First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom held by the most senior secretary of state. The office is not always in use, but is usually the designated deputy of the prime minister making them the second highest ranking minister, unless a Deputy Prime Minister has been appointed.

The office frequently serves the same political functions as that of Deputy Prime Minister, and while there have been occasions when the two titles have existed at the same time, Prime Ministers historically have tended to designate one or the other (or neither). , the office is held by Louise Haigh, last having been held by Dominic Raab from 2019 to 2021, which ended when the title was swapped for Deputy Prime Minister in 2021.

Constitutional position Like the deputy prime minister, the first secretary enjoys no right of automatic succession to the office of Prime Minister. When Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to an intensive care unit on 6 April 2020, after contracting COVID-19, First Secretary Dominic Raab was asked "to deputise for him where necessary."

The office temporarily enjoyed some greater constitutional footing between when it was incorporated as a corporation sole in 2002The Transfer of Functions (Transport, Local Government and the Regions) Order 2002, art 3(1). and having all of its remaining functions transferred in 2008.The Transfer of Functions (Miscellaneous) Order 2008, art 7 During most of this time, John Prescott was First Secretary.

History In 1962, R.A. Butler was the first person to be appointed to the office, in part to avoid earlier royal objections to the office of Deputy Prime Minister. The office gave Butler ministerial superiority over the rest of the Cabinet and indicated that he was second-in-command. Harold Wilson appointed three people to the office between 1964 and 1970, but it has been noted by Anthony Seldon et al. that the office may have caught on "more as an ego-massager than for functional reasons."

Later, Michael Heseltine and John Prescott held the office and also that of Deputy Prime Minister. The two offices have only existed concurrently with different holders in David Cameron's coalition government, in which Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg was appointed Deputy Prime Minister while Conservative William Hague was First Secretary.

Responsibilities The gov.uk website states the offices responsibilities as.

Delivery of the Prime Minister’s priorities No10 North Oversight of all Cabinet Office policy Coordination and delivery of cross-government priorities Procurement and Commercial Oversight of national security policy coordination Oversight of state reform and Civil Service reform

Additionally, Lord Norton says that there are two benefits to a prime minister in appointing a first secretary: firstly, it leaves a senior minister free to perform correlation and co-ordination and to chair committees and, secondly, it enables the prime minister to send a signal as to the status of the holder. Stephen Thornton and Jonathan Kirkup have said that "the Office of First Secretary of State is only as important as the person holding that office is perceived to be important", but in certain circumstances the office "can assume acute importance and real power" and it may yet become an office of substance.

List of First Secretaries of State First Secretary of State Term of office Duration Other ministerial offices Party Ministry Rab ButlerDavid Butler and Gareth Butler, British Political Facts 1900–1994 (7th edn, Macmillan 1994) 62. 1962 1963 ConservativeMacmillan IIOffice vacant 1963 1964 George Brown 1964 1966 Secretary of State for Economic Affairs LabourWilson Michael Stewart 1966 1968 Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Labour Barbara Castle 1968 1970 Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity LabourOffice vacant 1970 1995 Michael Heseltine 1995 1997 Deputy Prime Minister ConservativeMajor IIOffice vacant 1997 2001 John Prescott 2001 2007 Deputy Prime Minister Secretary of State for Local Government and the Regions LabourBlair IIBlair IIIOffice vacant 2007 2009 Peter Mandelson, Baron Mandelson 2009 2010 Lord President of the Council Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills President of the Board of Trade LabourBrown William Hague 2010 2015 Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Leader of the House of Commons ConservativeCameron–Clegg George Osborne 2015 2016 Chancellor of the Exchequer ConservativeCameron IIOffice vacant 2016 2017 Damian Green 2017 2017 Minister for the Cabinet Office ConservativeMay IIOffice vacant 2017 2019 Dominic Raab 2019 2021 Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs ConservativeJohnsonOffice vacant 2021 2026 Louise Haigh 2026 Incumbent Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Minister for the Cabinet Office LabourBurnham

Timeline

See also Ministerial ranking – the "pecking order" or relative importance of senior ministers in the UK government. Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a similar position, sometimes used as an alternative to the First Secretary

Notes

References

sv:First Secretary of State