'Non enim in ratiociniis sed in multipliibus iudiciis excellens scaccarii scientia consistit'
The Second Lord of the Treasury
The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Second Lord of the Treasury
is the government's chief financial minister and as such is responsible for raising revenue through taxation or borrowing and for controlling public spending.
The Chancellor's plans for the economy are delivered to the House of Commons every year in the Budget statement which usually takes place in March.
Kenneth Clarke's Budgets in the mid-1990s were delivered in November and post-election Budgets are usually held shortly after the poll, even if this means two statements in a single year. This happened in 1993.
The Prime Minister may hold the formal title of "First Lord of the Treasury", but it is the Chancellor who is the most senior political figure at the Treasury.
The traditional residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is No 11 Downing Street but Gordon Brown, for example, moved into the flat above No 10 so that the Prime Minister's family could use the more spacious suite next door.
The Chancellor is also entitled to the use of Dorneywood, a Queen Anne house in Buckinghamshire, but has rarely done so.
The office of Chancellor is an ancient one. At first it was only one of a number of financial positions in government. Denis Healey mentions in his memoirs "Richard, Son of Nigel", who was a Treasurer of England and Bishop of London in about 1170 and who wrote a Latin dialogue about how to do this job:
'Non enim in ratiociniis sed in multipliibus iudiciis excellens scaccarii scientia consistit', which translates as: 'for the highest skill at the Exchequer does not lie in calculations, but in judgements of all kinds' .
The first Chancellor was appointed during the reign of Henry II in the 12th century. By the 18th century the old 'Treasury Board' had declined in importance and the annual Budget became a significant feature in parliament from about the 1730s.
For most of the period since the 1960s the post of Chancellor has been generally acknowledged as the most politically significant job in the Cabinet after that of Prime Minister.
Economic policy is a matter in which the Prime Minister and the Chancellor need to work closely together. Symbolically there is a passage between the two houses - and the more free the traffic in this corridor, Hugh Dalton once supposed, the happier the government.
In the early part of the century the children of Lloyd George (Chancellor) and Asquith (Prime Minister) happily played togther for example. But sometimes the door between the two offices of state has been more often closed than open.
Things cannot have been easy when the two fell out. Back in the 1920s and 1930s, Ramsay MacDonald and his Chancellor, Phillip Snowden, could barely stand one another.
The most spectacular modern example of these potential tensions arose towards the end of Nigel Lawson's Chancellorship - over the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and the role of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's economic adviser, Sir Alan Walters. These difficulties led to the resignations of both Mr Lawson and Sir Alan. A little over a year later, Mrs Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister.
The relationship between Mr Brown and Tony Blair had also come under close scrutiny, with reports that the former regarded himself as the 'real' prime minister and Mr Blair as a 'president'. Every Cabinet reshuffle was viewed in terms of whether the Blairites or the Brownites were in the ascendant.
Nigel Lawson once told the BBC that: "I'm not interested in the record books. How long I'm there is a matter partly for the Prime Minister and partly for me. And it will be resolved in the fullness of time'.
And so it was. However the Prime Minister has, as with all government appoointments, the final political prerogative to appoint or sack a minister. No doubt one of the things they will bear in mind is the length a Chancellor has served in what is, normally, a highly stressful job.
Harold Wilson was said to have judged that no Chancellor should serve for more than two-and-a-half years, but many occupants of Number 11 have exceeded that.
The longest serving Chancellor in the 20th century was David Lloyd-George who served under herbert Asquith from 1908 to 1915, followed by Nigel Lawson (1983-89) and Neville Chamberlain (1931-37).
Chancellors who have gone on to 'move next door' directly in the 20th century were Stanley Baldwin (1923), Chamberlain (1937), Harold Macmillan (1957) and John Major (1990). Lloyd George, Winston Churchill and Jim Callaghan were also prime ministers who enjoyed a spell at the Treasury before going to No 10.
However, others found their careers held back by this particular office.
In the 1950s Hugh Gaitskell went on to become leader of his party, but Denis Healey might have had a better showing in the Labour leadership elections in 1976 and 1980 had he not been in such a high-profile job during a difficult period. This might have been the price he paid for, as he later put it, "doing the dirty work under socialism".
Others who might have expected to move to Number 10 but instead had to do with the sobriquet 'Best Prime Minister We Never Had' include Rab Butler and Roy Jenkins.
Having occupied a high office of state it is difficult for prime ministers to offer and, indeed, for some former chancellors to accept, another post in the Cabinet in a reshuffle. Sir Geoffrey Howe was happy to accept the Foreign Office, whilst Lloyd George was given the most important jobs during the First World War - Minister of Munitions before he went to become premier.
Rab Butler was given a whole raft of titles after he ceased to be Chancellor in 1955. Norman Lamont, however felt unable to accept the offer to become Secretary of State for the Environment when he left the government in 1993 and was replaced by Kenneth Clarke.
Some chancellors have enjoyed 'comebacks' after appearing to fall by the wayside. Following very different paths, Hugh Dalton, Peter Thorneycroft and Selwyn Lloyd all eventually returned to the Cabinet and Lloyd went on to become a respected Speaker of the House of Commons.
Chancellors who simply resigned or retired to the backbenches or full-time active politics altogether include Derick Heathcoat Amory, Anthony Barber and Nigel Lawson.
07. Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland 1621–1628
09. Francis Cottington, 1st Baron Cottington 1629–1642
From 1828, at the time of Henry Goulburn, Number 11
became the official residence
of the Second Lord of
the modern Chancellor
of the Exchequer.
22/22
PM & C of E
49/80
others
10th July 1782 - 31st March 1783, 19th December 1783 - 14th March 1801, 10th May 1804 - 23rd January 1806
27th February 1852 - 17th December 1852, 26th February 1858
- 11th June 1859, 6th July 1866 - 29th February 1868
Sir Robert Long, 1st Baronet Long, of the City of Westminster
(1598 – 13th July1673)
Chancellor of the Exchequer (generally unacknowledged)
1660 to 1661
Most lists of Chancellors exclude his name.
He has been included here as a courtesy.
He was a courtier, administrator and politician in seventeenth century England. Long was the son of Sir Walter Long of South Wraxall and Draycot in Wiltshire, and his wife Catherine Thynne of Longleat. He never married and he arranged a special remainder to his baronetcy, so it was inherited by his nephew Sir James Long, 2nd Baronet of Draycot.
There were four politicians prior to Baker who are generally missing from 'lists' of Chancellor of the English Exchequer
Godfrey Giffard (c. 1235 – 1302) was Chancellor of the Exchequer of England
Lord Chancellor of England and Bishop of Worcester
Hervey de Stanton or Staunton (1260–November 1327) was an English judge (serving both as Chief Justice of the King's Bench and as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas) and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1316–1327
William Catesby of Ashby St Ledgers (1440?-1485) was one of Richard III of England's principal councilors. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Speaker of the House of Commons during Richard's reign. Catesby married Margaret, daughter of William La Zouche, 6th Baron Zouche of Harringworth.
John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (1467 – 1533) was a translator, born at Sherfield, Hertfordshire, England, and educated at Oxford University. He held various Offices of State, including that of Chancellor of the Exchequer to King Henry VIII, and Lieutenant of Calais.
The next United Kingdom general election will take place in all constituencies of the United Kingdom for seats in the House of Commons on or before Thursday 3rd June 2010.
The number of seats will rise from 646 to 650 under the proposals made by the Boundary Commissions for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the Scottish Boundary Commission having made its last review prior to the 2005 general election.
The governing Labour Party will be looking to secure a fourth consecutive term in office and to restore support lost since 1997. The Conservative Party will seek to regain its dominant position in politics after losses in the 1990s, and to replace Labour as the governing party. The Liberal Democrats hope to make gains from both sides; although they too would ideally wish to form a government, their more realistic ambition is to hold the balance of power in a hung parliament. In 2009, it was reported that senior civil servants are to meet with the Liberal Democrats to discuss their policies, an indication of how seriously the prospect of a hung parliament is being taken. The Scottish National Party, encouraged by their victory in the 2007 Scottish parliament elections, have set themselves a target of 20 MPs and will also be hoping to find themselves in a balance of power position.[5] Smaller parties who have had successes at local elections and the 2009 European elections (United Kingdom Independence Party, Green Party, etc.) will look to extend their representation to seats in the House of Commons. The Jury Team, launched in March 2009, intends to increase the number of Independent politicians in the House of Commons by backing suitable candidates in the election.
Despite extensive media speculation in 2007 about a possible snap election, the Government decided against calling a general election during 2007 or 2008.
George Gideon Oliver Osborne
(born 23rd May 1971)
A Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001. He is currently Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. He is heir to the Osborne baronetcy of Ballentaylor, County Tipperary, Ireland. This makes him a member of what is known in Ireland as the Ascendancy, the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy.
HM Revenue and Customs seen from Parliament Square (Whitehall, London, England). Photographed by Adrian Pingstone in June 2005 and placed in the public domain.
