Shadow Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher became the first female Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition after winning the 1975 leadership election, the first Conservative leadership election where the post was not vacant. A rule change to enable the election was largely prompted by dissatisfaction with the incumbent leader, Edward Heath, who had lost three of four general elections as leader, including two in 1974. After announcing her first Shadow Cabinet in February 1975, she reshuffled it twice: in January and November 1976. Minor subsequent changes were necessary to respond to various circumstances. Thatcher's Shadow Cabinet ceased to exist upon her becoming Prime Minister following the 1979 general election.

Thatcher Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Cabinet of the United Kingdom
1975 – 1979
Date formed	11 February 1975
Date dissolved	4 May 1979
People and organisations
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Leader of the Opposition	Margaret Thatcher
Deputy Leader of the Opposition	William Whitelaw
Member party	Conservative Party
Status in legislature	Official Opposition 277 / 635 (44%)
History
Election	1975 Conservative Party leadership election
Legislature terms	47th UK Parliament
Predecessor	Second Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath
Successor	Shadow Cabinet of James Callaghan

Shadow Cabinet list

Portfolio	Shadow Minister	Term
Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition Leader of the Conservative Party	The Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher	1975–1979
Shadow Minister responsible for Devolution	The Rt Hon. William Whitelaw	1975–1979
	The Rt Hon. Francis Pym	1976–?
Shadow Minister with responsibility for policy formation and research	The Rt Hon. Sir Keith Joseph, Bt	1975–1979
Shadow Minister without Portfolio	The Rt Hon. The Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone PC	1975–1979
Shadow Foreign Secretary	The Rt Hon. Reginald Maudling	1975–1976
	The Rt Hon. John Davies	1976–1978
	The Rt Hon. Francis Pym	1978–1979
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer	The Rt Hon. Geoffrey Howe	1975–1979
Shadow Home Secretary	The Rt Hon. Ian Gilmour	1975–1976
	The Rt Hon. William Whitelaw	1976–1979
Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords	The Rt Hon. The Lord Carrington PC	1975–1979
Shadow Secretary of State for Employment	The Rt Hon. Jim Prior	1975–1979
Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	The Rt Hon. Francis Pym	1975 & 1976
	Michael Jopling	1975–1976
	The Rt Hon. John Peyton	1976–1979
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy	The Rt Hon. Patrick Jenkin	1975–1976
	John Biffen	1976
	Tom King	1976–1979
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons	The Rt Hon. John Peyton	1975–1976
	The Rt Hon. Francis Pym	1976–1978
	Norman St John-Stevas	1978–1979
Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science		1975–1978
	Mark Carlisle	1978–1979
Shadow Minister for the Arts	Norman St John-Stevas	1975–1979
Shadow Secretary of State for Industry	Michael Heseltine	1975–1976
	John Biffen	1976–1979
Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment	Timothy Raison	1975–1976
	Michael Heseltine	1976–1979
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland	Alick Buchanan-Smith	1975–1976
	Teddy Taylor	1976–1979
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales	Nicholas Edwards	1975–1979
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland	Airey Neave	1975–1979
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence	The Hon. George Younger	1975–1976
	The Rt Hon. Ian Gilmour[1]	1976–1979
Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care	Norman Fowler	1975–1976
	The Rt Hon. Patrick Jenkin	1976–1979
Shadow Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection	Sally Oppenheim	1975–1979
Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Commons	The Rt Hon. Humphrey Atkins	1975–1979
Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords	The Rt Hon. The Lord St Aldwyn PC	1975–1978
	The Lord Denham	1978–1979
Shadow Attorney General	The Rt Hon. Sir Michael Havers[2]	1975–1979

Initial Shadow Cabinet

Thatcher announced her first Shadow Cabinet on 18 February 1975.^[3]

• Margaret Thatcher – Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party
• William Whitelaw – Shadow Minister responsible for Devolution
• Keith Joseph – Shadow Minister with responsibility for policy formation and research
• Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone – Shadow Minister without Portfolio
• Reginald Maudling – Shadow Foreign Secretary
• Geoffrey Howe – Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Ian Gilmour – Shadow Home Secretary
• Lord Carrington – Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords
• Jim Prior – Shadow Secretary of State for Employment
• Francis Pym – Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
• Patrick Jenkin – Shadow Secretary of State for Energy
• John Peyton – Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
• Norman St John-Stevas – Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science and Shadow Minister for the Arts
• Michael Heseltine – Shadow Secretary of State for Industry
• Timothy Raison – Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment
• Alick Buchanan-Smith – Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
• Nicholas Edwards – Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
• Airey Neave – Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
• George Younger – Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
• Norman Fowler – Shadow Secretary of State for Health
• Sally Oppenheim – Shadow Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection
• Humphrey Atkins – Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Commons
• Lord St Aldwyn – Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords
• Sir Michael Havers – Shadow Attorney General

Changes

• April 1975: Due to illness,^[4] Pym was replaced as Shadow Agriculture Minister by Michael Jopling.^[5]

January 1976 reshuffle

On 15 January 1976, Thatcher reshuffled the Shadow Cabinet. Pym returned as Shadow Agriculture Minister, displacing Jopling. George Younger was dropped from the front bench, and he was replaced by Gilmour at Defence; Whitelaw, the Deputy Leader, added Gilmour's Home Affairs portfolio to his Devolution. John Biffen replaced Jenkin as Shadow Energy Secretary, and Jenkin took Health from Fowler, who was demoted to be a Shadow Transport Minister (which was not in Shadow Cabinet and was part of the Environment team).^[4][6]

• Margaret Thatcher – Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party
• William Whitelaw – Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Minister responsible for Devolution
• Keith Joseph – Shadow Minister with responsibility for policy formation and research
• Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone – Shadow Minister without Portfolio
• Reginald Maudling – Shadow Foreign Secretary
• Geoffrey Howe – Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Ian Gilmour – Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
• Lord Carrington – Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords
• Jim Prior – Shadow Secretary of State for Employment
• Francis Pym – Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
• John Biffen – Shadow Secretary of State for Energy
• John Peyton – Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
• Norman St John-Stevas – Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science
  Shadow Minister for the Arts
• Michael Heseltine – Shadow Secretary of State for Industry
• Timothy Raison – Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment
• Alick Buchanan-Smith – Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
• Nicholas Edwards – Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
• Airey Neave – Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
• Patrick Jenkin – Shadow Secretary of State for Health
• Sally Oppenheim – Shadow Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection
• Humphrey Atkins – Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Commons
• Lord St Aldwyn – Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords
• Sir Michael Havers – Shadow Attorney General

November 1976 reshuffle

On 19 November 1976, Thatcher reshuffled again. Maudling was dropped as Shadow Foreign Secretary and replaced by John Davies. Raison dropped, being replaced at Environment by Heseltine, who was replaced at the Industry portfolio by Biffen. He was in turn replaced as Shadow Energy Secretary by Tom King. Peyton and Pym switch roles (Shadow Leader of the House for Agriculture), with Pym also taking Devolution from Whitelaw.^[7][8]

• Margaret Thatcher – Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party
• William Whitelaw –Shadow Home Secretary
• Keith Joseph – Shadow Minister with responsibility for policy formation and research
• Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone – Shadow Minister without Portfolio
• John Davies – Shadow Foreign Secretary
• Geoffrey Howe – Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Ian Gilmour^[1] – Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
• Lord Carrington – Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords
• Jim Prior – Shadow Secretary of State for Employment
• John Peyton – Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
• Tom King – Shadow Secretary of State for Energy
• Francis Pym – Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and Shadow Minister responsible for Devolution
• Norman St John-Stevas – Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science and Shadow Minister for the Arts
• John Biffen – Shadow Secretary of State for Industry
• Michael Heseltine – Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment
• Alick Buchanan-Smith – Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
• Nicholas Edwards – Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
• Airey Neave – Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
• Patrick Jenkin – Shadow Secretary of State for Health
• Sally Oppenheim – Shadow Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection
• Humphrey Atkins – Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Commons
• Lord St Aldwyn – Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords
• Sir Michael Havers – Shadow Attorney General

Changes

• 9 December 1976: Buchanan-Smith is sacked as Shadow Scottish Secretary for failing to adhere to collective responsibility on devolution policy and is replaced by Teddy Taylor, who had been Shadow Trade Secretary, a role that appears not to have belonged to the Shadow Cabinet at this point.^[9]
• Approx. 17 January 1978: Lord St Aldwyn retires as Conservative Chief Whip and is replaced by Lord Denham.^[10]
• November 1978: On 6 November, John Davies retires from public life after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Pym is tapped to stand in for him, and is later given the post of Shadow Foreign Secretary full-time.^[11] St John-Stevas replaces him Shadow Leader of the House,^[12][13] and Mark Carlisle replaced the latter as Shadow Education Secretary.^[14]
• March 1979: Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave is killed by an Irish National Liberation Army car bomb, just over a week before Parliament is dissolved ahead of the 1979 general election.

See also

Conservatism portal

References

1. Styled Sir Ian Gilmour, Bt from 1977.
2. Privy Counsellor from 1973.
3. Robert Warden (19 February 1975). "Out go Carr and Walker, Maudling makes his comeback". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1.
4. William Russell (16 January 1976). "Mrs Thatcher drops Younger in reshuffle". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1.
5. House of Commons Debates 24 April 1975 c 1724.
6. House of Commons Debates 23 January 1976 c. 1753.
7. "Thatcher reshuffles her shadow Cabinet". The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP–Reuters. 22 November 1976.
8. Joseph W. Grigg (20 November 1976). "British Opposition names new spokesmen". St. Petersburg Times. United Press International. p. 8A.
9. Cameron Forbes (10 September 1976). "Tories in a shambles over Scots". The Age. Melbourne, Victoria. p. 6.
10. House of Commons Debates 17 January 1978 c 5–13.
11. Geoffrey Parkhouse (7 November 1978). "Pym favourite for top Thatcher post". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1.
12. House of Commons Debates 21 November 1979 c 1092. (The Prime Minister, James Callaghan, welcoming St John-Stevas to "his new post").
13. House of Commons Debates 7 December 1979 c 1698. (St John-Stevas referring to his appointment as Shadow Leader).
14. House of Commons Debates 5 December 1978 c 1228. (Shirley Williams "welcoming [Carlisle] to his new responsibilities as the Shadow spokesperson on education and science").