Lord President of the Council

The Lord President of the Council is the fourth of the Great Officers of State of the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord High Treasurer and above the Lord Privy Seal. The Lord President usually attends each meeting of the Privy Council, presenting business for the monarch's approval. In the modern era, the holder is by convention always a member of one of the houses of Parliament and the office is a Cabinet post. The current Lord President is Nick Clegg MP, who is also Deputy Prime Minister.

The office and its history

The Privy Council meets once a month, wherever the Sovereign may be residing at the time, to give formal approval to Orders in Council. Only a few Privy Counsellors need attend such meetings, and only when invited to do so at the Government's request. As the duties of the Lord President are not onerous, the post has often been given to a government minister whose responsibilities are not department-specific. In recent years it has been most usual for the Lord President to also serve as Leader of the House of Commons or Leader of the House of Lords.

Prior to the 2010 change of government, the Lord President was Lord Mandelson, who was also First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.^[1] This was the first time that the Lord President had not been a leader of one of the Houses since the period 20 October 1963 to 16 October 1964, wherein Lord Hailsham, after resigning as Leader of the House of Lords, kept the office along with the offices of Minister for Sport and, from 1 April 1964, also of Secretary of State for Education and Science.^[2]

On several occasions since 1954, non-British Ministers have served briefly as acting Lords President of the Council, solely to preside over a meeting of the Privy Council held in a Commonwealth realm.^[3][4][5] Examples of this practice are the meetings in New Zealand in 1990 and 1995, when Sir Geoffrey Palmer and James Bolger respectively were acting Lords President.

In the 19th century, the Lord President was generally the cabinet member responsible for the education system amongst their other duties. This role was gradually scaled back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but remnants of it remain, such as the oversight of the governance of various universities.

A particularly vital role was played by the Lord President of the Council during the Second World War. The Lord President served as chairman of the Lord President's Committee. This committee acted as a central clearing house for dealing with economic problems that affected the country. As such, it was vital to the smooth running of the British war economy and consequently the entire British war effort.

Winston Churchill, clearly believing that this wartime co-ordinating role was beneficial, introduced a similar but expanded system in the first few years of his post-war premiership.^[6] The so-called 'overlord ministers' included Lord Leathers as 'Secretary of State for the Co-ordination of Transport, Fuel and Power' and Lord Woolton as Lord President. Woolton's job was to co-ordinate the then separate ministries of agriculture and food.^[7] The historian Peter Hennessy quotes a PhD thesis by Michael Kandiah saying that Woolton was 'arguably the most successful of the Overlords' partly because his ministries were quite closely related, indeed they were merged in 1955 as the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.^[8]

The Lord President has no role in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Visitorial role

The Lord President also serves as the Visitor for several British universities, including:

• University of Birmingham
• University of Bristol
• University of East Anglia
• University of Hull
• Imperial College London
• Keele University
• University of Leeds
• University of Leicester
• University of Liverpool
• University of London (but not King's College London or University College London)
• University of Nottingham
• University of Reading
• University of Sheffield
• University of Southampton
• University of Sussex
• University of Wales (but not Lampeter)

Partial list of office holders

1530-1553

• Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1530–14 August 1545)
• William Paulet, 1st Baron St John (January 1546–February 1550)
• John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (February 1550–July 1553)
• Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel (1553–?)

1621-1631

• Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester (September 1621–July 1628)
• James Ley, 1st Earl of Marlborough (July 1628–14 December 1628)
• Edward Conway, 1st Viscount Conway (14 December 1628–3 January 1631)

1678–1714

• Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (21 April 1679–15 October 1679)
• John Robartes, 1st Earl of Radnor (24 October 1679–24 August 1684)
• Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester (24 August 1684–18 February 1685)
• George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (18 February 1685–4 December 1685)
• Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland (4 December 1685–October 1688)
• Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston (October 1688–February 1689)
• Thomas Osborne, 1st Marquess of Carmarthen, 1st Duke of Leeds (1694) (14 February 1689–18 May 1699)
• Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke (18 May 1699–29 January 1702)
• Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (29 January 1702–13 July 1702)
• Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke (13 July 1702–25 November 1708)
• John Somers, 1st Baron Somers (25 November 1708–21 September 1710)
• Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester (21 September 1710–13 June 1711)
• John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby (13 June 1711–23 September 1714)

Hanoverian

• Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham (23 September 1714–6 July 1716)
• William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire (6 July 1716–16 March 1718)
• Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland (16 March 1718–6 February 1719)
• Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull (6 February. 1719–11 June 1720)
• Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (11 June 1720–25 June 1721)
• Henry Boyle, 1st Baron Carleton (25 June 1721–27 March 1725)
• William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire (27 March 1725–8 May 1730)
• Thomas Trevor, 1st Baron Trevor (8 May 1730–19 June 1730)
• Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington (31 December 1730–13 February 1742)
• William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington (13 February 1742–3 January 1745)
• Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset (3 January 1745–17 June 1751)
• John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville (17 June 1751–2 January 1763)
• John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford (9 September 1763–12 July 1765)
• Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea and 3rd Earl of Nottingham (12 July 1765–30 July 1766)
• Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington (30 July 1766–22 December 1767)
• Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower (22 December 1767–24 November 1779)
• Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst (24 November 1779–27 March 1782)
• Charles Pratt, 1st Baron Camden (27 March 1782–2 April. 1783)
• David Murray, 7th Viscount Stormont (2 April 1783–19 December 1783)
• Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower (19 December 1783–1 December 1784)
• Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (1 December 1784–18 April 1794)
• William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam (1 July 1794–17 December 1794)
• David Murray, 2nd Earl of Mansfield (17 December 1794–21 September 1796)
• John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham (21 September 1796–30 July 1801)
• William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (30 July 1801–14 January 1805)
• Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (14 January 1805–10 July 1805)
• John Jeffreys Pratt, 2nd Earl Camden (10 July 1805–19 February 1806)
• William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam (19 February 1806–8 October 1806)
• Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (8 October 1806–26 March 1807)
• John Jeffreys Pratt, 2nd Earl Camden (26 March 1807–8 April 1812)
• Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (8 April 1812–11 June 1812)
• Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby (11 June 1812–17 August 1827)
• William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland (17 August 1827–28 January 1828)
• Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst (28 January 1828–22 November 1830)
• Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (22 November 1830–15 December 1834)
• James St Clair Erskine, 2nd Earl of Rosslyn (15 December 1834–18 April 1835)

Victorian

• Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (18 April 1835–3 September 1841)
• James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe (3 September 1841–21 January 1846)
• Walter Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch (21 January 1846–6 July 1846)
• Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (6 July 1846–27 February 1852)
• William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale (27 February 1852–28 December 1852)
• Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville (28 December 1852–12 June 1854)
• Lord John Russell (12 June 1854–8 February 1855)
• Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville (8 February 1855–26 February 1858)
• James Brownlow William Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury (26 February 1858–18 June 1859)
• Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville (18 June 1859–6 July 1866)
• Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (6 July 1866–8 March 1867)
• John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough (8 March 1867–9 December 1868)
• George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon (9 December 1868–9 August 1873)
• Henry Austin Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare (9 August 1873–21 February 1874)
• Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond and Lennox (21 February 1874–28 April 1880)
• John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer (28 April 1880–19 March 1883)
• Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue, 1st Baron Carlingford (19 March 1883–24 June 1885)
• Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Viscount Cranbrook (24 June 1885–6 February 1886)
• John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer (6 February 1886–3 August 1886)
• Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Viscount Cranbrook (3 August 1886–18 August 1892)
• John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley (18 August 1892–10 March 1894)
• Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (10 March 1894–29 June 1895)

Edwardian and war-time

Post-War

21st Century

See also

• Privy Council Office
• Vice-President of the Executive Council
• President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
• Sinecure

References

1. ^ Patrick Wintour (2009-06-05). "Weakened Gordon Brown unable to shift cabinet's bigger beasts". Guardian.co.uk (Guardian Media Group). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jun/05/cabinet-reshuffle-gordon-brown-ed-balls. Retrieved 2009-06-05. 
2. ^ D. Butler and G. Butler, Twentieth Century British Political Facts 1900-2000
3. ^ Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 18 May 1954, column 645. "Her Majesty's Return", Viscount Samuel: "... there has been constitutional work done, there have been acts of State: ... meetings of the Privy Council, an organ of the Constitution older than Parliament itself, for wherever the Sovereign is, and three Privy Counsellors are present, there may be meetings of the Council and Orders passed. So, during this tour there have been sessions of the Privy Council in Australia, in New Zealand and in Ceylon, with their own local Privy Council members – members of the one single Imperial Privy Council, but their own local members."
4. ^ Cox, Noel (1998–99). "The Dichotomy of Legal Theory and Political Reality: The Honours Prerogative and Imperial Unity". Australian Journal of Law and Society 1 (14): 15–42. http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRS/1998/1.html. Retrieved 19 November 2011. "The Queen has in fact regularly presided over meetings of the Privy Council in New Zealand, since her first in 1954. That was the first held by the Sovereign outside the United Kingdom, although in 1920 Edward Prince of Wales held a Council in Wellington to swear in the Earl of Liverpool as Governor-General." 
5. ^ Kumarasingham, Harshan (2010). Onward with Executive Power: Lessons from New Zealand 1947–57. Wellington, New Zealand: Institute of Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington.. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-877347-37-5. http://ips.ac.nz/publications/files/7018d92ee2b.pdf. Retrieved 19 November 2011. "The Queen held a meeting of the Privy Council [on 13 January 1954] at the 'Court at Government House at Wellington' with her New Zealand prime minister as 'acting Lord President' of the council. The deputy prime minister, Keith Holyoake, 'secured for himself a place in constitutional history by becoming the first member to be sworn of Her Majesty’s Council outside the United Kingdom'." 
6. ^ Hennessy, Peter. The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945 (2000), pp.189-190.
7. ^ Hennessy, p.191
8. ^ Hennessy, pp.193