Great Offices of State
Four senior ministerial offices in the UK government
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Great Offices of State are senior political offices in important ministerial portfolios in the UK government. They are (in order of seniority) the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary, and the Home Secretary.[1][2][3][4][5]
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 largely hereditary and mostly honorary titles, while the substantive duties of the respective Officers passed to leading, powerful, individual politicians, each of whom sat usually in the House of Commons, who were appointed by the monarch to their various ministries on the advice of the Prime Minister.[6]
James Callaghan is the first and, to date, only person to have served in all four positions.[1][7]
Public views
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.[8]
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.[9][10][11]
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.[12] Five days later on 19 October 2022, Grant Shapps was appointed Home Secretary, replacing Suella Braverman,[13] although Braverman was then reappointed by incoming Prime Minister Rishi Sunak just six days later. Following Sunak's reshuffle in November 2023, this marked the first instance since May 2010 where no women occupied a Great Office of State. It also marked the first 21st century instance of a former prime minister holding another Great Office of State, with newly-appointed Lord temporal 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.[citation needed]
Following the general election on 4 July 2024, 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.[14] Starmer appointed women to a record half of all Cabinet posts, including three of the top five positions in the government: along with Reeves, Angela Rayner became Deputy Prime Minister and Yvette Cooper was made Home Secretary.[15][16]
Following a cabinet reshuffle on 5 September 2025, Starmer appointed David Lammy as the new Deputy Prime Minister, and Shabana Mahmood as the new Home Secretary. The changes followed the resignation of Angela Rayner as Deputy PM following an investigation into her breach of the Ministerial Code.[17][18]
Current
| Great Offices of State of His Majesty's Government[19] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.svg) Starmer ministry | |||||
| Office | Officeholder | Took office | Concurrent government office(s) | Previous government office | |
| Prime Minister | .jpg) |
The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer MP for Holborn and St Pancras |
5 July 2024 | ||
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | _(cropped).jpg) |
The Right Honourable Rachel Reeves MP for Leeds West and Pudsey |
5 July 2024 | Second Lord of the Treasury | |
| Foreign Secretary (Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs) |
_2.jpg) |
The Right Honourable Yvette Cooper MP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley |
5 September 2025 | Home Secretary (2024–25) | |
| Home Secretary (Secretary of State for the Home Department) |
_2.jpg) |
The Right Honourable Shabana Mahmood MP for Birmingham Ladywood |
5 September 2025 | Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (2024–25) Justice Secretary | |