Minister for the Cabinet Office

Minister for the Cabinet Office
Royal Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent Michael Ellis since 8 February 2022 (2022-02-08)
Cabinet Office
Style	The Right Honourable
Member of	Cabinet (Since February 2022 the role attends Cabinet but not as a full member) 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 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 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 until mid-2019 when the First Johnson ministry came to power, it functioned as an alternative title to Deputy Prime Minister or First Secretary of State. This practice ended when Dominic Raab was appointed as First Secretary of State on 24 July 2019, by Boris Johnson. 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.

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

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 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 the 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, Dominic Raab, before upgrading his title again to Deputy Prime Minister in 2021.

Current minister and responsibilities

Michael Ellis has served as the Minister for the Cabinet Office since 8 February, 2022. He continues to serve as Paymaster General alongside his position.

The most recent responsibilities are:

• Oversight of all Cabinet Office policy and appointments
• Oversight of transition period activity and our 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 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from Clark to Byrne, Paymaster General from Jowell to Gummer, and First Secretary of State with Green. Oliver Dowden, and currently Michael Ellis, held the office of Paymaster General, while David Lidington, Michael Gove and Steve Barclay held the role of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Concurrent office	Party	Prime minister
	David Clark		2 May 1997	27 July 1998	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster	Labour	Tony Blair
	Jack Cunningham		27 July 1998	11 October 1999
	Mo Mowlam		11 October 1999	7 June 2001
	The Lord Macdonald of Tradeston		11 June 2001	13 June 2003
	Douglas Alexander		13 June 2003	8 September 2004
	Alan Milburn		8 September 2004	6 May 2005
	John Hutton		6 May 2005	2 November 2005
	Jim Murphy (acting)		5 November 2005	5 May 2006
	Hilary Armstrong		5 May 2006	28 June 2007
	Ed Miliband		28 June 2007	3 October 2008			Gordon Brown
	Liam Byrne		3 October 2008	5 June 2009
	Tessa Jowell		5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Paymaster General
	Francis Maude		12 May 2010	11 May 2015		Conservative	David Cameron (Coalition)
	Matthew Hancock		11 May 2015	14 July 2016			David Cameron (II)
	Ben Gummer		14 July 2016	11 June 2017			Theresa May (I)
	Damian Green		11 June 2017	20 December 2017	First Secretary of State		Theresa May (II)
	David Lidington		8 January 2018	24 July 2019	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
	Oliver Dowden		24 July 2019	13 February 2020	Paymaster General		Boris Johnson (I) & (II)
	Michael Gove		13 February 2020	15 September 2021	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster		Boris Johnson (II)
	Steve Barclay		15 September 2021	8 February 2022	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Downing Street Chief of Staff		Boris Johnson (II)
	Michael Ellis		8 February 2022	Incumbent	Paymaster General		Boris Johnson (II)

Ministers of State at the Cabinet Office

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

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Party	Prime minister		Title of position
	Derek Foster		2 May 1997	6 May 1997	Labour		Blair	Minister of State for the Cabinet Office
	Peter Kilfoyle		6 May 1997	28 July 1999
	The Lord Falconer of Thoroton		28 July 1998	11 June 2001
	The Baroness Morgan of Huyton		11 June 2001	November 2001
	Ian McCartney		28 July 1999	11 June 2001
	Barbara Roche		11 June 2001	29 May 2002
	Douglas Alexander		29 May 2002	13 June 2003
	David Miliband		16 December 2004	11 May 2005
Vacant			11 May 2005	4 September 2012
							Brown
							Cameron (Coalition)
	David Laws		4 September 2012	7 May 2015	Liberal Democrats			Minister Assisting the Deputy Prime Minister
Vacant			8 May 2015	13 February 2020			Cameron (II)
							May (I)
							May (II)
							Johnson (I)
							Johnson (II)
	Chloe Smith		13 February 2020	16 September 2021	Conservatives			Minister of State for the Constitution and Devolution
	The Lord Agnew of Oulton		14 February 2020	24 January 2022				Minister of State for Efficiency and Transformation
	The Lord True		14 February 2020	Incumbent
	Alok Sharma (as President for COP26)		8 January 2021
	The Lord Frost		1 March 2021	18 December 2021				Minister of State for EU Relations
	Nigel Adams		15 September 2021	Incumbent				Minister of State without Portfolio
	Jacob Rees-Mogg		8 February 2022					Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency

External links

• Cabinet Office