Minister for the Cabinet Office

Minister for the Cabinet Office
Royal Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent Oliver Dowden since 24 July 2019 (2019-07-24)
Cabinet Office
Style	The Right Honourable
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council National Security Council
Reports to	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Seat	Westminster, London
Appointer	The Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	No fixed term
Website	www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk

The Minister for the Cabinet Office is a position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The office has no statutory footing or recognition, and is unpaid. Every individual who has held the office has therefore also been appointed to a sinecure office to secure a seat at cabinet and a salary.

Function and Status

The Cabinet Office has a primary responsibility to support the work of the Prime Minister 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
• Deputising for the Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions

The government presently 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 held the office in 2017, simultaneously with the office of First Secretary of State. Green chaired numerous Cabinet Committees and filled in for the Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions. By virtue of his responsibilities and as First Secretary of State, he was considered a de facto Deputy Prime Minister. Upon the appointment of David Lidington 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 Boris Johnson ended this arrangement with the appointment of a new First Secretary of State.

Current minister and responsibilities

The current minister is Oliver Dowden, who was appointed for the Johnson ministry in July 2019. He simultaneously holds the sinecure office of Paymaster General. The role has had varying responsibilities over time.

The most recent responsibilities are:

• Supporting the Prime Minister in the running of the Government of the United Kingdom.
• Deputising for the Prime Minister.
• Advising the Prime Minister on developing and implementing Government policy.
• Driving forward government business and implementation including through chairing and deputy chairing cabinet committees and taskforces.
• Overseeing constitutional affairs and maintaining the integrity of the Union.
• Oversight of all Cabinet Office policies.

Ministers for the Cabinet Office

Every occupant of the position has simultaneously held a sinecure office, this being Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from Clark to Byrne, Paymaster General from Jowell to Gummer, and First Secretary of State with Green. David Lidington held the role of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, whereas Oliver Dowden holds the office of Paymaster General.

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	David Clark		2 May 1997	27 July 1998	Labour		Tony Blair
	Jack Cunningham		27 July 1998	11 October 1999	Labour
	Mo Mowlam		11 October 1999	7 June 2001	Labour
	The Lord Macdonald of Tradeston		11 June 2001	13 June 2003	Labour
	Douglas Alexander		13 June 2003	8 September 2004	Labour
	Alan Milburn		8 September 2004	6 May 2005	Labour
	John Hutton		6 May 2005	2 November 2005	Labour
	Jim Murphy (acting)		5 November 2005	5 May 2006	Labour
	Hilary Armstrong		5 May 2006	27 June 2007	Labour
	Ed Miliband		27 June 2007	3 October 2008	Labour		Gordon Brown
	Liam Byrne		3 October 2008	5 June 2009	Labour
	Tessa Jowell		5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour
	Francis Maude		12 May 2010	11 May 2015	Conservative		David Cameron (Coalition)
	Matthew Hancock		11 May 2015	14 July 2016	Conservative		David Cameron (II)
	Ben Gummer		14 July 2016	11 June 2017	Conservative		Theresa May (I)
	Damian Green		11 June 2017	20 December 2017	Conservative		Theresa May (II)
	David Lidington		8 January 2018	24 July 2019	Conservative
	Oliver Dowden		24 July 2019	Incumbent	Conservative		Boris Johnson

Ministers of State for the Cabinet Office

Occasionally, a Minister of State for the Cabinet Office is appointed who is junior to the Minister for the Cabinet Office.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Derek Foster		2 May 1997	6 May 1997	Labour		Blair
	Peter Kilfoyle		6 May 1997	28 July 1999	Labour
	Ian McCartney		28 July 1999	11 June 2001	Labour
	Barbara Roche		11 June 2001	29 May 2002	Labour
	Douglas Alexander		29 May 2002	13 June 2003	Labour
	David Miliband		16 December 2004	11 May 2005	Labour
	David Laws		4 September 2012	7 May 2015	Liberal Democrats		Cameron (Coalition)
Vacant			8 May 2015-present				Cameron (II)
							May (I)
							May (II)
							Johnson

Opposition spokespersons for the Cabinet Office

Shadow Ministers for the Cabinet Office

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Party	Shadow Cabinet
	Andrew Lansley		15 June 1999	18 September 2001	Conservative	Hague
	Tim Collins		18 September 2001	23 July 2002	Conservative	Duncan Smith
	Unknown
	Francis Maude		2 July 2007	11 May 2010	Conservative	Cameron
	Tessa Jowell		11 May 2010	8 October 2010	Labour	Harman
	Liam Byrne		8 October 2010	20 January 2011	Labour	Miliband
	Tessa Jowell		20 January 2011	7 October 2011	Labour
	Jon Trickett		7 October 2011	7 October 2013	Labour
	Michael Dugher		7 October 2013	5 November 2014	Labour
	Lucy Powell		5 November 2014	14 September 2015	Labour
						Harman
	Tom Watson		14 September 2015	7 October 2016	Labour	Corbyn
	Ian Lavery		7 October 2016	February 2017	Labour
	Jon Trickett		February 2017	10 July 2018	Labour
	Jo Platt		10 July 2018	Incumbent	Labour

Scottish National Party

Name		Portrait	Term of office	Frontbench team
	Tommy Sheppard		May 2015 – present	Robertson

Liberal Democrats

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Shadow Cabinet
	Alan Beith		bef. April 2003	aft. April 2003	Kennedy
	Richard Allan		bef. August 2003	aft. April 2004
	David Heath		April 2006	January 2006	Campbell
	Norman Baker		bef. July 2007	December 2007
					Cable
	Susan Kramer		December 2007	May 2010	Clegg
	May 2010 – May 2015, the Liberal Democrats were in a coalition government, so did not have opposition spokespersons
	no appointment announced		July 2015	present	Farron Cable

External links

• Cabinet Office