Secretary of State for Transport

United Kingdom Secretary of State for Transport
Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Flag of the United Kingdom
Incumbent Chris Grayling since 14 July 2016
Department for Transport
Style	The Right Honourable (Formal prefix) Transport Secretary '
Appointer	Elizabeth II
Inaugural holder	Eric Campbell Geddes
Formation	19 May 1919
Website	Transport

Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The office used to be called the Minister of Transport and has been merged with the Department for the Environment at various times.

The current Secretary of State for Transport is Chris Grayling.

The Secretary of State is supported by a small team of junior Ministers. Each Minister is a Member of Parliament from either the House of Commons or the House of Lords. The number of Ministers supporting the Secretary of State for Transport vary from time to time, but is usually about 3. The titles given to these Ministers also vary. Currently the positions are held by one Minister of State for Transport and two Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State for Transport.

During the tenure of different governments the title of Minister of/for Transport has been used to refer to the Secretary of State for Transport, one or more of the junior Ministers or even both the Secretary of State and the junior Ministers at the same time.

From 2003 until June 2007 the role of Secretary of State for Transport was combined with the role of Secretary of State for Scotland. This arrangement changed on 28 June 2007, when in the appointment of his first Cabinet, Prime Minister Gordon Brown assigned the responsibilities of Secretary of State for Scotland to Des Browne, his Secretary of State for Defence.

The names provided in the sections below are those who have served in a position equivalent to the Secretary of State for Transport.

Minister of Transport (1919–1941)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour   National Labour   Liberal   National Liberal

Name		Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Eric Campbell Geddes	19 May 1919	7 November 1921	Conservative	rowspan=3 style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	David Lloyd George (Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Viscount Peel	7 November 1921	12 April 1922	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Earl of Crawford	12 April 1922	31 October 1922	Conservative
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir John Baird, Bt	31 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Andrew Bonar Law
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |					Stanley Baldwin
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harry Gosling	24 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Ramsay MacDonald
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Wilfrid Ashley	11 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Stanley Baldwin
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Herbert Morrison	7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Ramsay MacDonald
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Pybus	3 September 1931	22 February 1933	Liberal	rowspan=3 style="background-color: Template:National Labour Organisation/meta/color" |	Ramsay MacDonald (1st & 2nd National min.)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Hon. Oliver Stanley	22 February 1933	29 June 1934	Conservative
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)/meta/color" |	Leslie Hore-Belisha	29 June 1934	28 May 1937	National Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |					Stanley Baldwin (3rd National min.)
style="background-color: Template:National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)/meta/color" |	Leslie Burgin	28 May 1937	21 April 1939	National Liberal	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Neville Chamberlain (4th National min.)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Euan Wallace	21 April 1939	14 May 1940	Conservative	Neville Chamberlain (War Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:National Independent/meta/color" |	John Reith	14 May 1940	3 October 1940	National Independent	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Winston Churchill (War Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Moore-Brabazon	3 October 1940	1 May 1941	Conservative

Minister of (War) Transport and Minister of Civil Aviation (1941–1953)

The Ministry of Transport absorbed the Ministry of Shipping and was renamed the Ministry of War Transport in 1941, but resumed its previous name at the end of the war.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation was created by Winston Churchill in 1944 to look at peaceful ways of using aircraft and to find something for the aircraft factories to do after the war. The new Conservative Government in 1951 appointed the same Minister to Transport and Civil Aviation, finally amalgamating the Ministries on 1 October 1953.

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour   National Liberal

Minister of Transport		Minister of Civil Aviation	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Lord Leathers (Min. of War Transport)	—	1 May 1941	8 October 1944	Conservative	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Winston Churchill (War Coalition)
The Viscount Swinton		8 October 1944	26 July 1945	Conservative
rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alfred Barnes	The Lord Winster	3-4 August 1945	4 October 1946	Labour	rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Clement Attlee
The Lord Nathan		4 October 1946	31 May 1948	Labour
The Lord Pakenham		31 May 1948	1 June 1951	Labour
The Lord Ogmore		1 June 1951	26 October 1951	Labour
style="background-color: Template:National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)/meta/color" |	Hon. John Maclay		31 October 1951	7 May 1952	National Liberal	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Winston Churchill
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alan Lennox-Boyd		7 May 1952	1 October 1953	Conservative

Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation (1953–1959)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative

Name		Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alan Lennox-Boyd	1 October 1953	28 July 1954	Conservative	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Winston Churchill
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Boyd-Carpenter	28 July 1954	20 December 1955	Conservative
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harold Watkinson	20 December 1955	14 October 1959	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Anthony Eden
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |					Harold Macmillan

Minister of Transport (1959–1970)

The Ministry was renamed back to the Ministry of Transport on 14 October 1959.

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour

Name		Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Ernest Marples	14 October 1959	16 October 1964	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harold Macmillan
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |					Sir Alec Douglas-Home
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Thomas Fraser	16 October 1964	23 December 1965	Labour	rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harold Wilson
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Barbara Castle	23 December 1965	6 April 1968	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Richard Marsh	6 April 1968	6 October 1969	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Fred Mulley	6 October 1969	19 June 1970	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Peyton	23 June 1970	15 October 1970	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Edward Heath

Minister within the Department of the Environment (1970–1976)

Transport responsibilities were subsumed by the Department for the Environment, headed by the Secretary of State for the Environment from 15 October 1970 to 10 September 1976.

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour

Name		Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Peter Walker	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" |	Geoffrey Rippon	5 November 1972	4 March 1974	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Anthony Crosland	5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Labour	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harold Wilson

The junior ministers responsible for transport within the Department for the Environment:

Minister for Transport Industries (1970–1974)

• John Peyton (Conservative, 15 October 1970 – 4 March 1974)

Minister for Transport (1974–1976)

• Fred Mulley (Labour, 7 March 1974 – 12 June 1975)
• John Gilbert (Labour, 12 June 1975 – 10 September 1976)

The Department for Transport was recreated as a separate department by James Callaghan in 1976.

Secretary of State for Transport (1976–1979)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Labour

Name		Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	William Rodgers	10 September 1976	4 May 1979	Labour	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	James Callaghan

Minister of Transport (1979–1981)

Not an official member of the cabinet. Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative

Name		Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Norman Fowler	11 May 1979	5 January 1981	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Margaret Thatcher

Secretary of State for Transport (1981–1997)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative

Name		Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Norman Fowler	5 January 1981	14 September 1981	Conservative	rowspan=7 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Margaret Thatcher
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	David Howell	14 September 1981	11 June 1983	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Tom King	11 June 1983	16 October 1983	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Hon. Nicholas Ridley	16 October 1983	21 May 1986	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Moore	21 May 1986	13 June 1987	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Paul Channon	13 June 1987	24 July 1989	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Cecil Parkinson	24 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Malcolm Rifkind	28 November 1990	10 April 1992	Conservative	rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Major
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John MacGregor	10 April 1992	20 July 1994	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Brian Mawhinney	20 July 1994	5 July 1995	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir George Young, Bt	5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative

Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions (1997–2001)

The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was created in 1997 for Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. Colour key (for political parties):
  Labour

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Prescott		2 May 1997	8 June 2001	Labour	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Tony Blair

From 1997 to 2001, the Ministers of State with responsibility for Transport were:

• Gavin Strang (3 May 1997 – 27 July 1998)
• John Reid (27 July 1998 – 17 May 1999)
• Helen Liddell (17 May 1999 – 29 July 1999)
• Lord Macdonald of Tradeston (29 July 1999 – 8 June 2001)

John Reid attended cabinet meetings, but was not formally a member of the cabinet whereas Gavin Strang was given a seat in the cabinet when he held the position.

Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (2001–2002)

The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was widely considered unwieldy and so was broken up, with the Transport functions now combined with Local Government and the Regions in the DTLR (Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions). Critics argued from the outset that this was a mistake and that a post of Secretary of State for Transport was needed in its own right.

Colour key (for political parties):
  Labour

Name		Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Stephen Byers	8 June 2001	29 May 2002	Labour	style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Tony Blair

After Byers' resignation, such a division was made, with the portfolios of Local Government and the Regions transferred to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

During the lifetime of DTLGR, John Spellar served as Minister of State for Transport with a right to attend Cabinet.

• John Spellar (8 June 2001 – 29 May 2002)

Secretary of State for Transport (2002– )

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alistair Darling		29 May 2002	5 May 2006	Labour	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Tony Blair
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Douglas Alexander		5 May 2006	27 June 2007	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Ruth Kelly		28 June 2007	3 October 2008	Labour	rowspan=3 style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Gordon Brown
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Geoff Hoon		3 October 2008	5 June 2009	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Lord Adonis		5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Philip Hammond		12 May 2010	14 October 2011	Conservative	rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	David Cameron (Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Justine Greening		14 October 2011	4 September 2012	Conservative
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Patrick McLoughlin		4 September 2012	14 July 2016	Conservative
David Cameron (II)
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Chris Grayling		14 July 2016	Incumbent	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Theresa May

See also

• Ministry of Civil Aviation Aerodrome Fire Service

External links

• Track record: Transport secretaries