The chief secretary to the treasury is a senior ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom and is the second most senior ministerial office in HM Treasury, after the chancellor of the Exchequer. The office holder is always a full member or attendee of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
The office was created in 1961 to share the burden of representing HM Treasury with the chancellor.
The minister is shadowed by the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury who sits on the Official Opposition frontbench.
History and responsibilities
Between 1961 and 2015, the holder of the office of Chief Secretary to the Treasury was of full cabinet rank. This formally made HM Treasury the only department to have more than one ministerial position of cabinet rank.
The office holder is responsible for public expenditure, including spending reviews and value for money.
List of chief secretaries to the treasury
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:Center"
|+Chief Secretary to the Treasury
! style="text-align:center" class=nowrap colspan=10 |
|-
! colspan=3 | Chief secretary
! colspan=2 | Term of office
! Party
! Ministry
! colspan=2 | Chancellor
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
|
| Henry Brooke<br/>
| 9 October<br/>1961
| 13 July<br/>1962
| Conservative
| rowspan=2 | Macmillan<br/>
| style="background-color:" |
| Selwyn Lloyd
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:; border:none" |
| rowspan=2 |
| rowspan=2 | John Boyd-Carpenter<br/>
| rowspan=2 | 13 July<br/>1962
| rowspan=2 | 16 October<br/>1964
| rowspan=2 | Conservative
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Reginald Maudling
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:; border:none" |
| | Douglas-Home
|- style="height:1em"
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | 75px
| rowspan=2 | Jack Diamond<br/>
| rowspan=2 | 20 October<br/>1964
| rowspan=2 | 19 June<br/>1970
| rowspan=2 | Labour
| rowspan=2 | Wilson<br/>
| style="background-color:" |
| James Callaghan
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| Roy Jenkins
|- style="height:1em"
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 |
| rowspan=2 | Maurice Macmillan<br/>
| rowspan=2 | 23 June<br/>1970
| rowspan=2 | 7 April<br/>1972
| rowspan=2 | Conservative
| rowspan=4 | Heath
| style="background-color:" |
| Iain Macleod
|- style="height:1em"
| rowspan=3 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=3 | Anthony Barber
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
|
| Patrick Jenkin<br/>
| 7 April<br/>1972
| |8 January<br/>1974
| Conservative
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
|
| Tom Boardman<br/>
| 8 January<br/>1974
| 4 March<br/>1974
| Conservative
|- style="height:1em"
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 |
| rowspan=2 | Joel Barnett<br/>
| rowspan=2 | 7 March<br/>1974
| rowspan=2 | 4 May<br/>1979
| rowspan=2 | Labour
| | Wilson<br/>
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Denis Healey
|-
| | Callaghan
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
|
| John Biffen<br/>
| 5 May<br/>1979
| 5 January<br/>1981
| Conservative
| rowspan=2 | Thatcher I
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Geoffrey Howe
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| Leon Brittan<br/>
| 5 January<br/>1981
| 11 June<br/>1983
| Conservative
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
|
| Peter Rees<br/>
| 11 June<br/>1983
| 2 September<br/>1985
| Conservative
| rowspan=2 | Thatcher II
| rowspan=3 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=3 | Nigel Lawson
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| John MacGregor<br/>
| 2 September<br/>1985
| 13 June<br/>1987
| Conservative
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| John Major<br/>
| 13 June<br/>1987
| 24 July<br/>1989
| Conservative
| rowspan=2 | Thatcher III
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 100x100px
| Norman Lamont<br/>
| 24 July<br/>1989
| 28 November<br/>1990
| Conservative
| style="background-color:" |
| John Major
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| David Mellor<br/>
| 28 November<br/>1990
| 10 April<br/>1992
| Conservative
| | Major I
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Norman Lamont
|- style="height:1em"
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | 97x97px
| rowspan=2 | Michael Portillo<br/>
| rowspan=2 | 10 April<br/>1992
| rowspan=2 | 20 July<br/>1994
| rowspan=2 | Conservative
| rowspan=4 | Major II
|- style="height:1em"
| rowspan=3 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=3 | Kenneth Clarke
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| Jonathan Aitken<br/>
| 20 July<br/>1994
| 5 July<br/>1995
| Conservative
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 106x106px
| William Waldegrave<br/>
| 5 July<br/>1995
| 2 May<br/>1997
| Conservative
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| Alistair Darling<br/>
| 3 May<br/>1997
| 27 July<br/>1998
| Labour
| rowspan=4 | Blair I
| rowspan=8 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=8 | Gordon Brown
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| Stephen Byers official portrait|75px
| Stephen Byers<br/>
| 27 July<br/>1998
| 23 December<br/>1998
| Labour
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| Alan Milburn<br/>
| 23 December<br/>1998
| 11 October<br/>1999
| Labour
|- style="height:1em"
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | 75px
| rowspan=2 | Andrew Smith<br/>
| rowspan=2 | 11 October<br/>1999
| rowspan=2 | 29 May<br/>2002
| rowspan=2 | Labour
|-
| rowspan=2 | Blair II
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 106x106px
| Paul Boateng<br/>
| 29 May<br/>2002
| 6 May<br/>2005
| Labour
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 100x100px
| Des Browne<br/>
| 6 May<br/>2005
| 5 May<br/>2006
| Labour
| rowspan=2 | Blair III
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 99x99px
| Stephen Timms<br/>
| 5 May<br/>2006
| 28 June<br/>2007
| Labour
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| Andy Burnham<br/>
| 28 June<br/>2007
| 24 January<br/>2008
| Labour
| rowspan=3 | Brown
| rowspan=3 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=3 | Alistair Darling
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 112x112px
| Yvette Cooper<br/>
| 24 January<br/>2008
| 5 June<br/>2009
| Labour
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 100x100px
| Liam Byrne<br/>
| 5 June<br/>2009
| 11 May<br/>2010
| Labour
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 99x99px
| David Laws<br/>
| 12 May<br/>2010
| 29 May<br/>2010
| Liberal Democrat
| rowspan=2 | Cameron–Clegg<br/>
| rowspan=3 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=3 | George Osborne
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| Danny Alexander<br/>
| 29 May<br/>2010
| 8 May<br/>2015
| Liberal Democrat
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 100x100px
| Greg Hands<br/>
| 11 May<br/>2015
| 14 July<br/>2016
| Conservative
| | Cameron II
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| David Gauke<br/>
| 14 July<br/>2016
| 11 June<br/>2017
| Conservative
| | May I
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Philip Hammond
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| frameless|75px
| Liz Truss<br/>
| 11 June<br/>2017
| 24 July<br/>2019
| Conservative
| | May II
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:; border:none" |
| rowspan=2 | frameless|104x104px
| rowspan=2 | Rishi Sunak<br/>
| rowspan=2 | 24 July<br/>2019
| rowspan=2 | 13 February<br/>2020
| rowspan=2 | Conservative
| | Johnson I
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Sajid Javid
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:; border:none" |
| rowspan=4 | Johnson II
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| frameless|75px
| Steve Barclay<br/>
| 13 February<br/>2020
| 15 September<br/>2021
| Conservative
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| style="border-style: solid solid none solid ;"| Rishi Sunak
|- style="height:1em"
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | frameless|99x99px
| rowspan=2 | Simon Clarke<br/>
| rowspan=2 | 15 September<br/>2021
| rowspan=2 | 6 September<br/>2022
| rowspan=2 | Conservative
| style="border-style: none solid solid solid ;"|
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| Nadhim Zahawi
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 99x99px
| Chris Philp<br/>
| 6 September<br/>2022
| 14 October<br/>2022
| Conservative
| rowspan=2 | Truss
| style="background-color:" |
| Kwasi Kwarteng
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| Edward Argar<br/>
| 14 October<br/>2022
| 25 October<br/>2022
| Conservative
| style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=3 | Jeremy Hunt
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| John Glen<br/>
| 25 October<br/>2022
| 13 November<br />2023
| Conservative
| rowspan=2 | Sunak
| style="background-color:" |
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
|Laura Trott<br />
|13 November<br />2023
|5 July<br />2024
|Conservative
| style="background-color:" |
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 75px
| Darren Jones<br/>
| 5 July<br/>2024
| 1 September<br/>2025
| Labour
| rowspan=3 | Starmer
| style="background-color:" |
| rowspan="3"| Rachel Reeves
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 99x99px
| James Murray<br/>
| 1 September<br/>2025
| 14 May<br/>2026
| Labour
| style="background-color:" |
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 99x99px
| Lucy Rigby<br/>
| 14 May<br/>2026
| Incumbent
| Labour
| style="background-color:" |
|}
See also
- Secretary to the Treasury
- Financial Secretary to the Treasury
- Economic Secretary to the Treasury
- Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
- Paymaster General