Postmaster General of the United Kingdom

Postmaster General of the United Kingdom was a Cabinetministerial position in HM Government. From at least 1609, this government officer held a monopoly power to deliver mails and corresponding duties to build and maintain the various elements of the postal system; the Telegraph Act 1868 extended these to electric telegraphs. These arrangements would subsequently be expanded to cover telecommunications and broadcasting.

The office was abolished in 1969 by the Post Office Act 1969. A replacement public corporation, governed ultimately by a board and chairman, was established under the name of the Post Office (later subsumed by Royal Mail Group). The cabinet position of Postmaster General was replaced by a Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, with reduced powers, until 1974; most regulatory functions have now been delegated to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.