Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox official post Template:Uk-gov-positions Template:PoliticsUK

The deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom is an honorific title<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> given to a minister of the Crown and a member of the British Cabinet, normally to signify a very senior minister, the deputy leader of the governing party, or a key political ally of the prime minister.

It does not entail any specific legal or constitutional responsibilities, though the holder will normally be assigned some duties by the prime minister and in recent times this has typically always included deputising for The Prime Minister in the House of Commons, domestically and abroad. Appointment to the position is usually paired with appointment to a departmental secretary of state position. The title is not always in use and prime ministers have been known to appoint deputies with title first secretary of state or informal deputies without any honorific title.Template:Sfn

The current Deputy Prime Minister is Angela Rayner who has served as The Deputy Prime Minister under Sir Keir Starmer since 5 July 2024.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

Constitutional position

Deputy prime minister is a title<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn Template:Sfn and successive monarchs have refused to officially recognise the position.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It brings with it no salaryTemplate:Sfn and the holder of the title has no right to automatic succession to the premiership.Template:Sfn

When Winston Churchill attempted to have Anthony Eden appointed deputy prime minister in 1942, George VI said that the 'office ... does not exist' and that conferring the title may be seen as an attempt to designate the prime minister's successor and thus may restrict the monarch's royal prerogative.Template:Sfn However, Vernon Bogdanor has said that that argument holds little weight in the modern context, since the monarch no longer has any real discretion, and that, even in the past, a person acting as deputy prime minister had no real advantage to being appointed prime minister.Template:Sfn

Responsibilities

The title is not always in use and the holder's responsibilities will vary depending on the circumstances.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As of December 2024, the deputy prime minister's responsibilities include: deputising for the prime minister (in the House of Commons, domestically and internationally), supporting the prime minister, special responsibility for employment rights and cross-governmental coordination of communities policy.<ref name=":0" />

Rodney Brazier has written that there are three reasons why a deputy prime minister has been appointed: to set out the line of succession to the premiership preferred by the prime minister, to promote the efficient discharge of government business and (in the case of Labour governments) to accord recognition to the status of the deputy leader of the Labour party.Template:Sfn Jonathan Kirkup and Stephen Thornton suggest that there are multiple motivations behind a prime minister appointing a deputy: leader of a party in a coalition government, as their designated successor, to neuter or mollify a rival, because they are a 'safe pair of hands' and to create a 'balanced ticket'.Template:Sfn

Philip Norton says that there are two advantages to a prime minister of having a deputy prime minister (or first secretary of state): functional (to serve the prime minister free of departmental responsibilities, so they can do 'correlation, co-ordination and chairmanship of committees', in the words of Rab Butler) and political (to send a signal as to the status of the holder).Template:Sfn Bogdanor, Brazier and Anthony Seldon also suggest that the title may be of use if a prime minister were to die or fall unable to exercise their functions.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

History

Before World War II, while a minister was occasionally invited to deputise as prime minister when the prime minister was ill or abroad, no one was styled as such when the prime minister was in the country and physically able to run the government.Template:Sfn This changed in 1942 when Clement Attlee was styled as deputy prime minister by Winston Churchill. This designation was seen as an exceptional result of a coalition and the war,Template:Sfn and Attlee's 1942 appointment was not formally approved by the King<ref name="Thorton&Kirkup">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="HoCLibrary">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Sfn and was a matter of form rather than fact.Template:Sfn The designation was because Churchill wanted to demonstrate the importance of the Labour party in the coalition, not for any reasons relating to succession; he actually left written advice that the King should send for Anthony Eden if he were to die, not Attlee.Template:Sfn Unusually in comparison to other unofficial deputy prime ministers, Clement Attlee was described as deputy prime minister by Hansard, whereas other unofficial deputies are described using their official position.<ref name="HoCLibrary"/>

After this, fearing a possible curtailment of the monarch's prerogative to choose a prime minister, no one was formally styled deputy prime minister (though there was often a senior minister generally regarded as such) until Michael Heseltine in 1995.Template:Sfn As the title of deputy prime minister did not hold any statutory authority, Heseltine was also appointed as First Secretary of State.<ref name="Thorton&Kirkup"/> John Prescott served as deputy prime minister under Tony Blair during the entirety of Blair's premiership, and remains the longest-serving deputy prime minister. Prescott's statutory authority was originally drawn from his concurrent position as Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions; however, in 2001 this department was broken up and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) was also formed within the Cabinet Office.<ref name="HoCLibrary"/> To ensure he continued to hold statutory authority, he was appointed First Secretary of State. In June 2003, the ODPM became a separate department and absorbed the local government and regions portfolios from the defunct Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. During the 5 May 2006 reshuffle of Tony Blair's government, Prescott kept his position as deputy prime minister but lost his departmental authority and OPDM was renamed the Department for Communities and Local Government and headed by Ruth Kelly. The position was vacant during Gordon Brown's premiership.

After the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government in 2010, Nick Clegg was appointed deputy prime minister<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> under David Cameron, and served in this role until he resigned after the Conservatives won a majority in the 2015 general election. During the coalition William Hague was appointed by Cameron as First Secretary of State, the only time that both these positions have existed concurrently but not been held by the same person. During this time Cameron described Hague rather than Clegg as being his 'de facto political deputy'.<ref name="Thorton&Kirkup"/> The office of deputy prime minister was vacant for the remainder of Cameron's premiership and the entirety of Theresa May's premiership; during this time, the Prime Minister was deputised by the Minister for the Cabinet Office.Template:Sfn

In 2020, a year before being formally styled deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab deputised for Boris Johnson while Johnson was in hospital with COVID-19, though was not formally styled deputy prime minister until September 2021. Raab served as deputy prime minister during the remainder of Johnson's premiership. Thérèse Coffey served as deputy prime minister in September and October 2022 under Liz Truss, becoming the shortest serving deputy prime minister in history. After Rishi Sunak became prime minister, he reappointed Raab as deputy prime minister,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> making him the first non-consecutive holder of the office. Raab resigned in April 2023 after the investigation into his alleged bullying was published, and was succeeded by deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who resigned after the 2024 general election, whereupon he was replaced by Angela Rayner in Keir Starmer's Labour government.

Office and residence

There is no set of offices permanently ready to house the deputy prime minister.Template:Sfn Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg maintained an office at the Cabinet Office headquarters, 70 Whitehall, which is linked to 10 Downing Street.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Clegg's predecessor, Prescott, maintained his main office at 26 Whitehall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The prime minister may also give them the use of a grace and favour country house.Template:Sfn While in office, Nick Clegg resided at his private residence in Putney and he shared Chevening House with First Secretary William Hague as a weekend residence.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Clegg's predecessor, John Prescott, used Dorneywood.Template:Sfn

List of deputy prime ministers

The following people have held the title of deputy prime minister.<ref group="Note">In his list of deputy prime ministers, Brazier includes Geoffrey Howe. However, Norton does not in his, explaining that Buckingham Palace took issue with appointing Howe "Deputy Prime Minister" and proposed "Sir Geoffrey will act as Deputy Prime Minister".</ref>Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Deputy prime ministers
Deputy Prime Minister			Term of office		Duration	Other ministerial portfolios held during tenure	Party	Ministry
style="background-color: Template:Party color" \|	File:Person attlee2.jpg	Clement Attlee Template:Small	Template:Small 1942<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Template:Small 1945	Template:Small	Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs Template:Small Lord President of the Council Template:Small	Template:Party shading/Labour Party (UK) \| Labour	Template:Party shading/Coalition (UK) \| Churchill War
style="background-color: Template:Party color" \|	File:Lord Heseltine (6969083278).jpg	Michael Heseltine Template:Small	Template:Small 1995	Template:Small 1997	Template:Small	First Secretary of State	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) \| Conservative	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) \|Major II
rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Party color" \|	File:John Prescott official portrait (cropped).jpg	John Prescott Template:Small	Template:Small 1997	Template:Small 2007	Template:Small	Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions Template:Small First Secretary of State Template:Small	rowspan="3" Template:Party shading/Labour \| Labour	Template:Party shading/Labour \|Blair I
Template:Party shading/Labour \|Blair II
Template:Party shading/Labour \|Blair III
style="background-color: Template:Party color" \|	File:Nick Clegg by the 2009 budget cropped.jpg	Nick Clegg Template:Small	Template:Small 2010	Template:Small 2015	Template:Small	Lord President of the Council	Template:Party shading/Liberal Democrats \| Liberal Democrat	Template:Party shading/Coalition (UK) \| Cameron–Clegg
style="background-color: Template:Party color" \|	File:Official portrait of Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP crop 2.jpg	Dominic Raab Template:Small	Template:Small 2021	Template:Small 2022	Template:Small	Lord Chancellor Secretary of State for Justice	rowspan="4" Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) \| Conservative	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) \|Johnson II
style="background-color: Template:Party color" \|	File:Thérèse Coffey Official Cabinet Portrait, September 2022 (cropped).jpg	Thérèse Coffey Template:Small	Template:Small 2022	Template:Small 2022	Template:Small	Secretary of State for Health and Social Care	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) \| Truss
style="background-color: Template:Party color" \|	File:Official portrait of Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP crop 2.jpg	Dominic Raab Template:Small	Template:Small 2022	Template:Small 2023	Template:Small	Lord Chancellor Secretary of State for Justice	rowspan="2" Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) \| Sunak
style="background-color: Template:Party color" \|	File:Official portrait of Rt Hon Oliver Dowden MP crop 2.jpg	Oliver Dowden Template:Small	Template:Small 2023	Template:Small 2024	Template:Small	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Secretary of State in the Cabinet Office
style="background-color: Template:Party color" \|	File:Official portrait of Angela Rayner MP crop 2, 2024.jpg	Angela Rayner Template:Small	Template:Small 2024	Incumbent	Template:Small	Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government	Template:Party shading/Labour \| Labour	Template:Party shading/Labour \| Starmer

Template:Reflist

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:15 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:50 left:20 AlignBars = late

Define $today = {{#time:d/m/Y}} Define $later = 31/12/{{#time:Y}}

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1942 till:01/12/2027 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1942 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:4 start:1942

Colors =

 id:con       value:rgb(0.094,0.525,0.8)   legend:Conservative
 id:lab       value:rgb(0.937,0.094,0.129) legend:Labour
 id:ld        value:rgb(1,0.67,0)          legend:Liberal_Democrat
 id:linemark  value:gray(0.8)
 id:linemark2 value:gray(0.9)

Legend = columns:1

BarData =

 bar:Attlee
 bar:Heseltine
 bar:Prescott
 bar:Clegg
 bar:Raab
 bar:Coffey
 bar:Dowden
 bar:Rayner

PlotData=

 width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:Attlee
 from: 19/02/1942 till: 23/05/1945 color:lab text:"Clement Attlee"
bar:Heseltine
 from: 05/07/1995 till: 01/05/1997 color:con text:"Michael Heseltine"
bar:Prescott
 from: 02/05/1997 till: 28/05/2007 color:lab text:"John Prescott"
bar:Clegg
 from: 11/05/2010 till: 05/05/2015 color:ld text:"Nick Clegg"
bar:Raab
 from: 15/09/2021 till: 06/09/2022 color:con #Raab
 from: 25/10/2022 till: 21/04/2023 color:con text:"Dominic Raab"
bar:Coffey
  from: 06/09/2022 till: 25/10/2022 color:con text:"Thérèse Coffey"
bar:Dowden
  from: 21/04/2023 till: 05/07/2024 color:con text:"Oliver Dowden"
bar:Rayner 
  from: 05/07/2024 till: $today color:lab text:"Angela Rayner"

</timeline>

Unofficial deputies

The prime minister's second-in-command has variably served as deputy prime minister, first secretary and de facto deputy and at other times prime ministers have chosen not to select a permanent deputy at all, preferring ad hoc arrangements.Template:Sfn It has also been suggested that the office of Lord President of the Council (which comes with leading precedence) has been intermittently used for deputies in the past.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Lists

File:Anthony Eden (retouched).jpg

Anthony Eden is often described as Winston Churchill's deputy, though his appointment as deputy prime minister in 1951 was actually rejected by the King.

Picking out definitive deputies to the prime minister has been described as a highly problematic task.Template:Sfn

Bogdanor, in his 1995 publication The Monarchy and the Constitution, said that the following people had acted as deputy prime ministers (by this he meant they had chaired the Cabinet in the absence of the prime minister and chaired a number of key Cabinet Committees):Template:Sfn

Clement Attlee
Herbert Morrison
Anthony Eden
Rab Butler
George Brown
Michael Stewart
Reginald Maudling
William Whitelaw
Geoffrey Howe

In an academic article first published in 2015, Jonathan Kirkup and Stephen Thornton used five criteria to identify deputies: gazetted or styled in Hansard as deputy prime minister; 'officially' designated deputy prime minister by the prime minister; widely recognised by their colleagues as deputy prime minister; second in the ministerial ranking; and chaired the Cabinet or took Prime Minister's Questions in the prime minister's absence.Template:Sfn They said that the following people have the best claim to the position of deputy to the prime minister:Template:Sfn

Clement Attlee
Herbert Morrison
Anthony Eden
Rab Butler
George Brown
Michael Stewart
Willie Whitelaw
Geoffrey Howe
Michael Heseltine
John Prescott
Nick Clegg

They also said that the following three people would have a reasonable claim:Template:Sfn

Andrew Bonar Law
Edward Short
Michael Foot

Brazier has listed the following ministers as unambiguously deputy to or de facto deputies of the prime minister:Template:Sfn

Clement Attlee	1940–1945
Anthony Eden	1945 1951–1955
Rab Butler	1955–1963
George Brown	1964–1970
Reginald Maudling	1970–1972
Willie Whitelaw	1979–1988
Geoffrey Howe	1989–1990
Michael Heseltine	1995–1997
John Prescott	1997–2007
Nick Clegg	2010–2015
George Osborne	2015–2016
Damian Green	2017
David Lidington	2018–2019
Dominic Raab	2019–2022

Lord Norton of Louth has listed the following people as serving as deputy prime minister, but not being formally styled as such:Template:Sfn

Herbert Morrison	1945–1951
Anthony Eden	1951–1955
Rab Butler	1962–1963
Willie Whitelaw	1979–1988
Geoffrey Howe	1989–1990
David Lidington	2018–2019

Succession

Nobody has the right of automatic succession to the prime ministership.Template:Sfn However, it is generally considered that in the event of the death of the prime minister, it would be appropriate to appoint an interim prime minister, though there is some debate as to how to decide who this should be.Template:Sfn In 2021, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case suggested:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:BlockquoteWhen the prime minister is travelling, it is standard practice for a senior duty minister to be appointed who can attend to urgent business and meetings if required, though the prime minister remains in charge and updated throughout.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> And, on 6 April 2020, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted into ICU, he asked First Secretary of State Dominic Raab "to deputise for him where necessary".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notes