First Secretary of State

First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The office indicates seniority,^[2] including over all other secretaries of state.^[3] The office is not always in use, so there have sometimes been extended gaps between successive holders.

United Kingdom First Secretary of State of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent Vacant since 15 September 2021
Government of the United Kingdom
Style	The Right Honourable (formal) His/Her Excellency (diplomatic)
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council National Security Council
Reports to	Prime Minister
Residence	None, may use grace and favour residences
Nominator	Prime Minister
Appointer	The King (on the advice of the prime minister)
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holder	Rab Butler
Formation	13 July 1962; 62 years ago (1962-07-13)
Salary	£153,022 per annum (including £81,932 MP salary)[1] (2019)

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 currently vacant. The most recent person to hold the title was Dominic Raab from 2019 to 2021, which ended when the title was swapped for Deputy Prime Minister instead in 2022.

Constitutional position

Like the deputy prime minister, the first secretary enjoys no right of automatic succession to the office of Prime Minister.^[4] However, 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."^[5]

The office temporarily enjoyed some greater constitutional footing between when it was incorporated as a corporation sole in 2002^[6] and having all of its remaining functions transferred in 2008.^[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.^[8] The office gave Butler ministerial superiority over the rest of the Cabinet^[9] and indicated that he was second-in-command.^[10] 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."^[10]

Later, Michael Heseltine and John Prescott held the office alongside being Deputy Prime Minister.^[11] The two offices have only existed concurrently with different holders in David Cameron's coalition government, wherein Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg was appointed Deputy Prime Minister while Conservative William Hague was First Secretary.^[11]

Responsibilities

The office is currently listed on the gov.uk website as bringing no additional responsibilities.^[12] However, 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.^[13] 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",^[14] but in certain circumstances the office "can assume acute importance and real power" and it may yet become an office of substance.^[15]

List of First Secretaries of State

First Secretary of State			Term of office		Other ministerial offices	Party	Ministry
		R. A. Butler MP for Saffron Walden[16][17]	13 July 1962	18 October 1963		Conservative	Macmillan II
		George Brown MP for Belper[17]	16 October 1964	11 August 1966	Secretary of State for Economic Affairs	Labour	Wilson (I & II)
		Michael Stewart MP for Fulham[17]	11 August 1966	6 April 1968	Secretary of State for Economic Affairs[a] Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs[b]	Labour
		Barbara Castle MP for Blackburn[17]	6 April 1968	19 June 1970	Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity	Labour
		Michael Heseltine MP for Henley[18]	20 July 1995	2 May 1997	Deputy Prime Minister	Conservative	Major II
		John Prescott MP for Kingston upon Hull East[19]	8 June 2001	27 June 2007	Deputy Prime Minister[c]	Labour	Blair II
							Blair III
		The Lord Mandelson	5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Lord President of the Council Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills President of the Board of Trade	Labour	Brown
		William Hague MP for Richmond (Yorks)[20]	12 May 2010	8 May 2015	Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs[d] Leader of the House of Commons[e]	Conservative	Cameron–Clegg (Con.–L.D.)
		George Osborne MP for Tatton[21]	8 May 2015	13 July 2016	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	Cameron II
		Damian Green MP for Ashford[22]	11 June 2017	20 December 2017	Minister for the Cabinet Office	Conservative	May II
		Dominic Raab MP for Esher and Walton[23]	24 July 2019	15 September 2021	Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs[f] Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs[g]	Conservative	Johnson (I & II)

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

1. Served as Secretary of State for Economic Affairs until August 1967
2. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from March 1968
3. Deputy Prime Minister from May 1997
4. Served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs until July 2014
5. Served as Leader of the House of Commons from July 2014
6. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs until September 2020
7. Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs from September 2020