Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

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Principal Private Secretary
to the Prime Minister
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
Royal Arms as used by Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent
Martin Reynolds
since 1 October 2019
Prime Minister's Office
AppointerPrime Minister
Formation1757
Website10 Downing Street

The principal private secretary to the prime minister of the United Kingdom is a senior official in the United Kingdom Civil Service who acts as principal private secretary to the prime minister of the United Kingdom. The holder of this office is traditionally the head of the Prime Minister's Office in 10 Downing Street. In the Civil Service, the role is currently graded as director general.

The current principal private secretary is Martin Reynolds CMG, who was appointed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson upon being recalled as British ambassador to Libya in October 2019. Reynolds was Johnson's principal private secretary when the latter was foreign secretary.

Recent history[]

During Tony Blair's administration, the prime minister (as Minister for the Civil Service) modified the law under which the Civil Service operated (through an Order in Council) which gave power to the newly created the role of Downing Street Chief of Staff (a politically appointed special adviser) to give instructions to civil servants and outranked the principal private secretary in the Downing Street power structure. When Gordon Brown entered 10 Downing Street, he reversed the change to the Civil Service law.

When David Cameron became prime minister, he promoted his then principal private secretary to a new post of "permanent secretary, Downing Street"; a position which took over as the top civil servant in the Prime Minister's Office and for the first time the head of the office held the highest rank in the UK's civil service.[1] In 2012, when the post-holder, Jeremy Heywood, was appointed Cabinet Secretary; this new post ceased to exist, and the chief Civil Service official in 10 Downing Street reverted to being the Principal Private Secretary, which remains to this day.

The principal secretary runs the private office of the prime minister, which includes the private secretary for foreign affairs to the prime minister.

List of principal private secretaries to the prime minister (from 1757, incomplete)[]

Principal Private Secretary Years Prime Minister
Algernon West 1868–1872 William Ewart Gladstone
Arthur Godley 1880–1882
Edward Walter Hamilton CB 1882–1885
The Marquess of Granby 1885–1888
Capt the Hon Schomberg Kerr McDonnell CB 1888–1892 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Sir Algernon West KCB 1892–1894 William Ewart Gladstone
Capt the Hon Sir Schomberg Kerr McDonnell KCB CVO 1894–1902
John Satterfield Sandars CVO 1902–1905 Arthur Balfour
Arthur Ponsonby[2] 1905-1908 Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Vaughan Nash CB CVO 1908–1911 H. H. Asquith
Maurice Bonham-Carter 1911–1916 H. H. Asquith
Sir John T Davies KCB CVO 1916–1922 David Lloyd George
Lt Col Sir Edward Grigg KCVO CMG DSO MC 1921–1922
Sir Patrick Gower KBE CB CVO 1922–1928
Lt Col Sir Ronald Waterhouse KCB CMG CVO 1922–1928
Robert Vansittart[2] 1928-1930
Alan Barlow CB CBE 1933–1934 Ramsay MacDonald
Osmund Cleverly CB CVO 1935–1939
CB CBE 1939–1940 Neville Chamberlain
Eric Seal CB 1940–1941 Winston Churchill
John Martin CB CVO 1941–1945
Leslie Rowan CB CVO 1945–1947
Laurence Helsby CB 1947–1950
CB CMG 1950–1951
Jock Colville CB CVO 1951–1955 Winston Churchill
David Pitblado CB CVO 1951–1956
CVO 1956–1959
CVO 1964–1966 Harold Wilson
Lt Col MBE TD 1966–1970
1970
Robert Armstrong CB CVO 1970–1975
Kenneth Stowe CB 1975–1979
Clive Whitmore 1979–1982 Margaret Thatcher
Robin Butler 1982–1985
Nigel Wicks CBE 1985–1988
Andrew Turnbull CB CVO 1988–1992
The Hon Alex Allan 1992–1997 John Major
Sir John Holmes KBE CMG CVO 1997–1999 Tony Blair
Jeremy Heywood CB CVO 1999–2003
Ivan Rogers 2003–2006
Oliver Robbins 2006–2007
Tom Scholar 2007–2008 Gordon Brown
Sir Jeremy Heywood KCB CVO 2008–2010
James Bowler 2010–2011 David Cameron
Chris Martin CB CVO 2011–2015
Simon Case 2015–2017
Peter Hill 2017–2019
Martin Reynolds, CMG[3] 2019–present

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Cabinet Office Structure Charts, May 2010" (PDF). Cabinet Office, HM Government. May 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  2. ^ a b British Political Facts 1900–1994, Butler & Butler, 1994, p. 284
  3. ^ "Martin Reynolds Government Profile". Gov.uk. UK Government. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
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