Great Offices of State

Not to be confused with Great Officers of State (United Kingdom).

The Great Offices of State are senior offices in the UK government. They are the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary^[1][2][3] or, alternatively, three of those offices excluding the prime minister.^[4][5]

Current

Great Offices of State of His Majesty's Government[6]
Starmer ministry
Office	Officeholder		Took office	Concurrent government office(s)	Previous government office
Prime Minister		The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer MP for Holborn and St Pancras	5 July 2024 (4 months ago) (2024-07-05)	First Lord of the Treasury Minister for the Civil Service
Chancellor of the Exchequer		The Right Honourable Rachel Reeves MP for Leeds West and Pudsey	5 July 2024 (4 months ago) (2024-07-05)	Second Lord of the Treasury
Foreign Secretary (Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs)		The Right Honourable David Lammy MP for Tottenham	5 July 2024 (4 months ago) (2024-07-05)
Home Secretary (Secretary of State for the Home Department)		The Right Honourable Yvette Cooper MP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley	5 July 2024 (4 months ago) (2024-07-05)		Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2009–10)

History

The Great Offices of State are derived from the most senior positions in the Royal Household – the Great Officers of State. These eventually became hereditary and honorary titles, while the substantive duties of the Officers passed to individuals who were appointed on behalf of the Crown.^[7] James Callaghan is the first and, to date, only person to have served in all four positions.^[1][8]

According to a YouGov poll conducted in 2017, the British public view the three most senior Cabinet ministers as the Chancellor, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and the Secretary of State for Defence, with the office of Home Secretary coming in fourth place, and that of Foreign Secretary in just ninth place, preceded by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and followed by the Secretary of State for International Trade. The office of Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was viewed as least important, with just 3% of respondents saying they viewed it as one of the most important positions. ^[9]

The Truss ministry formed on 6 September 2022 and initially had no white men holding positions in the Great Offices of State, for the first time in British political history.^[10][11][12] This remained the case for just 38 days until the appointment of Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor of the Exchequer on 14 October 2022, replacing Kwasi Kwarteng who had been the first black Chancellor.^[13] Five days later on 19 October 2022, Grant Shapps was appointed Home Secretary, replacing Suella Braverman,^[14] although Braverman was then reappointed by incoming Prime Minister Rishi Sunak just six days later. Following Sunak's reshuffle in November 2023, this marks the first instance since 2010, when the Conservatives assumed office, where no women occupy a Great Office of State. It also marked the first 21st century instance of a former prime minister holding a Great Office of State, with David Cameron being appointed as Foreign Secretary in the Sunak ministry, becoming the first former prime minister to serve in a ministerial post since Alec Douglas-Home in 1970−1974.

Following the general election on 4 July, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer appointed Rachel Reeves as Chancellor of the Exchequer, thus making Reeves the first female Chancellor in the 708 year history of HM Treasury.^[15] Starmer appointed women to a record half of the Cabinet, including three of the five top positions in the British government. Besides Reeves, this includes Angela Rayner as Deputy Prime Minister and Yvette Cooper as Home Secretary.^[16][17]

See also

• Cabinet of the United Kingdom
• List of shadow holders of the Great Offices of State

References

1. McKie, David (28 March 2005). "Lord Callaghan". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 3 November 2007. Retrieved 10 June 2008. He had held all four of the great offices of state
2. Eason, Gary (27 March 2005). "Callaghan's great education debate". BBC News. Archived from the original on 15 January 2009. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
3. "The Conservative Party | People | Members of Parliament | Kenneth Clarke". Conservative Party. 10 February 2010. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
4. "The Cabinet - Cabinet and the Great Offices of State". Britpolitics. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
5. "The Great Offices of State". BBC. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
6. "Ministers". UK Government. Archived from the original on 2 June 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
7. Phillips, Owen Hood; Chalmers, Dalzell (1952). The Constitutional Law of Great Britain and the Commonwealth. London: Sweet & Maxwell. p. 240. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
8. "Lady Callaghan of Cardiff". The Independent. London. 30 March 2005.^{[dead link‍]}
9. "What do the public think are the real Great Offices of State?", YouGov, retrieved 18 September 2017
10. Khan, Aina J. (5 September 2022). "UK's four great offices of state may soon not feature a white man for first time". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
11. Zeffman, Henry (5 September 2022). "Great offices of state set to contain no white men". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
12. Martin, Daniel (6 September 2022). "Liz Truss forms most diverse Cabinet in history with no white males in top jobs". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
13. "PM confirms Hunt as new chancellor". BBC News. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
14. "Liz Truss's government on the brink after Suella Braverman's parting shot". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
15. "Rachel Reeves: Who is the UK's new chancellor?".
16. "Who is in Keir Starmer's new cabinet". BBC News. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
17. Adam, Karla; Taylor, Adam; Timsit, Annabelle (5 July 2024). "Who is in Keir Starmer's new U.K. government?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 July 2024.