Secretary of State for Business and Trade

Not to be confused with Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Royal Arms of HM Government
Incumbent Kwasi Kwarteng since 8 January 2021
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Style	Business Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (UK and the Commonwealth)
Status	Secretary of state Minister of the Crown
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council National Security Council
Reports to	The Prime Minister
Seat	Westminster
Appointer	The Crown on advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	At Her Majesty's Pleasure
Formation	20 October 1963: Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development 14 July 2016: Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
First holder	Edward Heath as Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development
Website	www.gov.uk

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, also referred to as the Business Secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, tenth in the ministerial ranking.

The incumbent is Kwasi Kwarteng, following his appointment by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 8 January 2021.

Responsibilities

Corresponding to what is generally known as a commerce minister in many other countries, the Business Secretary's remit includes:

• Oversight of science, research and innovation in Britain
• Relations with domestic and international business
• Policy relating to climate change
• Oversight of energy policy and industrial policy

History

During the government of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the then President of the Board of Trade Edward Heath was given in addition the job of Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development. This title was not continued under Harold Wilson, but when Heath became Prime Minister in 1970 he decided to merge functions of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology to create the Department of Trade and Industry. The head of this department became known as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and also retained the title of President of the Board of Trade.

When Harold Wilson re-entered office in March 1974, the office was split into the Department of Trade, the Department of Industry and the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection, resulting in the creation of three new positions: Secretary of State for Industry, Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection, and Secretary of State for Trade. The title President of the Board of Trade became the secondary title of the Secretary of State for Trade. By 1979 the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection was abolished by the incoming Conservative government and its responsibilities were reintegrated into the Department of Trade. Furthermore, 1983 the offices of trade and industry were remerged and the title of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry was recreated. When Michael Heseltine held this office, he preferred to be known by the older title of President of the Board of Trade, and this practice was also followed by Ian Lang and Margaret Beckett. Heseltine's decision to reuse the old title caused some controversy, and it was discovered that the Board of Trade had not in fact met since the mid-nineteenth century.

Under Gordon Brown's premiership there were two renamings of the role and three re-alignments of responsibility. In his first cabinet of 2007, he called the post Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. With this change, the Better Regulation Executive was added to the department but the Office of Science and Innovation was lost. In 2008, the title remained the same but responsibility for energy was lost. In 2009, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was merged into the existing department and the post became Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

In July 2016, Prime Minister Theresa May decided to merge the Department for Energy and Climate Change into this department with the responsibilities for post-19 education and skills being returned to the Department for Education resulting in the position being renamed to Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. At the same time in July 2016, the post of President of the Board of Trade was transferred to the newly created post of Secretary of State for International Trade.

List of Secretaries of State

Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development (1963–1964)

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Edward Heath		20 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alec Douglas-Home

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1970–1974)

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Davies	15 October 1970	5 November 1972	Conservative	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Edward Heath
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Peter Walker	5 November 1972	4 March 1974

Secretaries of State for Industry; Prices; and Trade (1974–1983)

Secretary of State for Industry				Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection				Secretary of State for Trade				Political party	Prime Minister
Name		Took office	Left office	Name		Took office	Left office	Name		Took office	Left office
height="14%" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Tony Benn	5 March 1974	10 June 1975	height="28%" rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Shirley Williams	5 March 1974	10 September 1976	height="23%" rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Peter Shore	5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Labour	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harold Wilson
height="42%" rowspan="4" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Eric Varley	10 June 1975	4 May 1979
height="28%" rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |				Edmund Dell				8 April 1976	11 November 1978	Labour	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	James Callaghan
height="28%" rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |					Roy Hattersley	10 September 1976	4 May 1979
height="5%" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |				John Smith				11 November 1978	4 May 1979
height="25%" rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Keith Joseph	4 May 1979	14 September 1981	OFFICE ABOLISHED (responsibilities returned to the Trade Secretary)				height="18%" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Nott	5 May 1979	5 January 1981	Conservative	rowspan="4" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Margaret Thatcher
height="13%" rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |								John Biffen	5 January 1981	6 April 1982
height="19%" rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Patrick Jenkin	14 September 1981	12 June 1983
height="13%" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |								The Lord Cockfield	6 April 1982	12 June 1983

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1983–2007)

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Cecil Parkinson		12 June 1983	11 October 1983	Conservative	rowspan="7" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Margaret Thatcher
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Norman Tebbit		16 October 1983	2 September 1985
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Leon Brittan		2 September 1985	22 January 1986
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Paul Channon		24 January 1986	13 June 1987
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Lord Young of Graffham		13 June 1987	24 July 1989
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Nicholas Ridley		24 July 1989	13 July 1990
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Peter Lilley		14 July 1990	10 April 1992
Conservative					rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Major
	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Michael Heseltine		10 April 1992	5 July 1995
	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Ian Lang		5 July 1995	2 May 1997
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Margaret Beckett		2 May 1997	27 July 1998	Labour	rowspan="6" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Tony Blair
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Peter Mandelson		27 July 1998	23 December 1998
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Stephen Byers		23 December 1998	8 June 2001
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Patricia Hewitt		8 June 2001	6 May 2005
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alan Johnson		6 May 2005	5 May 2006
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alistair Darling		5 May 2006	27 June 2007

Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (2007–2009)

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Hutton		28 June 2007	3 October 2008	Labour	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Gordon Brown
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Lord Mandelson		3 October 2008	5 June 2009

Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (2009–2016)

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Lord Mandelson		5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Gordon Brown
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/color" |	Vince Cable		12 May 2010	8 May 2015	Liberal Democrats	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	David Cameron (Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sajid Javid		11 May 2015	14 July 2016	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	David Cameron (II)

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (2008–2016)

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Ed Miliband MP for Doncaster North		3 October 2008	11 May 2010	Labour	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Gordon Brown
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/color" |	Chris Huhne MP for Eastleigh		12 May 2010	3 February 2012	Liberal Democrats	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	David Cameron (Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/color" |	Ed Davey MP for Kingston and Surbiton		3 February 2012	8 May 2015	Liberal Democrats
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Amber Rudd MP for Hastings and Rye		11 May 2015	14 July 2016	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	David Cameron (II)
Department abolished 2016, merged into Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (since 2016)

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Greg Clark MP for Tunbridge Wells		14 July 2016	24 July 2019	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Theresa May
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Andrea Leadsom MP for South Northamptonshire		24 July 2019	13 February 2020	Conservative	rowspan=3 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Boris Johnson
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alok Sharma MP for Reading West		13 February 2020	8 January 2021	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Kwasi Kwarteng MP for Spelthorne		8 January 2021	Incumbent	Conservative