Leader of the House of Commons

The leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons. The Leader is always a member or attendee of the cabinet of the United Kingdom.

The House of Commons devotes approximately three-quarters of its time to debating and explaining government business, such as bills introduced by the government and ministerial statements. The Leader of the House of Commons, with the parties' chief whips ("the usual channels"), is responsible for organising government business and providing time for non-government (backbench) business to be put before the House of Commons.

The position of leader of the House of Commons is currently held by Alan Campbell, who was appointed on 5 September 2025 by Keir Starmer as a part of the cabinet reshuffle following the resignation of Angela Rayner from government.

Responsibilities

The current responsibilities of the Leader of the House of Commons are as follows:

Planning and supervising the Government's Legislative Programme;
Chairing the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Business and Legislation;
Managing the business of the House of Commons and preparing weekly statements on upcoming business;
Facilitating motions and debate in the Chamber;
Serving as the Government's representative in the House, namely as a voting member of the House of Commons Commission, the Public Accounts Commission, the Members Estimate Committee, and the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority;
Reforming parliamentary procedure and operations;
Representing the House of Commons within Government, be it contributing to the Civil Service's efforts to build parliamentary capability or receiving MPs' requests for assistance on ministerial correspondence and questions; and
Ministerial responsibility for the Privy Council Office.

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

History

The title was not established until about the middle of the 19th century, although the institution is much older.

Until 1942, the title was usually held by the prime minister if he sat in the House of Commons; however, in more recent years, the title has been held by a separate politician.

| rowspan=2 | 1895

| rowspan=2 | 1905

| rowspan=2 |

Prime Minister
First Lord of the Treasury
Lord Privy Seal

| rowspan=2 | Conservative

| style="background-color:#DDDDDD" |

| Salisbury

| style="background-color:#DDDDDD" |

| Balfour

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 75px

| Henry Campbell-Bannerman

| 1992

| 1997

| style="background-color:" |

| |Major II

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 75px

| Ann Taylor

| 1997

| 1998

| rowspan=8 | Labour

| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |

| rowspan=2 | Blair I

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 100x100px

| Margaret Beckett

| 1998

| 2001

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 75px

| Robin Cook

| 2001

| 2003

| rowspan=3 style="background-color:" |

| rowspan=3 | Blair II

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 90x90px

| John Reid

| 2003

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 94x94px

| Peter Hain

| 2003

| 2005

Lord Privy Seal
Secretary of State for Wales

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 75px

| Geoff Hoon

| 2005

| 2006

| rowspan=2 |

Lord Privy Seal

| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |

| rowspan=2 | Blair III

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 75px

| Jack Straw

| 2006

| 2007

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 99x99px

| Harriet Harman

| 2007

| 2010

Lord Privy Seal
Minister for Women and Equality

| style="background-color:" |

| |Brown

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 100x100px

| George Young

| 2010

| 2012

| rowspan=2 |

Lord Privy Seal

| rowspan=12 | Conservative

| rowspan=3 style="background-color:#DDDDDD" |

| rowspan=3 | Cameron–Clegg

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 112x112px

| Andrew Lansley

| 2012

| 2014

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 99x99px

| William Hague

| 2014

| 2015

First Secretary of State

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 93x93px

| Chris Grayling

| 9 May 2015

| 14 July 2016

| rowspan=11 |

Lord President of the Council

| style="background-color:" |

| |Cameron II

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 75px

| David Lidington

| 14 July 2016

| 11 June 2017

| style="background-color:" |

| |May I

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 104x104px

| Andrea Leadsom

| 11 June 2017

| 22 May 2019

| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |

| rowspan=2 |May II

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| 75px

| Mel Stride

| 23 May 2019

| 24 July 2019

|- style="height:1em"

| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |

| rowspan=2 | alt=|90x90px

| rowspan=2 | Jacob Rees-Mogg

| rowspan=2 | 24 July 2019

| rowspan=2 | 8 February 2022

| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |

| |Johnson I

|- style="height:1em"

| rowspan=2 |Johnson II

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| center|90x90px

| Mark Spencer

| 8 February 2022

| 6 September 2022

| style="background-color:" |

|- style="height:1em"

| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |

| rowspan=2 | center|91x91px

| rowspan=2 | Penny Mordaunt

| rowspan=2 | 6 September 2022

| rowspan=2 | 5 July 2024

| style="background-color:" |

| |Truss

| style="background-color:" |

| |Sunak

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| center|91x91px

| Lucy Powell

| 5 July 2024

| 5 September 2025

| rowspan="2" | Labour

| style="background-color:" |

| rowspan="2" |Starmer

|- style="height:1em"

| style="background-color:" |

| center|91x91px

| Alan Campbell

| 5 September 2025

| Incumbent

| style="background-color:" |

Timeline

Deputy Leader of the House of Commons

From 1922, when the prime minister was also Leader of the House of Commons, day-to-day duties were frequently carried out by a Deputy Leader of the House of Commons. This was shortlived however, as it was abolished by Liz Truss after she became Prime Minister a few months later.

List of Deputy Leaders of the House of Commons

{| class="wikitable"

! Deputy Leader

!Term start

!Term end

|Paddy Tipping

|23 December 1998

|11 June 2001

|Stephen Twigg

|11 June 2001

|29 May 2002

|Ben Bradshaw

|29 May 2002

|13 June 2003

|Phil Woolas

|13 June 2003

|9 May 2005

|Nigel Griffiths

|10 May 2005

|13 March 2007

|Paddy Tipping

|28 March 2007

|27 June 2007

|Helen Goodman

|28 June 2007

|5 October 2008

|Chris Bryant

|5 October 2008

|9 June 2009

|Barbara Keeley

|9 June 2009

|11 May 2010

|David Heath

|14 May 2010

|4 September 2012

|Tom Brake

|4 September 2012

|8 May 2015

|Thérèse Coffey

|11 May 2015

|17 July 2016

|Michael Ellis

|17 July 2016

|9 January 2018

|Chris Heaton-Harris

|9 January 2018

|9 July 2018

|Mark Spencer

|15 July 2018

|24 July 2019

|Peter Bone

|8 July 2022

|27 September 2022

References

External links

Official website
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
Parliamentary website

Responsibilities

History

Timeline

Deputy Leader of the House of Commons

List of Deputy Leaders of the House of Commons

See also

References

External links