The Minister for the Cabinet Office is a position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The minister is responsible for the work and policies of the Cabinet Office, and since February 2022, reports to the

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

. The position is currently the third highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, after the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. From the

Second May ministry The second May ministry was formed on 11 June 2017 after Theresa May returned to office following the June 2017 snap general election. The election resulted in a hung parliament with the Conservative Party losing its governing majority in the ...

until mid-2019 when the First Johnson ministry came to power, it functioned as an alternative title to

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

First Secretary of State The First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The office indicates seniority, including over all other Secretaries of State. The office is not always in use, ...

. This practice ended when

Dominic Raab Dominic Rennie Raab (; born 25 February 1974) is a British politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Justice, and Lord Chancellor since October 2022, having previously served from 2021 to ...

was appointed as

on 24 July 2019, by

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

. Since a reshuffle in February 2022, the role attends Cabinet but not as a full member. The corresponding shadow minister is the

shadow minister for the Cabinet Office The Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office is a position in the British Shadow Cabinet, appointed by the Leader of the Opposition. The post involves holding the Cabinet Office and the Minister for the Cabinet Office to account. The position is ...

Function and status

The Cabinet Office has a primary responsibility to support the work of the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

and ensure the effective running of government. Within this set-up, the Minister for the Cabinet Office has been seen to have varying responsibilities and stature in the government. The role is a flexible one and has variously been described as one or several of the following under different office-holders (and sometimes conflicting accounts of the status of the same office holder): * Monitoring the co-ordination of the work of government departments * Chairing or sitting on several Cabinet Committees * An additional title to indicate special responsibility * An additional title to indicate seniority The government describes the minister for the Cabinet Office as being "in overall charge of and responsible for the policy and work of the department, and attends Cabinet".

Damian Green Damian Howard Green (born 17 January 1956) is a British politician who served as First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office from June to December 2017 in the Second May government. A member of the Conservative Party, he has b ...

held the office in 2017, simultaneously with the office of

. Green chaired numerous Cabinet Committees and filled in for the prime minister at

Prime Minister's Questions Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom, currently held as a single session every W ...

. By virtue of his responsibilities and as First Secretary of State, he was considered the ''de facto''

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

. Upon the appointment of

David Lidington Sir David Roy Lidington (born 30 June 1956) is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aylesbury from 1992 until 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister fo ...

in 2018, Lidington retained the responsibilities Green had held, but the title of First Secretary of State remained vacant (as did the office of Deputy Prime Minister, vacant since 2015). As a result, the office in its 2017–2019 absorbed the responsibilities of a ''de facto'' Deputy Prime Minister, without either of the associated titles usually granted to individuals in the British Government (First Secretary of State or Deputy Prime Minister). In 2019, new Prime Minister

ended this arrangement with the appointment of a new

, before upgrading his title again to

in 2021.

Current minister and responsibilities

Jeremy Quin has served as the Minister for the Cabinet Office since 25th October 2022. He also serves as

Paymaster General His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The incumbent Paymaster General is Jeremy Quin MP. History The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the posi ...

alongside his position. The most recent responsibilities are: *Oversight of all Cabinet Office policy and appointments *Oversight of transition period activity and the United Kingdom's future relations with the EU *Oversight of constitutional policy and enhancement, defending democracy and electoral law *Devolution issues and Strengthening the Union *Leading cross-government and public sector transformation and efficiency *Oversight of cross-government work on veterans’ issues *Oversight of Cabinet Office responsibilities on National Security and resilience, and the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, including COVID-19 *Supporting the coordination of the cross-government and the devolution aspects of the response to COVID-19

Ministers for the Cabinet Office

Every occupant of the position has simultaneously held a sinecure office, this being

from Clark to Byrne,

from Jowell to Gummer, and

with Green.

Oliver Dowden Oliver James Dowden (born 1 August 1978) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since October 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hertsmere since 2015. Dowden served in the Johnson gover ...

, and currently

Edward Argar Edward John Comport Argar (born 9 December 1977) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Victims and Sentencing since October 2022. He briefly served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in October 2022. A member of the Conserva ...

and his preceder Michael Ellis, held the office of

, while

, Michael Gove and

Steve Barclay Stephen Paul Barclay (born 3 May 1972) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since October 2022, having previously held the position from July to September 2022 under Boris Johnson. He served a ...

held the role of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Ministers of State at the Cabinet Office

Minister of State for the Cabinet Office * 1997: Derek Foster * 1997-1999: Peter Kilfoyle * 1998-2001: The Lord Falconer of Thoroton * 1999-2001: Ian McCartney * 2001: The Baroness Morgan of Huyton * 2001-2002:

Barbara Roche Barbara Maureen Roche (; born 13 April 1954) is a British Labour politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hornsey and Wood Green from 1992 until 2005, when she lost her seat to the Liberal Democrats, despite having enjoyed a maj ...

* 2002-2003:

Douglas Alexander Douglas Garven Alexander (born 26 October 1967) is a Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, previously Paisley South, from 1997 until his defeat in 2015. During this time, he served as ...

* 2004-2005: David Miliband Minister Assisting the Deputy Prime Minister * 2012-2015: David Laws Minister of State at the Cabinet Office * 2020-2022: The Lord True * 2021-2022:

Alok Sharma Alok Sharma (born 7 September 1967) is a British politician who served as the President for COP26 from 2021-2022. Resigning his previous position as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in order to lead COP26, he re ...

(President for

COP26 The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The ...

) * 2021: The Lord Frost (Minister of State for EU Relations) * 2022-present: The Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Notes

References

External links

Cabinet Office
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabinet Office Cabinet Office (United Kingdom) Ministerial offices in the United Kingdom 1997 establishments in the United Kingdom