First Lord of the Treasury

Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox official postTemplate:PoliticsUK The First Lord of the Treasury is the head of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer in the United Kingdom. Traditional convention holds that the office of First Lord is held by the Prime Minister. 10 Downing Street is technically the official home of the First Lord, although it is now entirely associated with the Prime Minister's office. The office is not the United Kingdom's finance minister; this role is instead held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is the Second Lord of the Treasury.

Lords of the Treasury

As of the beginning of the 17th century, the running of the Treasury was frequently entrusted to a commission, rather than to a single individual. Since 1714, it has permanently been in commission. The commissioners have always since that date been referred to as Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and adopted ordinal numbers to describe their seniority. Eventually in the middle of the same century, the first lord of the Treasury came to be seen as the natural head of the overall ministry running the country, and, as of the time of Robert Walpole (Whig), began to be known, unofficially, as the prime minister.

The term prime minister was initially, but decreasingly, used as a term of derogation; it was first used officially in a royal warrant only in 1905.Template:Which William Pitt the Younger said the prime minister "ought to be the person at the head of the finances"—though Pitt also served as chancellor of the exchequer for the entirety of his time as prime minister, so his linkage of the finance portfolio to the premiership was wider than merely proposing the occupation of the first lordship by the prime minister.Template:Sfn

Prior to 1841 the first lord of the Treasury also held the office of chancellor of the exchequer unless he was a peer and thus barred from that office; in this case, the second lord of the Treasury usually served as chancellor. Since 1841, the chancellor has always been second lord of the Treasury when he was not also prime minister. By convention, the other Lords Commissioners of the Treasury are also Government Whips in the House of Commons.

Official residence

Template:Main 10 Downing Street is the official residence of the first lord of the Treasury, not the office of prime minister.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Chequers, a country house in Buckinghamshire, is the official country residence of the prime minister, used as a weekend and holiday home, although the residence has also been used by other senior members of government.Template:Citation needed

List of First Lords (1714–1922)

Template:For Much of this list overlaps with the list of prime ministers of the United Kingdom, but there are some notable differences, principally concerning Template:Sortname, who was prime minister but not first lord in 1885–1886, 1887–1892 and 1895–1902.

Those first lords who were simultaneously prime minister are indicated in bold.

Those who were considered prime minister only during part of their term are indicated in bold italic.

First Lord	Entered office	Left office	Party
Template:Sortname	13 October 1714	19 May 1715	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	23 May 1715	10 October 1715	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	10 October 1715	12 April 1717	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	12 April 1717	21 March 1718	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	21 March 1718	3 April 1721	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	3 April 1721	11 February 1742	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	16 February 1742	2 July 1743	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	27 August 1743	10 February 1746	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	10 February 1746	12 February 1746	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	12 February 1746	6 March 1754	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	16 March 1754	16 November 1756	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	16 November 1756	8 June 1757	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	8 June 1757	12 June 1757	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	12 June 1757	25 June 1757	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	2 July 1757	26 May 1762	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	26 May 1762	16 April 1763	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	16 April 1763	13 July 1765	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	13 July 1765	30 July 1766	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:SortnameTemplate:Efn	30 July 1766	28 January 1770	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	28 January 1770	22 March 1782	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	27 March 1782	1 July 1782	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	4 July 1782	2 April 1783	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	2 April 1783	19 December 1783	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	19 December 1783	14 March 1801	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	17 March 1801	10 May 1804	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	10 May 1804	23 January 1806	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	11 February 1806	31 March 1807	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	31 March 1807	4 October 1809	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	4 October 1809	11 May 1812	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	9 June 1812	10 April 1827	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	10 April 1827	8 August 1827	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	31 August 1827	22 January 1828	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	22 January 1828	22 November 1830	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	22 November 1830	16 July 1834	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	16 July 1834	14 November 1834	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	14 November 1834	10 December 1834	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	10 December 1834	8 April 1835	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tory
Template:Sortname	18 April 1835	30 August 1841	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	30 August 1841	29 June 1846	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Template:Sortname	30 June 1846	23 February 1852	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Whig
Template:Sortname	23 February 1852	19 December 1852	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Template:Sortname	19 December 1852	6 February 1855	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Peelite
Template:Sortname	6 February 1855	20 February 1858	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Liberal
Template:Sortname	20 February 1858	12 June 1859	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Template:Sortname	12 June 1859	18 October 1865	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Liberal
Template:Sortname	29 October 1865	28 June 1866	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Liberal
Template:Sortname	28 June 1866	27 February 1868	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Template:Sortname	27 February 1868	3 December 1868	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Template:Sortname	3 December 1868	20 February 1874	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Liberal
Template:SortnameTemplate:Efn	20 February 1874	23 April 1880	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Template:Sortname	23 April 1880	23 June 1885	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Liberal
Template:Sortname	29 June 1885	1 February 1886	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Template:Sortname	1 February 1886	25 July 1886	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Liberal
Template:SortnameTemplate:Efn	3 August 1886	14 January 1887	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Template:Sortname	14 January 1887	6 October 1891	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Template:Sortname	6 October 1891	15 August 1892	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Template:Sortname	15 August 1892	5 March 1894	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Liberal
Template:Sortname	5 March 1894	25 June 1895	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Liberal
Template:SortnameTemplate:Efn	25 June 1895	5 December 1905	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Template:Sortname	5 December 1905	3 April 1908	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Liberal
Template:Sortname	8 April 1908	5 December 1916	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Liberal
Template:Sortname	6 December 1916	19 October 1922	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Liberal

Thereafter the posts of first lord and prime minister have continually been held by the same person Template:Xref.

See also

File:Number 10 front door (7500511890).jpg

The front door of 10 Downing Street, showing the letter-box inscribed with "First Lord of the Treasury"

• Chief Baron of the Exchequer
• List of lords commissioners of the Treasury
• Minister for the Civil Service, by convention also the Prime Minister
• Secretary to the Treasury

References

Source

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Further reading

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