dudley East	8 March 1974	17 June 1975	Labour	Wilson	Healey
	Robert Sheldon MP for Ashton under Lyne	17 June 1975	4 May 1979	Labour	Wilson
	Robert Sheldon MP for Ashton under Lyne	17 June 1975	4 May 1979	Labour	Callaghan
	Nigel Lawson MP for Blaby	4 May 1979	14 September 1981	Conservative	Thatcher	Howe
	Nicholas Ridley MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury	September 1981	11 June 1983	Conservative		Howe
	John Moore MP for Croydon Central	19 October 1983	21 May 1986	Conservative		Lawson
	Norman Lamont MP for Kingston-upon-Thames	21 May 1986	24 July 1989	Conservative
	Peter Lilley MP for St Albans	24 July 1989	14 July 1990	Conservative
	Peter Lilley MP for St Albans	24 July 1989	14 July 1990	Conservative		Major
	Francis Maude MP for North Warwickshire	14 July 1990	9 April 1992	Conservative	Major	Lamont
	Stephen Dorrell MP for Loughborough	11 April 1992	11 July 1994	Conservative		Lamont
	Stephen Dorrell MP for Loughborough	11 April 1992	11 July 1994	Conservative		Clarke
	George Young MP for Ealing Acton	11 July 1994	5 July 1995	Conservative
	Michael Jack MP for Fylde	5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative
	Dawn Primarolo MP for Bristol South	2 May 1997	4 January 1999	Labour	Blair	Brown
	Barbara Roche MP for Hornsey and Wood Green	4 January 1999	29 July 1999	Labour
	Stephen Timms MP for East Ham	29 July 1999	8 June 2001	Labour
	Paul Boateng MP for Brent South	8 June 2001	May 2002	Labour
	Ruth Kelly MP for Bolton West	May 2002	9 September 2004	Labour
	Stephen Timms MP for East Ham	12 September 2004	6 May 2005	Labour
	John Healey MP for Wentworth	6 May 2005	28 June 2007	Labour
	Jane Kennedy MP for Liverpool Wavertree	28 June 2007	5 October 2008	Labour	Brown	Darling
	Stephen Timms MP for East Ham	5 October 2008	11 May 2010	Labour	Brown	Darling
	Mark Hoban MP for Fareham	13 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative	Cameron (Coalition)	Osborne
	Greg Clark MP for Tunbridge Wells	4 September 2012	7 October 2013	Conservative
	Sajid Javid MP for Bromsgrove	7 October 2013	9 April 2014	Conservative
	Nicky Morgan MP for Loughborough	9 April 2014	15 July 2014	Conservative
	David Gauke MP for South West Hertfordshire	15 July 2014	14 July 2016	Conservative
	David Gauke MP for South West Hertfordshire	15 July 2014	14 July 2016	Conservative	Cameron (II)
	Jane Ellison MP for Battersea	15 July 2016	9 June 2017	Conservative	May (I)	Hammond
	Mel Stride MP for Central Devon	12 June 2017	23 May 2019	Conservative	May (II)
	Jesse Norman MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire	23 May 2019	16 September 2021	Conservative	May (II)
					Johnson	Javid
						Sunak
	Lucy Frazer MP for South East Cambridgeshire	16 September 2021	7 September 2022	Conservative		Sunak
	Lucy Frazer MP for South East Cambridgeshire	16 September 2021	7 September 2022	Conservative		Zahawi
	Andrew Griffith MP for Arundel and South Downs	8 September 2022	27 October 2022	Conservative	Truss	Kwarteng
	Andrew Griffith MP for Arundel and South Downs	8 September 2022	27 October 2022	Conservative	Truss	Hunt
	Victoria Atkins MP for Louth and Horncastle	27 October 2022	13 November 2023	Conservative	Sunak
	Nigel Huddleston MP for Mid Worcestershire	13 November 2023	5 July 2024	Conservative	Sunak
	Lord Livermore	8 July 2024	Incumbent	Labour	Starmer	Reeves

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.

References

^ Elgot, Jessica. "The Guardian". Retrieved 8 July 2024.
^ "Secretaries 1660-1870". British History Online. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
^ Andrea Leadsom MP appointed new City Minister for HMT, Tech UK, 10 April 2014, retrieved 4 August 2016

External links

[1] Elgot, Jessica. "The Guardian". Retrieved 8 July 2024.

[2] "Secretaries 1660-1870". British History Online. Retrieved 9 October 2016.

[3] Andrea Leadsom MP appointed new City Minister for HMT, Tech UK, 10 April 2014, retrieved 4 August 2016

[1]

[2]

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v t e HM Treasury
Headquarters: 1, Horse Guards Road
Ministers	First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer / Second Lord of the Treasury Chief Secretary to the Treasury Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury* Paymaster General Financial Secretary to the Treasury Economic Secretary to the Treasury & City Minister Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Commercial Secretary to the Treasury Lords Commissioners of the Treasury*
Civil Service	Permanent Secretary to the Treasury
Non-ministerial departments	Government Actuary's Department National Savings and Investments
Executive agencies	Debt Management Office Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt Government Internal Audit Agency National Infrastructure Commission
Executive non-departmental public bodies	Office for Budget Responsibility
Other bodies	Crown Estate Infrastructure and Projects Authority Reclaim Fund Royal Mint UK Government Investments National Wealth Fund
Topics	Autumn Budget Budget day Spring Statement
Offices in italics are not currently in use * Sinecure offices nominally associated with the Treasury de facto held by Government Whips

v t e Ministers of HM Treasury
Cabinet ministers	Keir Starmer (First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister) Rachel Reeves (Second Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer)
* also attending Cabinet

History

Current role

List of financial secretaries to the Treasury since 1830

See also

References

External links