Minister without portfolio (United Kingdom)

Not to be confused with Minister of State without Portfolio.

In the United Kingdom, the minister without portfolio is often a cabinet position, and is sometimes used to enable the chairman of the governing party, contemporarily either the chairman of the Conservative Party or the chair of the Labour Party to attend cabinet meetings (if so, they hold the title of "Party chairman"). The sinecure positions of Lord Privy Seal, Paymaster General, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which have few responsibilities and have a higher rank in the order of precedence than minister without portfolio can also be used to similar effect. The office is currently held by Richard Holden.

United Kingdom Minister without Portfolio
Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government
Flag of the United Kingdom
Incumbent Richard Holden since 13 November 2023
Cabinet Office
Style	The Right Honourable
Reports to	The Prime Minister
Nominator	The Prime Minister
Appointer	The British Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	No fixed term
Salary	£159,038 per annum (2022)^[1] (including £86,584 MP salary)^[2]
Website	GOV.UK

The corresponding shadow minister is the Shadow Minister without Portfolio.

List of office holders

18th century

• The Lord Somers, as part of the Townshend ministry
• Henry Seymour Conway, as part of the Chatham ministry and Grafton ministry

19th century

Minister			Concurrent office(s)	Tenure	Political party	Prime Minister
		William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland		January 1805 – February 1806	Whig		William Pitt the Younger
		William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam		October 1806 – March 1807			William Grenville (Ministry of All the Talents)
		William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland		4 – 30 October 1809	Tory		Spencer Perceval
		Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby		November 1809 – June 1812	Tory (Pittite)
		John Pratt, 2nd Earl Camden (created 1st Marquess Camden, August 1812)		8 April – December 1812	Tory
							Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
		Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave		January 1819 – May 1820
		Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne		April – July 1827	Whig		George Canning
		William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland		July – September 1827	Tory (Canningite)
		George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle		22 November 1830 – 5 June 1834	Whig		Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
		Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington		3 September 1841 – July 1846	Conservative		Robert Peel
		Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne		28 December 1852 – 21 February 1858	Whig		George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (until February 1855)
							Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
		Lord John Russell		February 1853 – June 1854			George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
		Spencer Horatio Walpole		May 1867 – February 1868	Conservative		Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
		Michael Hicks Beach		7 March 1887 – 20 February 1888			Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

20th century (first half)

Minister			Concurrent office(s)	Tenure	Political party	Prime Minister
		Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne		25 May 1915 – December 1916	Liberal Unionist		H. H. Asquith (Coalition)
		Arthur Henderson	Member of the War Cabinet	10 December 1916 – 12 August 1917	Labour		David Lloyd George (Coalition)
		Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner		10 December 1916 – 18 April 1918	Conservative
		Jan Smuts		22 June 1917 – 10 January 1919	South African Party
		Edward Carson		17 July 1917 – 21 January 1918	Ulster Unionist Party (Irish Unionist)
		George Barnes	Member of the War Cabinet (until October 1919)	13 August 1917 – 27 January 1920	Labour
		Austen Chamberlain	Member of the War Cabinet	18 April 1918 – 10 January 1919	Conservative
		Eric Campbell Geddes		10 January – 31 October 1919
		Laming Worthington-Evans	Member of the War Cabinet (until October 1919)	10 January 1919 – 13 February 1921
		Christopher Addison		1 April – 14 July 1921	Liberal
		Anthony Eden	Minister for League of Nations affairs	7 June – 22 December 1935	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin (Coalition)
		Eustace Percy		7 June 1935 – 31 March 1936
		Leslie Burgin	Minister of Supply-designate	21 April – 14 July 1939	National Liberal Party		Neville Chamberlain (Coalition)
		Maurice Hankey	Member of the War Cabinet	September 1939 – 10 May 1940	no party		Neville Chamberlain (Coalition)
		Arthur Greenwood		11 May 1940 – 22 February 1942	Labour		Winston Churchill (Coalition)
		William Jowitt		30 December 1942 – 8 October 1944

20th century (second half)

Minister			Concurrent office(s)		Tenure	Political party	Prime Minister
		A. V. Alexander			4 October – 20 December 1946	Labour Co-operative		Clement Attlee
		Arthur Greenwood			17 April – 29 September 1947	Labour
		Geoffrey FitzClarence, 5th Earl of Munster			18 October 1954 – 1957	Conservative		Winston Churchill
								Anthony Eden
		Stormont Mancroft, 2nd Baron Mancroft			11 June 1957 – 1958			Harold Macmillan
		Henry Scrymgeour-Wedderburn, 11th Earl of Dundee			23 October 1958 – 1961	Unionist
		Percy Mills, 1st Baron Mills		Deputy Leader of the House of Lords	9 October 1961 – 13 July 1962	Conservative
		Bill Deedes			13 July 1962 – 16 October 1964
								Alec Douglas-Home
		Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington		Leader of the House of Lords	20 October 1963 – 16 October 1964
		Eric Fletcher			19 October 1964 – 6 April 1966	Labour		Harold Wilson
		Arthur Champion, Baron Champion		Deputy Leader of the House of Lords	21 October 1964 – 7 January 1967
		Douglas Houghton			6 April 1966 – 7 January 1967
		Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton		Deputy Leader of the House of Lords	7 January 1967 – 16 January 1968
		Patrick Gordon Walker			7 January – 21 August 1967
		George Thomson			17 October 1968 – 6 October 1969
		Peter Shore			6 October 1969 – 19 June 1970
		Niall Macpherson, 1st Baron Drumalbyn			15 October 1970 – 1974	Unionist		Edward Heath
		Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare			8 January – March 1974	Conservative
		David Young, Baron Young of Graffham	advising on unemployment		11 September 1984 – 3 September 1985			Margaret Thatcher
		Jeremy Hanley	Chairman of the Conservative Party		20 July 1994 – 5 July 1995			John Major
		Brian Mawhinney			5 July 1995 – 2 May 1997
		Peter Mandelson^[3]	called the "Dome Secretary"^[4]		5 May 1997 – 26 July 1998	Labour		Tony Blair

21st century

Minister			Concurrent office(s)	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
		Charles Clarke^[5]	Labour Party Chair	8 June 2001	24 October 2002	Labour		Tony Blair
		John Reid^[6]		24 October 2002	4 April 2003
		Ian McCartney^[7]		4 April 2003	5 May 2006
		Hazel Blears^[8]		5 May 2006	28 June 2007
no appointment				28 June 2007	12 May 2010			Gordon Brown
		Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi^[9]^[10]	Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party	12 May 2010	6 September 2012	Conservative		David Cameron (Coalition)
		Grant Shapps^[11]		6 September 2012	8 May 2015
		Kenneth Clarke^[12]	Trade envoy	6 September 2012	14 July 2014
		John Hayes^[13]	Senior Parliamentary Adviser to the Prime Minister (Cabinet Office)	28 March 2013	15 July 2014
		Robert Halfon^[14]	Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party	8 May 2015	17 July 2016			David Cameron
no appointment				17 July 2016	8 January 2018			Theresa May
		Brandon Lewis^[15]	Chairman of the Conservative Party	8 January 2018	24 July 2019
		James Cleverly^[16]		24 July 2019	13 February 2020			Boris Johnson
		Amanda Milling^[17]		13 February 2020	15 September 2021
		Oliver Dowden^[18]		15 September 2021	24 June 2022
no appointment				24 June 2022	7 July 2022
		Andrew Stephenson	Chairman of the Conservative Party	7 July 2022	6 September 2022
		Sir Jake Berry		6 September 2022	25 October 2022			Liz Truss
		Nadhim Zahawi		25 October 2022	29 January 2023			Rishi Sunak
		Greg Hands		7 February 2023	13 November 2023
		Richard Holden		13 November 2023	Incumbent

See also

• Minister without portfolio

References

1. "Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23" (PDF). 15 December 2022.
2. "Pay and expenses for MPs". parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
3. "Lord Mandelson". UK Parliament. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
4. "Mandelson and Heseltine defend Dome". BBC News. 28 January 1998. Retrieved 28 July 2021. The Minister without Portfolio, Peter Mandelson, has told MPs the Millennium Dome is "on time and on budget" as he faced Conservative criticisms of "secrecy and arrogance" in the House of Commons. The so-called 'Dome Secretary' was joined by Michael Heseltine in a robust defence of the project...
5. "Rt Hon Charles Clarke". UK Parliament. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
6. "Lord Reid of Cardowan". UK Parliament. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
7. "Sir Ian McCartney". UK Parliament. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
8. "Rt Hon Hazel Blears". UK Parliament. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
9. "Baroness Warsi". UK Parliament. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
10. "Ministers Reflect - Minister Baroness Warsi". Institute for Government. 24 April 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2021. Sayeeda Warsi looks back on her time in the Coalition Government, starting with figuring out what exactly was a Minister without Portfolio.
11. "Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
12. "Lord Clarke of Nottingham". UK Parliament. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
13. "Rt Hon John Hayes MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
14. "Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
15. "Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
16. "Rt Hon James Cleverly MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
17. "Rt Hon Amanda Milling MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
18. "Rt Hon Oliver Dowdon MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 15 September 2021.