Minister for the Cabinet Office
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, is unpaid; every individual who has held the office has therefore been appointed to a sinecure office to secure a seat at cabinet and a salary. Since 2018, it has functioned as an alternative title to Deputy Prime Minister or First Secretary of State; 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: 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 QuestionsThe 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, attends Cabinet".
Damian Green held the office in 2017 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; the office in its present form therefore appears to have the responsibilities of a de facto Deputy Prime Minister, without either of the associated titles granted to individuals in the British Government. The current Minister is David Lidington, promoted as part of a New Year Cabinet Reshuffle by Theresa May in January 2018, he holds the sinecure office of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Lidington chairs a number of cabinet committees and will deputise for the Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions; 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; every occupant of the position has held a sinecure office, this being Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from Clark to Byrne, Paymaster General from Jowell to Gummer, First Secretary of State with Green. David Lidington holds the role of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. A Minister of State for the Cabinet Office is appointed, junior to the Minister for the Cabinet Office. Cabinet Office
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister directs both the executive and the legislature, together with their Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to Parliament, to their political party and to the electorate; the office of Prime Minister is one of the Great Offices of State. The current holder of the office, Theresa May, leader of the Conservative Party, was appointed by the Queen on 13 July 2016; the office is not established by any statute or constitutional document but exists only by long-established convention, which stipulates that the monarch must appoint as Prime Minister the person most to command the confidence of the House of Commons. The position of Prime Minister was not created; the office is therefore best understood from a historical perspective. The origins of the position are found in constitutional changes that occurred during the Revolutionary Settlement and the resulting shift of political power from the Sovereign to Parliament.
Although the Sovereign was not stripped of the ancient prerogative powers and remained the head of government, politically it became necessary for him or her to govern through a Prime Minister who could command a majority in Parliament. By the 1830s the Westminster system of government had emerged; the political position of Prime Minister was enhanced by the development of modern political parties, the introduction of mass communication, photography. By the start of the 20th century the modern premiership had emerged. Prior to 1902, the Prime Minister sometimes came from the House of Lords, provided that his government could form a majority in the Commons; however as the power of the aristocracy waned during the 19th century the convention developed that the Prime Minister should always sit in the lower house. As leader of the House of Commons, the Prime Minister's authority was further enhanced by the Parliament Act 1911 which marginalised the influence of the House of Lords in the law-making process.
The Prime Minister is ex officio First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service. Certain privileges, such as residency of 10 Downing Street, are accorded to Prime Ministers by virtue of their position as First Lord of the Treasury; the status of the position as Prime Minister means that the incumbent is ranked as one of the most powerful and influential people in the world. The Prime Minister is the head of the United Kingdom government; as such, the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet. In addition, the Prime Minister leads a major political party and commands a majority in the House of Commons; the incumbent wields both significant legislative and executive powers. Under the British system, there is a unity of powers rather than separation. In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister guides the law-making process with the goal of enacting the legislative agenda of their political party. In an executive capacity, the Prime Minister appoints all other Cabinet members and ministers, co-ordinates the policies and activities of all government departments, the staff of the Civil Service.
The Prime Minister acts as the public "face" and "voice" of Her Majesty's Government, both at home and abroad. Upon the advice of the Prime Minister, the Sovereign exercises many statutory and prerogative powers, including high judicial, political and Church of England ecclesiastical appointments; the British system of government is based on an uncodified constitution, meaning that it is not set out in any single document. The British constitution consists of many documents and most for the evolution of the Office of the Prime Minister, it is based on customs known as constitutional conventions that became accepted practice. In 1928, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described this characteristic of the British constitution in his memoirs:In this country we live... under an unwritten Constitution. It is true that we have on the Statute-book great instruments like Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, the Bill of Rights which define and secure many of our rights and privileges, they rest on usage, convention of slow growth in their early stages, not always uniform, but which in the course of time received universal observance and respect.
The relationships between the Prime Minister and the Sovereign and Cabinet are defined by these unwritten conventions of the constitution. Many of the Prime Minister's executive and legislative powers are royal prerogatives which are still formally vested in the Sovereign, who remains the head of state. Despite its growing
Damian Green
Damian Howard Green is a British politician, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Ashford since 1997 and was the First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office from 11 June 2017 to 20 December 2017. Green was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales and studied PPE at Oxford. Before entering politics, Green worked as a journalist for Channel 4 and The Times. Green entered Parliament in the 1997 election by winning the seat of Ashford in Kent, he served in several shadow ministerial positions, including Transport Secretary and Immigration Minister. Green came to national prominence in November 2008 after being arrested and having his parliamentary office raided by police, although no case was brought, he was the Minister of State for Police and Criminal Justice until 14 July 2014. He was appointed as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by Prime Minister Theresa May in July 2016. Following the June 2017 general election, he was appointed First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office.
After the results of an inquiry into allegations that he sexually harassed a woman and viewed pornography on a work computer were published, it was found that he had breached the ministerial code and he was instructed to resign from the Cabinet. Damian Green was born in Barry, Wales, he grew up in Reading and was educated at Reading School and at Balliol College, Oxford where he was awarded a BA degree in Philosophy and Economics in 1977. He was President of the Oxford Union in 1977 and was the vice-chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students from 1980 until 1982. During his time at Oxford, Green broke a wrist after a group of fellow students ambushed him and threw him into the River Cherwell; the group included Dominic Grieve, to serve alongside Green as a Cabinet Minister. In 1978 he was appointed by BBC Radio as a financial journalist, before joining Channel 4 News as a business producer in 1982, he joined The Times for a year in 1984 as the business news editor before returning to television journalism and Channel 4 as the business editor in 1985.
He became the City editor and a television presenter on Channel 4's Business Daily television programme in 1987 until he left television to join Prime Minister John Major's Policy Unit in 1992. Green had acted as an occasional speechwriter for Major since 1988, he left 10 Downing Street in 1994 to run his own consultancy in public affairs. He stood against Labour's Ken Livingstone in Brent East at the 1992 general election, but lost by 5,971 votes, he was elected to the House of Commons for the Kent seat of Ashford at the 1997 general election following the retirement of Tory MP Keith Speed. Green held the seat with a majority of 5,345 and has remained the constituency's MP, he made his maiden speech on 20 May 1997. While a backbencher, he was a member of the Culture and Sport Select Committee from 1997 until his appointment to the frontbench by William Hague in 1998 as a spokesman on education and employment, he spoke on the environment from 1999 and was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet by Iain Duncan Smith in 2001 as the Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills.
In 2003, Michael Howard gave him the position of Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. In September 2004, he left the frontbench altogether of his own accord and joined the Home Affairs Select Committee, was a member of the Treasury Committee after the 2005 general election. Whilst sitting as an MP he was a non-executive director of Mid Kent Water from 2005 to 2007, of the successor company South East Water until 2010. Between July 2009 and February 2010, Green was paid £16,666.64 for 112 hours by South East Water for "attending meetings and offering advice" according to the House of Commons Record of Members Interests. He returned to the frontbench under the leadership of David Cameron in 2005 as a spokesman on home affairs and shadow minister for immigration. Green is Chairman of Parliamentary Mainstream, a vice-president of the Tory Reform Group and is a vice-chairman of the John Smith Memorial Trust. During the UK parliamentary expenses scandal The Daily Telegraph newspaper revealed that, although Green's constituency is a mere 45-minute commute from Westminster, he claimed expenses for a designated second home in Acton, west London.
Green has claimed expenses up to the maximum of £400 for food. He has claimed for the interest on his mortgage, for his council tax, for his phone bills. Green was arrested by the Metropolitan Police at his constituency home on 27 November 2008 on suspicion of "aiding and abetting misconduct in public office" and "conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office"; the documents were reported to include information politically embarrassing to the then-Labour Government. He was released on bail. In a statement to Parliament on 3 December, Michael Martin, Speaker of the House of Commons, responsible for the security of the Palace of Westminster, stated that although the police undertaking the search had neither presented a search warrant nor given "the requisite advice that such a warrant was necessary", the search of the Parliamentary office had been undertaken with the express written consent of the Serjeant-at-Arms, who had signed a consent form without consulting the Clerk of the House; the arrest led to speculation about the apparent coincidence that it was authorised on the last day in office of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair.
It was criticised by political journalists. It was reported in The Andrew Marr Show that he believed he was the subject of a bugging operation, which would have required the authorisation of the Home Secretary. Jacqui Smith stated that she had not gran
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, better known as Boris Johnson, is a British politician and popular historian. He has been the Member of Parliament for Uxbridge and South Ruislip since 2015, he had been the MP for Henley from 2001 to 2008. He was Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016, from 2016 to 2018 he served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. A member of the Conservative Party, Johnson identifies as a one-nation conservative and has been associated with both economically and liberal policies. Born in New York City to wealthy upper-middle class English parents, Johnson was educated at the European School of Brussels, Ashdown House School, Eton College, he studied Classics at Balliol College, where he was elected president of the Oxford Union in 1986. He was sacked for falsifying a quotation, he became The Daily Telegraph's Brussels correspondent, with his articles exerting a strong influence on growing Eurosceptic sentiment among the British right-wing. He was assistant editor from 1994 to 1999 before taking the editorship of The Spectator from 1999 to 2005.
Joining the Conservatives, he was elected MP for Henley in 2001, under party leaders Michael Howard and David Cameron he was in the Shadow Cabinet. He adhered to the Conservatives' party line but adopted a more liberal stance on issues like LGBT rights in parliamentary votes. Making regular television appearances, writing books, remaining active in journalism, Johnson became one of the most conspicuous politicians in the United Kingdom. Selected as Conservative candidate for the London mayoral election of 2008, Johnson defeated Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone and resigned his seat in the House of Commons. During his first term as Mayor of London, he banned alcohol consumption on much of the capital's public transport, championed London's financial sector, introduced the New Routemaster buses, cycle hire scheme, Thames cable car. In 2012, he was reelected to the office. In 2015 he was elected MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, stepping down as Mayor of London the following year. In 2016, Johnson became a prominent figure in the successful Vote Leave campaign to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union.
He became Foreign Secretary under Theresa May's premiership, but resigned in criticism of May's approach to Brexit and the Chequers Agreement. Johnson is a controversial figure in British politics and journalism. Supporters have praised him as an entertaining and popular figure with appeal beyond traditional Conservative voters. Conversely, he has been criticised by figures on both the left and right, who accused him of elitism, dishonesty and using racist and homophobic language. Johnson is a number of fictionalised portrayals. Johnson was born to British parents on 19 June 1964 in Manhattan's Upper East Side in New York City, his birth was registered with both the US authorities and the city's British Consulate, thereby granting him both American and British citizenship. His father, Stanley Johnson, was studying economics at Columbia University. Stanley's paternal grandfather was Circassian-Turkish journalist Ali Kemal. Johnson's mother was Charlotte Fawcett. S. In reference to his varied ancestry, Johnson has described himself as a "one-man melting pot" – with a combination of Muslims and Christians as great-grandparents.
Johnson was given the middle name "Boris" after a Russian émigré. Johnson's parents lived opposite the Chelsea Hotel, although in September 1964 returned to Britain so Charlotte could study at the University of Oxford, she lived with her son in Summertown and gave birth to a daughter, Rachel, in 1965. In July 1965, the family moved to Crouch End in North London. C. where Stanley had gained employment with the World Bank. A third child, was born in September 1967. Stanley gained employment with a policy panel on population control, in June moving the family to Norwalk, Connecticut. In 1969, the family settled into Stanley's family farm near Winsford in Exmoor. There, Johnson gained his first experiences with fox hunting. Stanley was absent from Nethercote, leaving Johnson to be raised by his mother and au pairs; as a child, Johnson was quiet and studious, although he suffered from deafness, resulting in several operations to insert grommets into his ears. He and his siblings were encouraged to engage in high-brow activities from a young age, with high achievement being valued.
Having few or no friends other than their siblings, the children became close. In late 1969 the family relocated to Maida Vale, North London, where Stanley began post-doctoral research at the London School of Economics. In 1970, Charlotte and the children returned to Nethercote, where Johnson was schooled at the Winsford Village School, before returning to London to settle in Primrose Hill, there being educated at Primrose Hill Primary School. In late 1971 another son, was born to the family. After Stanley secured employment at the European Commission, he moved his family to Uccle, Brussels in April 1973, where Johnson became fluent in French. Charlotte had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised with clinical depression, with Johnson and his s
Aylesbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Aylesbury is a constituency created in 1553 — created as a single-member seat in 1885 — represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 1992 by David Lidington, of the Conservative Party. Aylesbury expanded after World War II, in a diverse way with a similar proportion of this recent development being social housing estates as private estates. Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 lower than the regional average of 2.4% and national average of 3.8%, at 2.2% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian. Whereas the average house price is higher than the national average, in the Aylesbury Vale authority this in the first quarter of 2013 was £262,769, the lowest of the four authorities in Buckinghamshire and this compares to the highest county average of £549,046 in South Bucks District. Early formThe seat was a much narrower urban borough with two-member status at Westminster from its grant of a limited franchise in 1553 until the passing of the Great Reform Act 1832.
Unusually, the contents of the Parliamentary Borough were defined within the Act itself to include the "Three Hundreds of Aylesbury". This extended the seat to include Princes Risborough; the Borough continued to elect 2 MPs until its abolition by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and transformation into a large county division, formally named the Mid or Aylesbury Division of Buckinghamshire. It was one of three divisions formed from the undivided three-member Parliamentary County of Buckinghamshire, the other two being the Northern or Buckingham Division and the Southern or Wycombe Division; as well as the areas represented by the abolished Borough, the reconstituted seat included Linslade to the north-east and Chesham to the south-east. Since national boundary reviews have seen a gradual reduction in its physical size as its population has grown. Political historyThe Conservative Party has held the seat since 1924, held it at the 2015 general election with a 50.7% share of the vote. The result made the seat the 133rd safest of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.
The closest result since 1929 was in 1966 when the Labour Party candidate fell 7.4% short of a majority. FrontbenchersDavid Lidington, the current incumbent, was the Secretary of State for Justice in Theresa May's cabinet since succeeding Elizabeth Truss in the 2017 cabinet reshuffle, before becoming the effective First Secretary of State in the place of Damian Green in 2018's new year's reshuffle. During the premiership of David Cameron he served as Minister for Europe, campaigning unsuccessfully to remain in the EU. From 2007 to 2010 he had been his party's Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. MPs who have received honoursSir Stanley Reed edited The Times of India from 1907 until 1924 and received correspondence from the major figures of India such as Mahatma Gandhi. In all he lived in India for fifty years, he was respected in the United Kingdom as an expert on Indian current affairs. He devised the sobriquet for Jaipur,'the Pink City of India'. 1885-1918: The Sessional Divisions of Aylesbury and Linslade, parts of the second Sessional Division of Desborough and the Sessional Division of Winslow.
1918-1945: The Borough of Aylesbury, the Urban Districts of Beaconsfield and Chesham, the Rural District of Amersham, the part of the Rural District of Aylesbury not included in the Buckingham Division, in the Rural District of Long Crendon the parish of Towersey, in the Rural District of Wycombe the parishes of Bledlow, Ellesborough and Little Hampden and Little Kimble, Hughenden, Monks Risborough, Princes Risborough, Radnage and Wendover. Linslade was transferred to the Buckingham Division and Amersham and Beaconsfield were transferred from the Wycombe Division. 1945–1950: The House of Commons Act 1944 set up Boundaries Commissions to carry out periodic reviews of the distribution of parliamentary constituencies. It authorised an initial review to subdivide abnormally large constituencies in time for the 1945 election; this was implemented by the Redistribution of Seats Order 1945 under which Buckinghamshire was allocated an additional seat. As a consequence, the parts of the Rural District of Wycombe in the Aylesbury Division, including Hughenden and Princes Risborough, were transferred to Wycombe.
There were no further changes and the revised composition of the constituency, after taking account of changes to local authorities, was: The Borough of Aylesbury, the Urban Districts of Beaconsfield and Chesham, the Rural District of Amersham, parts of the Rural Districts of Aylesbury and Wing, the part of the Rural District of Bullingdon in Buckinghamshire.1950–1974: The Borough of Aylesbury, the Urban District of Chesham, the Rural District of Aylesbury, in the Rural District of Amersham the parishes of Ashley Green, Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards, Great Missenden, Latimer and Little Missenden. Beaconsfield and southern parts of the Rural District of Amersham were transferred to the new County Constituency of South Buckinghamshire; the boundary with Buckingham was redrawn to align with the northern boundary of the Rural District of Aylesbury. 1974–1983: The Borough of Aylesbury, the Rural District of Aylesbury, in the Rural District of Wycombe the parishes of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton, Ellesborough and Little Hampden and Little Kimble, Ibstone, La
Minister of State for Europe
The Minister of State for Europe is an informal title for a ministerial position within the Government of the United Kingdom, in charge of affairs with Europe, the European Union and NATO. The office is formally one of a number of Ministers of State within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Despite being a junior ministerial role, the position has sometimes conferred the right to attend meetings of the Cabinet, granted to other such Ministers at the Prime Minister's discretion; this first occurred when Denis MacShane was replaced by Douglas Alexander after the 2005 general election, although Alexander's successor ceased to have this right. The Minister of State is responsible for the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus; when Chris Bryant MP held the office it was not as a Minister of State but a more junior Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. The responsibilities of the office were next appointed to a Minister of State in 2010 by Prime Minister David Cameron.
He appointed David Lidington. As of July 2016, the responsibilities of the Minister for Europe were combined with the portfolio of the traditionally more junior Minister of State for Europe and the Americas; the now enlarged post of Minister of State for Europe and the Americas is held by Sir Alan Duncan, regarded as the second most senior-ranking Foreign Office Minister behind the Foreign Secretary. The Minister is responsible for government policy towards The Americas, they support the work of the department overseeing the UK's exit from the EU rather than overseeing government policy towards all-European affairs. Foreign and Commonwealth Office Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Minister of State for European Affairs, the counterpart in the Republic of Ireland
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