Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (CST) is the third most senior ministerial office in HM Treasury, after the First Lord of the Treasury (though this office is only nominal and held by the Prime Minister, who works out of the Cabinet Office) and the Chancellor of the Exchequer/Second Lord of the Treasury.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Royal Arms of HM Government
Incumbent Stephen Barclay since 13 February 2020
Her Majesty's Treasury
Style	The Right Honourable
Reports to	Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister
Appointer	The Monarch on advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	At Her Majesty’s Pleasure
Formation	8 October 1961
First holder	Henry Brooke
Website	www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

The office was created in 1961, to share the burden of representing the Treasury with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

History and responsibilities

Between 1961 and 2015, the holder of the office of Chief Secretary to the Treasury was of cabinet rank. This formally made the HM Treasury the only department to have more than one ministerial position of cabinet rank.[1][2] Since 2015, however, the status of the office has been reduced to "also attending Cabinet".

The office holder is responsible for public expenditure, including spending reviews.[3]

List of Chief Secretaries to the Treasury

Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Conservative       Labour       Liberal Democrat
Portrait		Name	Term of office		Party	Ministry	Chancellor		Ref.
		Henry Brooke MP for Hampstead	9 October 1961	13 July 1962	Conservative	Macmillan (I & II)		Selwyn Lloyd	[4]
‍		John Boyd-Carpenter MP for Kingston-upon-Thames	13 July 1962	16 October 1964	Conservative			Reginald Maudling	[5]
						Douglas-Home
		Jack Diamond MP for Gloucester	20 October 1964	19 June 1970	Labour	Wilson (I & II)		James Callaghan	[6]
								Roy Jenkins
		Maurice Macmillan MP for Farnham	23 June 1970	7 April 1972	Conservative	Heath		Iain Macleod	[7]
								Anthony Barber
		Patrick Jenkin MP for Wanstead and Woodford	7 April 1972	8 January 1974	Conservative				[8]
		Tom Boardman MP for Leicester South West	8 January 1974	4 March 1974	Conservative				[9]
		Joel Barnett MP for Heywood and Royton	7 March 1974	4 May 1979	Labour	Wilson (III & IV)		Denis Healey	[10]
						Callaghan
		John Biffen MP for Oswestry	5 May 1979	5 January 1981	Conservative	Thatcher I		Geoffrey Howe	[11]
		Leon Brittan MP for Cleveland and Whitby	5 January 1981	11 June 1983	Conservative				[12]
		Peter Rees MP for Dover	11 June 1983	2 September 1985	Conservative	Thatcher II		Nigel Lawson	[13]
		John MacGregor MP for South Norfolk	2 September 1985	13 June 1987	Conservative				[14]
		John Major MP for Huntingdon	13 June 1987	24 July 1989	Conservative	Thatcher III			[15]
		Norman Lamont MP for Kingston-upon-Thames	24 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative			John Major	[16]
		David Mellor MP for Putney	28 November 1990	10 April 1992	Conservative	Major I		Norman Lamont	[17]
		Michael Portillo MP for Enfield Southgate	10 April 1992	20 July 1994	Conservative	Major II			[18]
								Kenneth Clarke
		Jonathan Aitken MP for South Thanet	20 July 1994	5 July 1995	Conservative				[19]
		William Waldegrave MP for Bristol West	5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative				[20]
		Alistair Darling MP for Edinburgh Central	3 May 1997	27 July 1998	Labour	Blair I		Gordon Brown	[21]
		Stephen Byers MP for North Tyneside	27 July 1998	23 December 1998	Labour				[22]
		Alan Milburn MP for Darlington	23 December 1998	11 October 1999	Labour				[23]
		Andrew Smith MP for Oxford East	11 October 1999	29 May 2002	Labour				[24]
						Blair II
		Paul Boateng MP for Brent South	29 May 2002	6 May 2005	Labour				[25]
		Des Browne MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun	6 May 2005	5 May 2006	Labour	Blair III			[26]
		Stephen Timms MP for East Ham	5 May 2006	28 June 2007	Labour				[27]
		Andy Burnham MP for Leigh	28 June 2007	24 January 2008	Labour	Brown		Alistair Darling	[28]
		Yvette Cooper MP for Pontefract and Castleford	24 January 2008	5 June 2009	Labour				[29]
		Liam Byrne MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill	5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour				[30]
		David Laws MP for Yeovil	12 May 2010	29 May 2010	Liberal Democrat	Cameron–Clegg (Con.–L.D.)		George Osborne	[31]
		Danny Alexander MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey	29 May 2010	8 May 2015	Liberal Democrat				[32]
		Greg Hands MP for Chelsea and Fulham	11 May 2015	14 July 2016	Conservative	Cameron II			[33]
		David Gauke MP for South West Hertfordshire	14 July 2016	11 June 2017	Conservative	May I		Philip Hammond	[34]
		Elizabeth Truss MP for South West Norfolk	11 June 2017	24 July 2019	Conservative	May II			[35]
		Rishi Sunak MP for Richmond (Yorks)	24 July 2019	13 February 2020	Conservative	Johnson I		Sajid Javid	[36]
​						Johnson II
		Stephen Barclay MP for North East Cambridgeshire	13 February 2020	Incumbent	Conservative			Rishi Sunak	[37]

See also

• Secretary to the Treasury
• Financial Secretary to the Treasury
• Economic Secretary to the Treasury
• Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
• Paymaster General

References

1. F N Forman; N D J Baldwin (2007), Mastering British Politics (5th ed.), Palgrave Macmillan
2. W H Greenleaf (1983), The British Political Tradition: Volume III, Part One, Much Governed Nation, Routledge
3. "Chief Secretary to the Treasury - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
4. "Mr Henry Brooke". Hansard 1803–2005. UK Parliament. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
5. "Mr John Boyd-Carpenter". Hansard 1803–2005. UK Parliament. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
6. "Mr Jack Diamond". Hansard 1803–2005. UK Parliament. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
7. "Rt Hon Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden". UK Parliament. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
8. "Lord Jenkin of Roding". UK Parliament. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
9. "Mr Thomas Boardman". Hansard 1803–2005. UK Parliament. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
10. "Lord Barnett". UK Parliament. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
11. "Rt Hon John Biffen". UK Parliament. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
12. "Lord Brittan of Spennithorne". UK Parliament. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
13. "Mr Peter Rees". Hansard 1803–2005. UK Parliament. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
14. "Lord MacGregor of Pulham Market". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
15. "Rt Hon John Major". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
16. "Lord Lamont of Lerwick". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
17. "Rt Hon David Mellor". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
18. "Rt Hon Michael Portillo". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
19. "Jonathan Aitken". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
20. "Lord Waldegrave of North Hill". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
21. "Lord Darling of Roulanish". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
22. "Mr Stephen Byers". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
23. "Mr Alan Milburn". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
24. "Rt Hon Andrew Smith". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
25. "Lord Boateng". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
26. "Lord Browne of Ladyton". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
27. "Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
28. "Rt Hon Andy Burnham". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
29. "Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
30. "Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
31. "Rt Hon David Laws". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
32. "Rt Hon Danny Alexander". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
33. "Rt Hon Greg Hands MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
34. "Rt Hon David Gauke MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
35. "Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
36. "Rishi Sunak MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
37. "Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 13 February 2020.