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Information about Great Offices Of State

Not to be confused with Great Officers of State.


The Great Offices of State in the United Kingdom are the four most senior and prestigious posts in the British parliamentary system of government.

They are the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary[1] and the Home Secretary.[2] Since 27 June 2007, these posts are held by Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, David Miliband and Jacqui Smith respectively.

According to convention, when the Prime Minister names his or her Cabinet, either after a general election or mid-term reshuffle, the first announced Cabinet ministers will be the Chancellor, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary, and usually in that order.

James Callaghan is the only person to date to have served in all four positions.[3] In the past hundred years, several other people came close to approaching this distinction: Herbert Henry Asquith and Winston Churchill both served as Chancellor, Prime Minister and Home Secretary while Harold Macmillan and John Major served as Chancellor, Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary. Rab Butler and Sir John Simon served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary.

Only three women have held any of the Great Offices of State: Due to the way politics in the United Kingdom is now structured, with the House of Commons retaining most of the power, it is accepted that it is no longer practical for one of the holders of the Great Offices of State to be a member of the House of Lords. The last holders of each position to have been peers were:
  • Prime Minister: The Earl of Home 20 October-23 October 1963 - The Earl of Home renounced his peerage and was elected as an MP after his appointment as Prime Minister.
  • Chancellor of the Exchequer: The House of Lords has traditionally been restrained in the passage of financial bills, meaning that the office of Chancellor is effectively limited to the House of Commons.
  • Foreign Secretary: Lord Carrington May 5 1979-April 5 1982 - Baron Carrington was the last peer to hold one of the Great Offices of State.
  • Home Secretary: Viscount Cave December 11 1916-14 January 1919 - Sir George Cave was enobled as Viscount Cave while serving as Home Secretary in 1918.
In 2007, the Home Office was divided into two parts, with some of its functions transferred to the Department of Constitutional Affairs, which was renamed as the Ministry of Justice. At that time, the Secretary of State also held the post of Lord High Chancellor, the dual position being held by Lord Falconer. Following the cabinet reshuffle in 2007 after Gordon Brown's accession as Prime Minister, it was agreed that in future the Secretary of State for Justice (and therefore also the Lord Chancellor) would be chosen from the Commons. Jack Straw, the current Justice Secretary and Lord chancellor, appeared to make reference to the fact that this new post, previously held by , a member of the House of Lords, could be considered a fifth Great Office, saying that he was "the first holder of this great office of state to sit in the Commons."[4] So far, there is no consensus in favour of such a view among constitutional analysts.

Notes

1. ^ Open Politics. news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.
2. ^ Article by John Rentoul. comment.independent.co.uk. The Independent. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.
3. ^ Lord Callaghan. politics.guardian.co.uk. Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.
4. ^ Lord Mayor's annual judges dinner. www.justice.gov.uk. Ministry of Justice. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.


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Great Offices of State of the United Kingdom
Gordon Brown
Prime Minister 		Alistair Darling
Chancellor of the Exchequer 		David Miliband
Foreign Secretary 		Jacqui Smith
Home Secretary
Great Officers of State are traditional Crown ministers, who either inherit their positions or are appointed to exercise certain largely ceremonial functions. Separate Great Officers exist for England and Scotland, and formerly for Ireland.
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2]   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Logo of Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent:
The Right Honourable Gordon Brown, MP.

Origins:
gradual.

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The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called The Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of
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Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a member of the British Government responsible for relations with foreign countries, heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
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The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the whole United Kingdom
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June 27 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

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Alistair Maclean Darling (born November 28, 1953) is a British politician and Chancellor of the Exchequer since June 28, 2007. He is Labour Party Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South West in Scotland.
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David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is a British politician who is the current Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [1] and Member of Parliament for the constituency of South Shields, Tyne and Wear.
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Jacqueline Jill Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a British politician who has been Home Secretary since 28 June 2007 and is the current Member of Parliament for Redditch, since 1997. She was made a Member of the Privy Council in 2003.
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Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC (27 March, 1912 – 26 March, 2005), was Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979. Known as Jim for short (and nicknamed 'Sunny Jim' or 'Big Jim'), Callaghan is the only person to have served in
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Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, KG, PC (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916.
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Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can). (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.
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Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963.
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Sir John Major, KG, CH (born 29 March 1943) is a former British politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the British Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997.
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Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG, CH, PC, DL (9 December, 1902 – 8 March, 1982), who invariably signed his name R. A. Butler and was familiarly known as Rab, was a British Conservative politician.
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John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon GCSI GCVO OBE PC (28 February 1873 – 11 January 1954) was a British politician and statesman. Educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh and Wadham College, Oxford, where he was a near-contemporary of F.E.Smith and of the athlete C.B.
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Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and to date only woman to hold either post.
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Margaret Mary Beckett (née Jackson; born 15 January 1943) is a British Labour politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby South. She served in government under Tony Blair, in the office of Foreign Secretary.
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Jacqueline Jill Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a British politician who has been Home Secretary since 28 June 2007 and is the current Member of Parliament for Redditch, since 1997. She was made a Member of the Privy Council in 2003.
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House of Commons is the elected lower house of the bicameral parliament in the United Kingdom and Canada.

In the UK and Canada, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the upper house (the House of Lords or the Canadian Senate).
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The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled

Type Upper House

Lord Speaker
Hélène Hayman, Baroness Hayman, PC, (Non-affiliated)
since July 4, 2006
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Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel,[1] KT, PC (2 July 1903 - 9 October 1995) 14th Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963, was a British Conservative (actually SUP) politician, and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a year from
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Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, KG GCMG CH MC PC DL (born 6 June 1919) is a British Conservative politician and served as British Foreign Secretary between 1979 and 1982 and as Secretary-General of NATO from 1984 to 1988.
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George Cave, 1st Viscount Cave, GCMG , KC , PC (February 23, 1856 – March 29, 1928) was a British lawyer and Conservative politician who became Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.
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