Leader of the House of Commons

For the historic position in Northern Ireland, see Minister and Leader of the House of Commons.

Leader of the House of Commons
Incumbent Sir George Young, Bt since 12 May 2010
Office of the Leader of the House of Commons
Style	The Right Honourable
Appointer	David Cameron
Inaugural holder	Sir Robert Walpole
Formation	4 April 1721
Website	Office of the Leader of the Commons

The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons. Although at one time the position was usually held by the Prime Minister, in recent years, the post has usually been combined with that of Lord President of the Council (i.e., of the Privy Council); from 2003 it has been combined instead with the office of Lord Privy Seal.

The House of Commons devotes approximately three quarters of its time to Government business, such as bills introduced by the government and ministerial statements. The Leader of the House, with the parties' chief whips ("the usual channels"), is responsible for organising the government business and providing time for non-government business to be put before the House, and announces the next week's schedule in the Business Statement each Thursday.

When there is no Deputy Prime Minister, or the Deputy Prime Minister is unavailable, the Leader of the House may stand in for an absent Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions.

Jointly administered by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons and the Cabinet Office are the Osmotherly Rules, which set out guidance on how civil servants should respond to Parliamentary select committees.

Leaders of the House of Commons since 1721

At times the nominal leadership was held by the Prime Minister but the day to day work was done by a Deputy. At other times a Deputy was appointed merely to enhance an individual politician's standing within the government.

18th century

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Offices held in conjunction	Political Party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Sir Robert Walpole		4 April 1721	6 February 1742	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Samuel Sandys		12 February 1742	27 August 1743	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig	The Earl of Wilmington
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Henry Pelham		27 August 1743	6 March 1754	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Thomas Robinson		23 March 1754	October 1755	Southern Secretary	Whig	The Duke of Newcastle
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Henry Fox		14 November 1755	13 November 1756	Southern Secretary	Whig
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	William Pitt the Elder		4 December 1756	6 April 1757	Southern Secretary	Whig	The Duke of Devonshire
	Vacant (Caretaker Ministry)		1757
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	William Pitt the Elder		27 June 1757	6 October 1761	Southern Secretary	Whig	The Duke of Newcastle
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	George Grenville		October 1761	May 1762	Treasurer of the Navy	Grenvillite Whig
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Henry Fox		May 1762	April 1763	Paymaster of the Forces	Whig	The Earl of Bute
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	George Grenville		16 April 1763	13 July 1765	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Grenvillite Whig	Himself
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Henry Seymour Conway		July 1765	20 October 1768	Southern Secretary 1765–66 Northern Secretary 1766–68	Rockinghamite Whig	The Marquess of Rockingham 1765–66
The Earl of Chatham 1766–68
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Tory (British political party)/meta/color"|	Lord North		October 1768	22 March 1782	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1768–82 Prime Minister 1770–82	Tory	The Duke of Grafton 1768–70
Himself 1770–82
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Charles James Fox		27 March 1782	July 1782	Foreign Secretary	Whig	The Marquess of Rockingham
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Thomas Townshend		10 July 1782	6 March 1783	Home Secretary	Whig	The Earl of Shelburne
	Charles James Fox and Lord North	Fox North	2 April 1783	19 December 1783	Home Secretary (North) Foreign Secretary (Fox)	Fox-North Coalition	The Duke of Portland
style="background-color: Template:Tory (British political party)/meta/color"|	William Pitt the Younger		19 December 1783	14 March 1801	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Pittite Tory	Himself

19th century

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Offices held in conjunction	Political Party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Tory (British political party)/meta/color"|	Henry Addington		17 March 1801	10 May 1804	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Pittite Tory	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Tory (British political party)/meta/color"|	William Pitt the Younger		10 May 1804	23 January 1806 (died)	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Pittite Tory	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Charles James Fox		February 1806	13 September 1806 (died)	Foreign Secretary	Whig (Ministry of All the Talents)	Lord Grenville
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Viscount Howick		September 1806	31 March 1807	Foreign Secretary
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Tory (British political party)/meta/color"|	Spencer Perceval		April 1807	11 May 1812 (died)	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1807–12 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1807–12 Prime Minister 1809–12	Tory	The Duke of Portland 1807–09
Himself 1809–12
style="background-color: Template:Tory (British political party)/meta/color"|	Viscount Castlereagh		June 1812	12 August 1822 (died)	Foreign Secretary	Tory	Lord Liverpool 1812–27
height=15 style="background-color: Template:Tory (British political party)/meta/color"|	George Canning		16 September 1822	8 August 1827 (died)	Foreign Secretary 1822–27 Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1827	Canningite Tory
style="background-color: Template:Tory (British political party)/meta/color"|							Himself 1827
style="background-color: Template:Tory (British political party)/meta/color"|	William Huskisson		3 September 1827	21 January 1828	War and Colonial Secretary	Canningite Tory	The Viscount Goderich
style="background-color: Template:Tory (British political party)/meta/color"|	Robert Peel		26 January 1828	16 November 1830	Home Secretary	Tory	The Duke of Wellington
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Viscount Althorp		22 November 1830	14 November 1834	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig	The Viscount Melbourne
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Sir Robert Peel, Bt		10 December 1834	8 April 1835	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Lord John Russell		18 April 1835	30 August 1841	Home Secretary 1835–39 War and Colonial Secretary 1839–41	Whig	The Viscount Melbourne
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Sir Robert Peel, Bt		30 August 1841	29 June 1846	Prime Minister	Conservative	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Lord John Russell		30 June 1846	21 February 1852	Prime Minister	Whig	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Benjamin Disraeli		27 February 1852	17 December 1852	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	The Earl of Derby
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Lord John Russell		28 December 1852	30 January 1855	Foreign Secretary 1852–53 Minister without Portfolio 1853–54 Lord President of the Council 1854–55	Whig (Coalition)	The Earl of Aberdeen
style="background-color: Template:Whig (British political party)/meta/color"|	Viscount Palmerston		6 February 1855	19 February 1858	Prime Minister	Whig	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Benjamin Disraeli		26 February 1858	11 June 1859	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	The Earl of Derby
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Viscount Palmerston		12 June 1859	18 October 1865 (died)	Prime Minister	Liberal	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color"|	William Ewart Gladstone		October 1865	26 June 1866	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Liberal	The Earl Russell
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Benjamin Disraeli		6 July 1866	1 December 1868	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1866–68 Prime Minister 1868	Conservative	The Earl of Derby 1866–68
Himself 1868
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color"|	William Ewart Gladstone		3 December 1868	17 February 1874	Prime Minister 1868–74 Chancellor of the Exchequer 1873–74	Liberal	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Benjamin Disraeli		20 February 1874	21 August 1876	Prime Minister	Conservative	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt		21 August 1876	21 April 1880	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	The Earl of Beaconsfield
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color"|	William Ewart Gladstone		23 April 1880	9 June 1885	Prime Minister 1880–85 Chancellor of the Exchequer 1880–82	Liberal	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Bt		24 June 1885	28 January 1886	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	The Marquess of Salisbury
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color"|	William Ewart Gladstone		1 February 1886	2 July 1886	Prime Minister and Lord Privy Seal	Liberal	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Lord Randolph Churchill		3 August 1886	14 January 1887	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	The Marquess of Salisbury
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	W. H. Smith	File:W H Smith.jpg	17 January 1887	October 1891	First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Arthur Balfour		October 1891	11 August 1892	First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color"|	William Ewart Gladstone		15 August 1892	2 March 1894	Prime Minister and Lord Privy Seal	Liberal	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Sir William Vernon Harcourt		2 March 1894	21 June 1895	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Liberal	The Earl of Rosebery
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Arthur Balfour		29 June 1895	4 December 1905	First Lord of the Treasury 1895–1905 Prime Minister 1902–05 Lord Privy Seal 1902–03	Conservative	The Marquess of Salisbury 1895–1902
Himself 1902–05

20th century

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Offices held in conjunction	Political Party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman		5 December 1905	5 April 1908	Prime Minister	Liberal	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color"|	H. H. Asquith		5 April 1908	5 December 1916	Prime Minister 1908–16 War Secretary 1914	Liberal (Coalition 1915–16)	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Andrew Bonar Law		10 December 1916	23 March 1921	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1916–19 Lord Privy Seal 1919–21	Conservative (Coalition)	David Lloyd George
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Austen Chamberlain		23 March 1921	19 October 1922	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative (Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Andrew Bonar Law		23 October 1922	20 May 1923	Prime Minister	Conservative	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Stanley Baldwin		22 May 1923	22 January 1924	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1923 Prime Minister 1923–24	Conservative	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Ramsay MacDonald Deputy: J. R. Clynes		22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary	Labour	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Stanley Baldwin Deputy: Austen Chamberlain		4 November 1924	4 June 1929	Prime Minister	Conservative	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Ramsay MacDonald		5 June 1929	7 June 1935	Prime Minister	Labour	Himself
style="background-color: Template:National Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|						National Labour (National Govt 1931–35)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Stanley Baldwin Deputy: Sir John Simon		7 June 1935	28 May 1937	Prime Minister	Conservative (National Govt 1935–37)	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Neville Chamberlain	File:Arthur-Neville-Chamberlain.jpg	28 May 1937	10 May 1940	Prime Minister	Conservative (National Govt 1937–39; War Govt 1939–40)	Himself
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Winston Churchill Deputy: Clement Attlee		10 May 1940	19 February 1942	Prime Minister Minister of Defence	Conservative (Coalition)	Winston Churchill
style="background-color: Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color"|	Sir Stafford Cripps		19 February 1942	22 November 1942	Lord Privy Seal	Independent (Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Anthony Eden		22 February 1942	26 July 1945	Foreign Secretary	Conservative (Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Herbert Morrison		27 July 1945	9 March 1951	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Clement Attlee
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	James Chuter Ede		9 March 1951	26 October 1951	Home Secretary	Labour
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Harry Crookshank		28 October 1951	20 December 1955	Minister of Health 1951–52 Lord Privy Seal 1952–55	Conservative	Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Anthony Eden
	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	R. A. Butler		20 December 1955	9 October 1961	Lord Privy Seal 1955–59 Home Secretary 1957–61	Conservative
Harold Macmillan
	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Iain Macleod		9 October 1961	20 October 1963	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Selwyn Lloyd		20 October 1963	16 October 1964	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative	Sir Alec Douglas-Home
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Herbert Bowden		16 October 1964	11 August 1966	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Harold Wilson
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Richard Crossman		11 August 1966	18 October 1968	Lord President of the Council	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Fred Peart		18 October 1968	19 June 1970	Lord President of the Council	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	William Whitelaw		20 June 1970	7 April 1972	Lord President of the Council	Conservative	Edward Heath
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Robert Carr		7 April 1972	5 November 1972	Lord President of the Council	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	James Prior		5 November 1972	4 March 1974	Lord President of the Council	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Edward Short		5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Harold Wilson
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Michael Foot		8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Lord President of the Council	Labour	James Callaghan
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Norman St John-Stevas		5 May 1979	5 January 1981	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Minister for the Arts	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Francis Pym	File:Zconcam61.jpg	5 January 1981	5 April 1982	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1981 Lord President of the Council 1981–82	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	John Biffen		5 April 1982	13 June 1987	Lord President of the Council 1982–83 Lord Privy Seal 1983–87	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	John Wakeham		13 June 1987	24 July 1989	Lord Privy Seal 1987–88 Lord President of the Council 1988–89	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Sir Geoffrey Howe		24 July 1989	2 November 1990	Lord President of the Council and Deputy Prime Minister	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	John MacGregor		2 November 1990	10 April 1992	Lord President of the Council	Conservative	John Major
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Tony Newton		10 April 1992	1 May 1997	Lord President of the Council	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Ann Taylor		2 May 1997	27 July 1998	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Tony Blair
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Margaret Beckett		27 July 1998	8 June 2001	Lord President of the Council	Labour

21st century

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Offices held in conjunction	Political Party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Robin Cook		8 June 2001	17 March 2003	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Tony Blair
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	John Reid		4 April 2003	13 June 2003	Lord President of the Council	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Peter Hain		11 June 2003	6 May 2005	Lord Privy Seal	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Geoff Hoon		6 May 2005	5 May 2006	Lord Privy Seal	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Jack Straw		5 May 2006	27 June 2007	Lord Privy Seal	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Harriet Harman		28 June 2007	11 May 2010	Lord Privy Seal Minister for Women and Equality	Labour	Gordon Brown
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Sir George Young, Bt		12 May 2010	Incumbent	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative (coalition)	David Cameron

See also

• Leader of the House of Lords
• Speaker of the British House of Commons
• Minister for Parliamentary Business, the equivalent cabinet post in the Scottish Government

External links

• Office of the Leader of the House of Commons