Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The principal private secretary to the prime minister of the United Kingdom is a senior official in the civil service of the United Kingdom. As a principal private secretary, they are traditionally responsible for running the prime minister's private office in 10 Downing Street. In the Civil Service, the role is currently graded as director general.

The current principal private secretary is Dan York-Smith.

History As the role of prime minister has evolved over time, so has the role of principal private secretary. Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle appointed a private secretary during his second term of office as First Lord of the Treasury (1757–62), and his 18th-century successors for the most part did likewise. The Private Secretary at this time was not on the establishment of HM Treasury and he was not paid an official salary. This changed in 1806, when money was made available from public funds. In 1813 the funding available was doubled to enable a second private secretary to be employed, alongside the first (or 'principal') holder of the office.

At this time it became customary for one of the private secretaries to be appointed from within the Civil Service (more often than not from the Treasury) to provide administrative support, and the other to be recruited from outside the Civil Service (including on occasion from the House of Commons) to provide political support. (In today's terms the latter were more akin to special advisers or a Parliamentary Private Secretary.) A third Private Secretary was added in the 1870s.

Under Lloyd George (prime minister from 1916 to 1922), the duties of the Principal Private Secretary changed, as some responsibilities were transferred to a new Secretariat (the so-called 'Garden Suburb'), while others (particularly those relating to meetings of the Cabinet and the implementation of its decisions) were taken up by the newly established Cabinet Office and Cabinet Secretary. At the same time the number of clerical staff working in the office was substantially increased, which eased the administrative burden. The Principal Private Secretary was left to focus on arranging the prime minister's diary, offering advice and personal support, and overseeing certain particular areas (such as honours and appointments).

Up until the 1920s the private office of the prime minister was usually staffed by personal and/or political appointees; a new prime minister would often bring in his own people (either from the civil service or from outside), and there was invariably a change of staff with a change of government. Ronald Waterhouse and Patrick Gower, however, who were appointed to the office by the Conservative Bonar Law in 1922, remained in post not only under his Conservative successor Stanley Baldwin but also under the first Labour prime minister Ramsay MacDonald. Since then the Principal Private Secretary has been considered a member of the permanent Civil Service, rather than a political or personal appointee, and as such may remain in office in spite of any change of administration.

For many years, although there was a hierarchy of officials within the private office, it was not generally made public (instead the 'private secretaries' were simply listed in alphabetical order); but this changed in 1929 when Robert Vansittart was listed as 'principal' private secretary for the first time in the Imperial Calendar.

Recent history During Tony Blair's administration, the prime minister (as Minister for the Civil Service) modified the law under which the Civil Service operated (through an Order in Council) which gave power to the newly created role of Downing Street Chief of Staff (a politically appointed special adviser) to give instructions to civil servants and outranked the principal private secretary in the Downing Street power structure. When Gordon Brown entered 10 Downing Street, he reversed the change to the Civil Service law.

When David Cameron became prime minister, he promoted his then principal private secretary to a new post of "Downing Street Permanent Secretary"; a position which took over as the top civil servant in the Prime Minister's Office and for the first time the head of the office held the highest rank in the UK's civil service. In 2012, when the post-holder, Jeremy Heywood, was appointed Cabinet Secretary; this new post ceased to exist, and the chief Civil Service official in 10 Downing Street reverted to being the Principal Private Secretary, which remains to this day.

The principal secretary runs the private office of the prime minister, which includes the Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs to the Prime Minister.

The principal private secretary is, with the Private Secretary to the Sovereign and the Cabinet Secretary, part of the "golden triangle" of officials responsible for supporting the sovereign to appoint a prime minister in the event of a hung parliament, when it is not immediately clear who can command a majority in the House of Commons. This is important for ensuring that the sensitive process runs smoothly and that the sovereign is not implicated in political debate or manoeuvres.

List of principal private secretaries to the prime minister (from 1757, incomplete)

Principal Private Secretary Years Prime MinisterMontagu Corry1868Benjamin Disraeli Algernon West 1868–1872 William GladstoneMontagu Corry1874–1880Benjamin Disraeli Arthur Godley 1880–1882William Gladstone Edward Walter Hamilton 1882–1885Henry Manners, Marquess of Granby1885–1886Robert Gascoyne-Cecilpost vacant 1886 William GladstoneHenry Manners, Marquess of Granby1886–1888Robert Gascoyne-Cecil Schomberg Kerr McDonnell 1888–1892 Sir Algernon West 1892–1894 William Gladstone George Herbert Murray 1894–1895 Archibald PrimroseSchomberg Kerr McDonnell1895–1902Robert Gascoyne-Cecil John Satterfield Sandars 1902–1905 Arthur Balfour Arthur PonsonbyBritish Political Facts 1900–1994, Butler & Butler, 1994, p. 284 1905–1908 Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman Vaughan Nash 1908–1911 H. H. Asquith Maurice Bonham-Carter 1911–1916 Sir John T Davies 1916–1922 David Lloyd George Edward Grigg [dubious – discuss] 1921–1922 Sir Patrick Gower Lt Col Sir Ronald Waterhouse 1922–1923Bonar Law1923–1924Stanley Baldwin1924Ramsay MacDonald 1924–1928 Stanley Baldwin Sir Robert Vansittart 1928–19291929–1930 Ramsay MacDonaldSir Patrick Duff1930–1933 Alan Barlow 1933–1934Harold Vincent1934–1935 1935–1936 Stanley BaldwinOsmund Cleverly 1935–19371937–1939Neville Chamberlain Arthur Rucker 1939–1940 Eric Seal 1940–1941 Winston Churchill John Martin 1941–1945Leslie Rowan1945 1945–1947 Clement Attlee Laurence Helsby 1947–1950 Denis Rickett 1950–1951David Pitblado1951 Jock Colville (PPS: defence and external affairs) David Pitblado (PPS: home and internal affairs) 1951–1955 Winston ChurchillDavid Pitblado 1955–1956 Anthony EdenFrederick Bishop1956–1957 1957–1959 Harold MacmillanTimothy Bligh1959–19631963–1964Alec Douglas-Home Derek Mitchell 1964–1966 Harold Wilson Lt Col Arthur Norman Halls 1966–1970Alexander Isserlis1970 1970 Edward HeathRobert Armstrong1970–1974 1974–1975 Harold WilsonKenneth Stowe1975–1976 1976–1979 James Callaghan1979Margaret Thatcher Clive Whitmore 1979–1982 Robin Butler 1982–1985 Nigel Wicks 1985–1988 Andrew Turnbull 1988–19901990–1992John Major Alex Allan 1992–19971997Tony Blair Sir John Holmes 1997–1999 Jeremy Heywood 1999–2003 Ivan Rogers 2003–2006 Oliver Robbins 2006–20072007Gordon Brown Tom Scholar 2007–2008 Jeremy Heywood 2008–2010 James Bowler 2010–2011 David Cameron Chris Martin 2011–2015 Simon Case 20162016–2017Theresa May Peter Hill 2017–20192019Boris Johnson Martin Reynolds 2019–2022 Peter Wilson 2022 Nick Catsaras 2022 Liz TrussElizabeth Perelman2022–2024Rishi Sunak 2024Keir Starmer Nin Pandit 2024–2025 Dan York-Smith 2025–present

Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

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