Financial Secretary to the Treasury

Financial Secretary to the Treasury
Royal Arms as used by Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent Lucy Frazer since 16 September 2021
HM Treasury
Appointer	Elizabeth II
Inaugural holder	Thomas Harley
Formation	11 June 1711
Website	HM Treasury

Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in the British Treasury. It is the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and the Paymaster General. It is almost never a Cabinet office.

The incumbent as of September 2021 is Lucy Frazer, who previously served as Solicitor General for England and Wales and as Minister of State for Prisons. The previous office holder was Jesse Norman, who left the government in Boris Johnson's 2021 British cabinet reshuffle.

The position is shadowed by the Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

History[]

The role of Financial Secretary to the Treasury was created in 1711 and was known as the Junior Secretary to the Treasury to help deal with the increasing workload of the Senior Secretary to the Treasury. The first Junior Secretary to the Treasury is recorded as Thomas Harley who was appointed on 11 June 1711. The position has continued without any major interruption to the present day. Initially when the position of Senior Secretary to the Treasury became vacant not as the result of an election of change of government the Junior Secretary was usually automatically promoted to the senior role. Over time however, the roles of the Senior and Junior Secretaries began to diverge with the Senior Secretary post being used as a sinecure post for the Chief Whip, with no formal responsibilities to the Treasury. The Junior Secretary however remained a substantive position working in the Treasury. As such the Senior Secretary became known as the 'Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury' while the Junior Secretary became known as the 'Financial Secretary to the Treasury' and the 'automatic' promotion from Junior to Senior ceased. While the exact date this change occurred is disputed it is agreed that by 1830 the distinction was complete.^[1]

In 1923 Sir William Joynson-Hicks became the–to date–only Financial Secretary to serve in the Cabinet due to the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, also concurrently serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In May 2010 as part of the ministerial reorganisation by the First Cameron ministry, the Financial Secretary was given the additional semi-official title of City Minister. This position was retained until April 2014 when following the promotion of Sajid Javid to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport the portfolio of City Minister was moved from the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury.^[2]

Appointment to the position of Financial Secretary to the Treasury is often considered an important stepping stone in a politician's career; the four of previous five holders of the office have gone on to hold Cabinet-level positions.

Notable former Financial Secretaries to the Treasury include Lord Frederick Cavendish, Austen Chamberlain, Stanley Baldwin, Enoch Powell, Nigel Lawson, and Norman Lamont.

Current role[]

The current responsibilities of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury include Departmental responsibility for the Office for National Statistics, and the Royal Mint.^{[citation needed]} The Financial Secretary to the Treasury had Departmental responsibility for HM Customs & Excise until the merger with the Inland Revenue to form HM Revenue and Customs.^{[citation needed]}

Financial Secretaries to the Treasury since 1830[]

see Secretary to the Treasury for earlier incumbents

1830–1900[]

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Liberal   Peelite   Tories   Whig

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister		Chancellor
	Thomas Spring Rice		26 November 1830	6 June 1834	Whig		Earl Grey	Viscount Althorp
	Francis Baring		6 June 1834	14 November 1834	Whig
							Viscount Melbourne
Office not in use			15 November 1834 - 19 December 1834				Duke of Wellington (Caretaker)	Lord Denman LCJ (interim)
	Sir Thomas Fremantle, Bt		20 December 1834	April 1835	Conservative or Tory		Peel	Peel
	Francis Baring		21 April 1835	26 August 1839	Whig		Viscount Melbourne	Spring Rice
	Robert Gordon		6 September 1839	1841	Whig			Baring
	Richard More O'Ferrall		9 June 1841	30 August 1841	Whig
	Sir George Clerk		8 September 1841	1845	Conservative		Peel	Goulburn
	Edward Cardwell		4 February 1845	29 June 1846	Conservative
	John Parker		7 July 1846	1849	Whig		Lord John Russell	Wood
	William Goodenough Hayter		22 May 1849	1850	Whig
	George Cornewall Lewis		9 July 1850	1852	Whig
	George Alexander Hamilton		2 March 1852	1852	Conservative		Earl of Derby	Disraeli
	James Wilson		5 January 1853	19 February 1858	Whig		Earl of Aberdeen (Coalition)	Gladstone
							Viscount Palmerston	Lewis
	George Alexander Hamilton		2 March 1858	1859	Conservative		Earl of Derby	Disraeli
	Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt		21 January 1859	1859	Conservative
	Samuel Laing		24 June 1859	1860	Liberal		Viscount Palmerston	Gladstone
	Frederick Peel		2 November 1860	1865	Liberal
	Hugh Childers		19 August 1865	26 June 1866	Liberal
							Earl Russell
	George Ward Hunt		14 July 1866	29 February 1868	Conservative		Earl of Derby	Disraeli
	George Sclater-Booth		4 March 1868	1 December 1868	Conservative		Disraeli	Hunt
	Acton Smee Ayrton		9 December 1868	1869	Liberal		Gladstone	Lowe
	James Stansfeld		2 November 1869	1871	Liberal
	William Edward Baxter		17 March 1871	11 August 1873	Liberal
	John Dodson		11 August 1873	1874	Liberal			Gladstone
	William Henry Smith		21 February 1874	1877	Conservative		Disraeli	Northcote
	Frederick Stanley		14 August 1877	1878	Conservative
	Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson, Bt		2 April 1878	21 April 1880	Conservative
	Lord Frederick Cavendish		28 April 1880	1882	Liberal		Gladstone	Gladstone
	Leonard Courtney		6 May 1882	12 December 1884	Liberal
								Childers
	Sir J. T. Hibbert		12 December 1884	9 June 1885	Liberal
	Sir Henry Holland, Bt		24 June 1885	1885	Conservative		Marquess of Salisbury	Hicks Beach
	Sir Matthew White Ridley, Bt		1885	1886	Conservative
	William Jackson		1886	28 January 1886	Conservative
	Henry Fowler		6 February 1886	20 July 1886	Liberal		Gladstone	Harcourt
	William Jackson		3 August 1886	1891	Conservative		Marquess of Salisbury	Lord Randolph Churchill
								Viscount Goschen
	John Eldon Gorst		9 November 1891	11 August 1892	Conservative
	Sir J. T. Hibbert		18 August 1892	22 June 1895	Liberal		Gladstone	Harcourt
							Earl of Rosebery
	Robert William Hanbury		29 June 1895	1900	Conservative		Marquess of Salisbury (Unionist Coalition)	Hicks Beach

1900–2001[]

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour   Liberal   Liberal National   Liberal Unionist   National Labour   None   Unionist

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister		Chancellor
	Sir Austen Chamberlain		7 November 1900	11 August 1902	Liberal Unionist		Marquess of Salisbury (Unionist Coalition)	Hicks Beach
							Balfour (Unionist Coalition)
	William Fisher		11 August 1902	April 1903	Conservative			Ritchie
	Arthur Elliot		10 April 1903	9 October 1903	Conservative
	Victor Cavendish		9 October 1903	5 December 1905	Conservative			A. Chamberlain
	Reginald McKenna		12 December 1905	23 January 1907	Liberal		Campbell-Bannerman	Asquith
	Walter Runciman		29 January 1907	1908	Liberal
	Charles Hobhouse		12 April 1908	1911	Liberal		Asquith (I)	Lloyd George
	McKinnon Wood		23 October 1911	13 February 1912	Liberal
	Charles Masterman MP for Bethnal Green South West (1873–1927)		13 February 1912	11 February 1914	Liberal
	Edwin Montagu MP for Chesterton (1879–1924)		11 February 1914	3 February 1915	Liberal
	Francis Dyke Acland MP for Camborne (1874–1939)		3 February 1915	25 May 1915	Liberal
	Edwin Montagu MP for Chesterton (1879–1924)		26 May 1915	9 July 1916	Liberal		Asquith (Coalition)	McKenna
	McKinnon Wood MP for Glasgow St Rollox (1855–1927)		9 July 1916	5 December 1916	Liberal
	Sir Hardman Lever Baronet		15 December 1916	19 May 1919[Note 1]	None Civil servant		Lloyd George (Coalition)	Law (December 1916 – January 1919) A. Chamberlain (January 1919 – April 1921)
	Stanley Baldwin MP for Bewdley (1867–1947)		18 June 1917[Note 1]	1 April 1921	Conservative
	Hilton Young MP for Norwich (1879–1960)		21 April 1921	19 October 1922	Liberal			Horne
	John Hills MP for City of Durham (1867–1938)		6 November 1922	1923	Conservative		Law	Baldwin
	Archibald Boyd-Carpenter MP for Bradford North (1873–1937)		12 March 1923	May 1923	Conservative
	Sir William Joynson-Hicks MP for Twickenham (1865–1932)		25 May 1923	27 August 1923[Note 2]	Conservative		Baldwin
	Walter Guinness MP for Bury St Edmunds (1880–1944)		5 October 1923	1923	Conservative			N. Chamberlain
	William Graham MP for Edinburgh Central (1887–1932)		23 January 1924	4 November 1924	Labour		MacDonald	Snowden
	Walter Guinness MP for Bury St Edmunds (1880–1944)		11 November 1924	5 November 1925	Conservative		Baldwin	Churchill
	Ronald McNeill MP for Canterbury (1861–1934)		5 November 1925	1 November 1927	Conservative
	Arthur Samuel MP for Farnham (1872–1942)		1 November 1927	5 June 1929	Conservative
	Frederick Pethick-Lawrence MP for Leicester West (1871–1961)		11 June 1929	August 1931	Labour		MacDonald (II)	Snowden
	Walter Elliot MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove (1888–1958)		24 August 1931	29 September 1932	Unionist		MacDonald (First National ministry)
							MacDonald (Second National ministry)	N. Chamberlain
	Leslie Hore-Belisha MP for Plymouth Devonport (1893–1957)		29 September 1932	29 June 1934	Liberal National
	Duff Cooper MP for Westminster St George's (1890–1954)		29 June 1934	22 November 1935	Conservative
							Baldwin (Third National ministry)
	William Morrison MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (1893–1961)		22 November 1935	29 October 1936	Conservative
	John Colville MP for Midlothian and Peebles Northern (1894–1954)		29 October 1936	1938	Unionist
							N. Chamberlain (Fourth National ministry)	Simon
	Euan Wallace MP for Hornsey (1892–1941)		16 May 1938	21 April 1939	Conservative
	Harry Crookshank MP for Gainsborough (1893–1961)		21 April 1939	7 February 1943	Conservative
							N. Chamberlain (War)
							Churchill (War)	Wood
	Ralph Assheton MP for Rushcliffe (1901–1984)		7 February 1943	29 October 1944	Conservative
								Anderson
	Osbert Peake MP for Leeds North (1897–1966)		29 October 1944	26 July 1945	Conservative
							Churchill (Caretaker)
	William Glenvil Hall MP for Colne Valley (1887–1962)		4 August 1945	2 March 1950	Labour		Attlee	Dalton
								Cripps
	Douglas Jay MP for Battersea North (1907–1996)		2 March 1950	26 October 1951	Labour
								Gaitskell
	John Boyd-Carpenter MP for Kingston-upon-Thames (1908–1998)		30 October 1951	28 July 1954	Conservative		Churchill	Butler
	Henry Brooke MP for Hampstead (1903–1984)		28 July 1954	January 1957	Conservative
							Eden
								Macmillan
	Enoch Powell MP for Wolverhampton South West (1912–1998)		14 January 1957	15 January 1958	Conservative		Macmillan	Thorneycroft
	Jack Simon MP for Middlesbrough West (1911–2006)		15 January 1958	22 October 1959	Conservative			Heathcoat-Amory
	Sir Edward Boyle MP for Birmingham Handsworth (1923–1981)		22 October 1959	16 July 1962	Conservative
								Lloyd
	Anthony Barber MP for Doncaster (1920–2005)		16 July 1962	20 October 1963	Conservative			Maudling
	Alan Green MP for Preston South (1911–1991)		23 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative		Douglas-Home
	Niall MacDermot MP for Derby North (1916–1996)		21 October 1964	29 August 1967	Labour		Wilson	Callaghan
	Harold Lever MP for Manchester Cheetham (1914–1995)		29 August 1967	13 October 1969	Labour
								Jenkins
	Dick Taverne MP for Lincoln (born 1928)		13 October 1969	19 June 1970	Labour
	Patrick Jenkin MP for Wanstead and Woodford (1926–2016) )		19 June 1970	7 April 1972	Conservative		Heath	Macleod
								Barber
	Terrence Higgins MP for Worthing (born 1928)		7 April 1972	4 March 1974	Conservative
	John Gilbert MP for Dudley East (1927–2013)		8 March 1974	17 June 1975	Labour		Wilson	Healey
	Robert Sheldon MP for Ashton under Lyne (1923–2020)		17 June 1975	4 May 1979	Labour
							Callaghan
	Nigel Lawson MP for Blaby (born 1932)		4 May 1979	14 September 1981	Conservative		Thatcher	Howe
	Nicholas Ridley MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (1929–1993)		September 1981	11 June 1983	Conservative
	John Moore MP for Croydon Central (1937–2019)		19 October 1983	21 May 1986	Conservative			Lawson
	Norman Lamont MP for Kingston-upon-Thames (born 1942)		21 May 1986	24 July 1989	Conservative
	Peter Lilley MP for St Albans (born 1943)		24 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative
								Major
	Francis Maude MP for North Warwickshire (born 1953)		28 November 1990	11 April 1992	Conservative		Major	Lamont
	Stephen Dorrell MP for Loughborough (born 1952)		11 April 1992	11 July 1994	Conservative
								Clarke
	Sir George Young, Bt MP for Ealing Acton (born 1941)		11 July 1994	5 July 1995	Conservative
	Michael Jack MP for Fylde (born 1946)		5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative
	Dawn Primarolo MP for Bristol South (born 1954)		2 May 1997	4 January 1999	Labour		Blair	Brown
	Barbara Roche MP for Hornsey and Wood Green (born 1954)		4 January 1999	29 July 1999	Labour
	Stephen Timms MP for East Ham (born 1955)		29 July 1999	8 June 2001	Labour

Note 1. ^ Between June 1917 and May 1919 Lever and Baldwin jointly held the position of Financial Secretary.
Note 2. ^ As Baldwin was both Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer Joynson-Hicks was a member of the Cabinet.

2001–present[]

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister		Chancellor
	Paul Boateng MP for Brent South (born 1951)		8 June 2001	May 2002	Labour		Blair	Brown
	Ruth Kelly MP for Bolton West (born 1968)		May 2002	9 September 2004	Labour
	Stephen Timms MP for East Ham (born 1955)		12 September 2004	6 May 2005	Labour
	John Healey MP for Wentworth (born 1960)		6 May 2005	28 June 2007	Labour
	Jane Kennedy MP for Liverpool Wavertree (born 1958)		28 June 2007	5 October 2008	Labour		Brown	Darling
	Stephen Timms MP for East Ham (born 1955)		5 October 2008	11 May 2010	Labour
	Mark Hoban MP for Fareham (born 1964)		13 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative		Cameron (Coalition)	Osborne
	Greg Clark MP for Tunbridge Wells (born 1967)		4 September 2012	7 October 2013	Conservative
	Sajid Javid MP for Bromsgrove (born 1969)		7 October 2013	9 April 2014	Conservative
	Nicky Morgan MP for Loughborough (born 1972)		9 April 2014	15 July 2014	Conservative
	David Gauke MP for South West Hertfordshire (born 1971)		15 July 2014	14 July 2016	Conservative
							Cameron (II)
	Jane Ellison MP for Battersea (born 1964)		15 July 2016	9 June 2017	Conservative		May (I)	Hammond
	Mel Stride MP for Central Devon (born 1961)		12 June 2017	23 May 2019	Conservative		May (II)
	Jesse Norman MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire (born 1962)		23 May 2019	16 September 2021	Conservative
							Johnson	Javid
								Sunak
	Lucy Frazer MP for South East Cambridgeshire (born 1972)		16 September 2021	Incumbent	Conservative

See also[]

• Secretary to the Treasury
• Chief Secretary to the Treasury

References[]

External links[]

• British History Online List of Secretaries to the Treasury
• Treasury Ministerial responsibilities