Secretary of State for Transport
| United Kingdom Secretary of State for Transport | |
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Arms of Her Majesty's Government | |
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| Department for Transport | |
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The Right Honourable (Formal prefix) Transport Secretary ' |
| Appointer | Elizabeth II |
| Inaugural holder | Eric Campbell Geddes |
| Formation | 19 May 1919 |
| Website | Transport |
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| This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the United Kingdom |
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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
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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord Leathers (Min. of War Transport) |
— | 1 May 1941 | 8 October 1944 | Conservative | Winston Churchill (War Coalition) | ||
| The Viscount Swinton | 8 October 1944 | 26 July 1945 | Conservative | ||||
| Alfred Barnes | The Lord Winster | 3-4 August 1945 | 4 October 1946 | Labour | 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 | ||||
| Hon. John Maclay | 31 October 1951 | 7 May 1952 | National Liberal | Sir Winston Churchill | |||
| 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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alan Lennox-Boyd | 1 October 1953 | 28 July 1954 | Conservative | Sir Winston Churchill | ||
| John Boyd-Carpenter | 28 July 1954 | 20 December 1955 | Conservative | |||
| Harold Watkinson | 20 December 1955 | 14 October 1959 | Conservative | Sir Anthony Eden | ||
| 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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ernest Marples | 14 October 1959 | 16 October 1964 | Conservative | Harold Macmillan | ||
| Sir Alec Douglas-Home | ||||||
| Thomas Fraser | 16 October 1964 | 23 December 1965 | Labour | Harold Wilson | ||
| Barbara Castle | 23 December 1965 | 6 April 1968 | Labour | |||
| Richard Marsh | 6 April 1968 | 6 October 1969 | Labour | |||
| Fred Mulley | 6 October 1969 | 19 June 1970 | Labour | |||
| John Peyton | 23 June 1970 | 15 October 1970 | Conservative | 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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Walker | 15 October 1970 | 5 November 1972 | Conservative | Edward Heath | ||
| Geoffrey Rippon | 5 November 1972 | 4 March 1974 | Conservative | |||
| Anthony Crosland | 5 March 1974 | 8 April 1976 | Labour | 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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Rodgers | 10 September 1976 | 4 May 1979 | Labour | 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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norman Fowler | 11 May 1979 | 5 January 1981 | Conservative | Margaret Thatcher | ||
Secretary of State for Transport (1981–1997)
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
| Name | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norman Fowler | 5 January 1981 | 14 September 1981 | Conservative | Margaret Thatcher | ||
| David Howell | 14 September 1981 | 11 June 1983 | Conservative | |||
| Tom King | 11 June 1983 | 16 October 1983 | Conservative | |||
| Hon. Nicholas Ridley | 16 October 1983 | 21 May 1986 | Conservative | |||
| John Moore | 21 May 1986 | 13 June 1987 | Conservative | |||
| Paul Channon | 13 June 1987 | 24 July 1989 | Conservative | |||
| Cecil Parkinson | 24 July 1989 | 28 November 1990 | Conservative | |||
| Malcolm Rifkind | 28 November 1990 | 10 April 1992 | Conservative | John Major | ||
| John MacGregor | 10 April 1992 | 20 July 1994 | Conservative | |||
| Brian Mawhinney | 20 July 1994 | 5 July 1995 | Conservative | |||
| 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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Prescott |  |
2 May 1997 | 8 June 2001 | Labour | 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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Byers | 8 June 2001 | 29 May 2002 | Labour | 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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alistair Darling |  |
29 May 2002 | 5 May 2006 | Labour | Tony Blair | ||
| Douglas Alexander |  |
5 May 2006 | 27 June 2007 | Labour | |||
| Ruth Kelly |  |
28 June 2007 | 3 October 2008 | Labour | Gordon Brown | ||
| Geoff Hoon |  |
3 October 2008 | 5 June 2009 | Labour | |||
| The Lord Adonis |  |
5 June 2009 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | |||
| Philip Hammond |  |
12 May 2010[1] | 14 October 2011 | Conservative | David Cameron (Coalition) | ||
| Justine Greening |  |
14 October 2011 | 4 September 2012 | Conservative | |||
| Patrick McLoughlin |  |
4 September 2012 | 14 July 2016 | Conservative | |||
| David Cameron (II) | |||||||
| Chris Grayling |  |
14 July 2016 | Incumbent | Conservative | Theresa May | ||
See also
References
- ↑ "Out with the old cabinet, in with the new". Public Service. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
External links
Department for Transport of the United Kingdom | |
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