Leader of the House of Commons

For the equivalent position in Canada, see Leader of the Government in the House of Commons.

For the historic position in Northern Ireland, see Minister and Leader of the House of Commons.

United Kingdom Leader of the House of Commons
Incumbent Chris Grayling since 9 May 2015
Office of the Leader of the House
Style	The Right Honourable
Inaugural holder	Robert Walpole
Formation	4 April 1721
Website	www.gov.uk/government/organisations/the-office-of-the-leader-of-the-house-of-commons

The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons. This office does not attract a ministerial salary, and as such it is usually held jointly with another ministerial position (often a sinecure). Although at one time the position was usually held by the Prime Minister, in recent years, the post has usually been combined with that of Lord President of the Council (i.e., of the Privy Council); from 2003 to 2014 it had been combined with the office of Lord Privy Seal; from 2014-2015 it was combined with honorific political office of First Secretary of State. The Leader of the House of Commons is assisted by the Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, both of whom are assigned as ministers in the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons.

The House of Commons devotes approximately three quarters of its time to Government business, such as bills introduced by the government and ministerial statements. The Leader of the House, with the parties' chief whips ("the usual channels"), is responsible for organising Government business and providing time for non-government business to be put before the House. The Leader of the House additionally announces the next week's debate schedule in the Business Statement every Thursday.

When there is either no Deputy Prime Minister or First Secretary of State, or either the Deputy Prime Minister or First Secretary of State is unavailable, the Leader of the House may stand in for an absent Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions, although this procedure is relatively unusual.

Jointly administered by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons and the Cabinet Office are the Osmotherly Rules, which set out guidance on how civil servants should respond to parliamentary select committees.

Leaders of the House of Commons since 1721

At times the nominal leadership was held by the Prime Minister but the day-to-day work was done by a Deputy. At other times a Deputy was appointed merely to enhance an individual politician's standing within the government.

18th century

Name		Portrait	Concurrent office(s)	Tenure	Political Party	Prime Minister
	Robert Walpole		Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer	4 April 1721 – 6 February 1742	Whig		Himself
	Samuel Sandys		Chancellor of the Exchequer	12 February 1742 – 27 August 1743			Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington
	Henry Pelham		Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer	27 August 1743 – 6 March 1754			Himself
	Thomas Robinson		Southern Secretary	23 March 1754 – October 1755			Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle
	Henry Fox			14 November 1755 – 13 November 1756
	William Pitt the Elder			4 December 1756 – 6 April 1757			William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
vacant				April – June 1757			William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (Caretaker)
	William Pitt the Elder		Southern Secretary	27 June 1757 – 6 October 1761	Whig		Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle
	George Grenville		Treasurer of the Navy	October 1761 – May 1762	Grenvillite Whig
	Henry Fox		Paymaster of the Forces	May 1762 – April 1763	Whig		John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
	George Grenville		Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer	16 April 1763 – 13 July 1765	Grenvillite Whig		Himself
	Henry Seymour Conway		Southern Secretary (until May 1766) Northern Secretary (from May 1766)	July 1765 – 20 October 1768	Rockinghamite Whig		Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (until July 1766)
							William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham (from July 1766)
	Frederick Lord North		Chancellor of the Exchequer Prime Minister (from 28 January 1770)	October 1768 – 22 March 1782	Tory		Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
							Himself
	Charles James Fox		Foreign Secretary	27 March 1782 – July 1782	Whig		Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
	Thomas Townshend		Home Secretary	10 July 1782 – 6 March 1783			William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
	Charles James Fox		Foreign Secretary	jointly: 2 April 1783 – 19 December 1783	Fox-North Coalition		William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (figurehead)
	Frederick Lord North		Home Secretary
	William Pitt the Younger		Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer	19 December 1783 – 14 March 1801	Pittite Tory		Himself

19th century

Name		Portrait	Concurrent office(s)	Tenure	Political Party	Prime Minister
	Henry Addington		Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer	17 March 1801 – 10 May 1804	Pittite Tory		Himself
	William Pitt the Younger		Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer	10 May 1804 – 23 January 1806 (died)			Himself
	Charles James Fox		Foreign Secretary	February – 13 September 1806 (died)	Whig (Ministry of All the Talents)		William Grenville
	Charles Grey, Viscount Howick		Foreign Secretary	September 1806 – 31 March 1807
	Spencer Perceval		Chancellor of the Exchequer Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Prime Minister (from October 1809)	April 1807 – 11 May 1812 (died)	Tory		William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
							Himself
	Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (inherited as 2nd Marquess of Londonderry in 1821)		Foreign Secretary	June 1812 – 12 August 1822 (died)			Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
	George Canning		Foreign Secretary (until April 1827)	16 September 1822 – 8 August 1827 (died)	Canningite Tory
			Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer (both from April 1827)				Himself
	William Huskisson		War & Colonial Secretary	3 September 1827 – 21 January 1828			F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich
	Robert Peel		Home Secretary	26 January 1828 – 16 November 1830	Tory		Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
	John Spencer, Viscount Althorp		Chancellor of the Exchequer	22 November 1830 – 14 November 1834	Whig		Charles Grey
							William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
	Robert Peel		Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer	10 December 1834 – 8 April 1835	Conservative		Himself
	John Russell		Home Secretary (until August 1839) War & Colonial Secretary (from 30 August 1839)	18 April 1835 – 30 August 1841	Whig		William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
	Robert Peel		Prime Minister	30 August 1841 – 29 June 1846	Conservative		Himself
	John Russell		Prime Minister	30 June 1846 – 21 February 1852	Whig		Himself
	Benjamin Disraeli		Chancellor of the Exchequer	27 February – 17 December 1852	Conservative		Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
	John Russell		Foreign Secretary (until February 1853) Minister without Portfolio (February 1853–June 1854) Lord President of the Council (from June 1854)	28 December 1852 – 30 January 1855	Whig (Coalition)		George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
	Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston		Prime Minister	6 February 1855 – 19 February 1858	Whig		Himself
	Benjamin Disraeli		Chancellor of the Exchequer	26 February 1858 – 11 June 1859	Conservative		Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
	Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston		Prime Minister	12 June 1859 – 18 October 1865 (died)	Liberal		Himself
	William Ewart Gladstone		Chancellor of the Exchequer	October 1865 – 26 June 1866			John Russell
	Benjamin Disraeli		Chancellor of the Exchequer (until February 1868)	6 July 1866 – 1 December 1868	Conservative		Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
			Prime Minister (from February 1868)				Himself
	William Ewart Gladstone		Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer (from August 1873)	3 December 1868 – 17 February 1874	Liberal		Himself
	Benjamin Disraeli		Prime Minister	20 February 1874 – 21 August 1876	Conservative		Himself
	Stafford Northcote		Chancellor of the Exchequer	21 August 1876 – 21 April 1880			Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield
	William Ewart Gladstone		Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer (until December 1882)	23 April 1880 – 9 June 1885	Liberal		Himself
	Michael Hicks-Beach		Chancellor of the Exchequer	24 June 1885 – 28 January 1886	Conservative		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
	William Ewart Gladstone		Prime Minister Lord Privy Seal	1 February – 2 July 1886	Liberal		Himself
	Randolph Churchill	75px	Chancellor of the Exchequer	3 August 1886 – 14 January 1887	Conservative		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
	W. H. Smith		First Lord of the Treasury	17 January 1887 – October 1891
	Arthur Balfour		First Lord of the Treasury	October 1891 – 11 August 1892
	William Ewart Gladstone		Prime Minister Lord Privy Seal	15 August 1892 – 2 March 1894	Liberal		Himself
	William Vernon Harcourt		Chancellor of the Exchequer	2 March 1894 – 21 June 1895			Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
	Arthur Balfour		First Lord of the Treasury Prime Minister (from 12 July 1902) Lord Privy Seal (14 July 1902–17 October 1903)	29 June 1895 – 4 December 1905	Conservative		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
							Himself

Edwardian and wartime

Name		Portrait	Concurrent office(s)	Tenure	Political Party	Prime Minister
	Henry Campbell-Bannerman		Prime Minister	5 December 1905 – 5 April 1908	Liberal		Himself
	H. H. Asquith		Prime Minister War Secretary (30 March – 5 August 1914)	5 April 1908 – 5 December 1916	Liberal (Wartime coalition 1915–1916)		Himself
	Bonar Law		Chancellor of the Exchequer (until 10 January 1919) Lord Privy Seal (from 10 January 1919)	10 December 1916 – 23 March 1921	Conservative (Coalition)		David Lloyd George
	Austen Chamberlain		Lord Privy Seal	23 March 1921 – 19 October 1922
	Bonar Law		Prime Minister	23 October 1922 – 20 May 1923	Conservative		Himself
	Stanley Baldwin		Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer (until August 1923)	22 May 1923 – 22 January 1924			Himself
	Ramsay MacDonald	75px	Prime Minister Foreign Secretary	22 January – 3 November 1924	Labour		Himself
	Stanley Baldwin		Prime Minister	4 November 1924 – 4 June 1929	Conservative		Himself
	Ramsay MacDonald	75px		5 June 1929 – 7 June 1935	Labour		Himself
					National Labour (National Govt 1931–1935)
	Stanley Baldwin			7 June 1935 – 28 May 1937	Conservative (National Govt 1935–1937)		Himself
	Neville Chamberlain			28 May 1937 – 10 May 1940	Conservative (National Govt 1937–1939; War Govt 1939–1940)		Himself
	Winston Churchill		Prime Minister Minister of Defence	10 May 1940 – 19 February 1942	Conservative (Wartime coalition)		Winston Churchill
	Stafford Cripps		Lord Privy Seal	19 February – 22 November 1942	Independent (Wartime coalition)
	Anthony Eden	75px	Foreign Secretary	22 February 1942 – 26 July 1945	Conservative (Wartime coalition)
					Conservative (Caretaker coalition)

Post-War

Name		Portrait	Concurrent office(s)	Tenure	Political Party	Prime Minister
	Herbert Morrison		Lord President of the Council	27 July 1945 – 9 March 1951	Labour		Clement Attlee
	James Chuter Ede	75px	Home Secretary	9 March 1951 – 26 October 1951
	Harry Crookshank		Minister of Health (until May 1952) Lord Privy Seal (from 7 May 1952)	28 October 1951 – 20 December 1955	Conservative		Winston Churchill
							Anthony Eden
	Rab Butler	75px	Lord Privy Seal (until October 1959) Home Secretary (from 14 January 1957)	20 December 1955 – 9 October 1961
			Home Secretary				Harold Macmillan
	Iain Macleod		Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster	9 October 1961 – 20 October 1963
	Selwyn Lloyd	75px	Lord Privy Seal	20 October 1963 – 16 October 1964			Alec Douglas-Home
	Herbert Bowden		Lord President of the Council	16 October 1964 – 11 August 1966	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Richard Crossman			11 August 1966 – 18 October 1968
	Fred Peart			18 October 1968 – 19 June 1970
	Willie Whitelaw	75px		20 June 1970 – 7 April 1972	Conservative		Edward Heath
	Robert Carr	75px		7 April 1972 – 5 November 1972
	Jim Prior			5 November 1972 – 4 March 1974
	Edward Short			5 March 1974 – 8 April 1976	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Michael Foot			8 April 1976 – 4 May 1979			James Callaghan
	Norman St John-Stevas		Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Minister for the Arts	5 May 1979 – 5 January 1981	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
	Francis Pym	75px	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (until September 1981) Lord President of the Council (from 14 September 1981)	5 January 1981 – 5 April 1982
	John Biffen		Lord President of the Council (until June 1983) Lord Privy Seal (from 11 June 1983)	5 April 1982 – 13 June 1987
	John Wakeham		Lord Privy Seal (until January 1988) Lord President of the Council (from 10 January 1988)	13 June 1987 – 24 July 1989
	Geoffrey Howe		Lord President of the Council Deputy Prime Minister	24 July 1989 – 2 November 1990
	John MacGregor		Lord President of the Council	2 November 1990 – 10 April 1992
							John Major
	Tony Newton			10 April 1992 – 1 May 1997
	Ann Taylor			2 May 1997 – 27 July 1998	Labour		Tony Blair
	Margaret Beckett	75px		27 July 1998 – 8 June 2001

21st century

Name		Portrait	Concurrent office(s)	Tenure	Political party	Prime Minister
	Robin Cook	75px	Lord President of the Council	8 June 2001 – 17 March 2003	Labour		Tony Blair
	John Reid			4 April 2003 – 13 June 2003
	Peter Hain		Lord Privy Seal	11 June 2003 – 6 May 2005
	Geoff Hoon			6 May 2005 – 5 May 2006
	Jack Straw	75px		5 May 2006 – 27 June 2007
	Harriet Harman		Lord Privy Seal Minister for Women and Equality	28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010			Gordon Brown
	George Young		Lord Privy Seal	12 May 2010 – 3 September 2012	Conservative (Coalition)		David Cameron
	Andrew Lansley			4 September 2012 – 14 July 2014
	William Hague	75px	First Secretary of State	14 July 2014 – 8 May 2015
	Chris Grayling		Lord President of the Council	9 May 2015 – present	Conservative

See also

• Leader of the House of Lords
• Speaker of the British House of Commons
• Minister for Parliamentary Business, the equivalent cabinet post in the Scottish Government

External links

• Official website
• Parliamentary website