Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Incumbent
Office not in use
since 8 May 2015
Her Majesty's Government
Cabinet Office
Style The Right Honourable
Appointer The Sovereign
on advice of the Prime Minister
Inaugural holder Clement Attlee
Formation 19 February 1942
Website www.dpm.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
United Kingdom
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The Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (DPM) is a senior member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The office of the Deputy Prime Minister is not a permanent position, existing only at the discretion of the Prime Minister, who may appoint to other offices – such as First Secretary of State – to give seniority to a particular Cabinet Minister. The office was last held by Nick Clegg between 2010 and 2015, during David Cameron's first term as Prime Minister.

Unlike analogous offices in some other nations, such as a vice-presidency, the British deputy prime minister possesses no special constitutional powers as such, though they will always have particular responsibilities in government. They do not assume the duties and powers of the Prime Minister in the latter's absence, illness, or death, such as the powers to seek a dissolution of parliament, appoint peers or brief the sovereign.

They do not automatically succeed the Prime Minister, should the latter be incapacitated or resign from the leadership of his or her political party. In practice, however, the designation of someone to the role of Deputy Prime Minister may provide additional practical status within cabinet, enabling the exercise of de facto, if not de jure, power.

In a coalition government, such as the 2010–2015 coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, the appointment of the leader of the smaller party (in the 2010 case, Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats) as Deputy Prime Minister is done to give that person more authority within the cabinet to enforce the coalition's agreed-upon agenda. The Deputy Prime Minister usually deputises for the Prime Minister at official functions, such as Prime Minister's Questions.

Absence of the office in the constitution

Many theories exist as to the absence of a formal post of Deputy Prime Minister in Britain's uncodified constitution. Theoretically the sovereign possesses the unrestricted right to choose someone to form a government[Note 1] following the death, resignation or dismissal of a Prime Minister.[Note 2][1] One argument made to justify the non-existence of a permanent deputy premiership is that such an office-holder would be seen as possessing a presumption of succession to the premiership, thereby effectively limiting the sovereign's right to choose a prime minister.[Note 3]

However, only two Deputy Prime Ministers have gone on to become Prime Minister. Clement Attlee won the 1945 general election and succeeded Winston Churchill after their coalition broke up but only after a two-month interval when Attlee was not a member of the government.

Anthony Eden succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister not because he had been Deputy Prime Minister, but because he had long been seen as Churchill's heir apparent and natural successor. The intermittent existence of a Deputy Prime Minister has been on occasion so informal that there have been a number of occasions on which dispute has arisen as to whether or not the title has actually been conferred.

The position of Deputy Prime Minister is not recognised in United Kingdom law, so any post-holder must be given an additional title in order to have legal status and to be paid a salary additional to the parliamentary one. The last Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, was appointed Lord President of the Council, a minister who presides over meetings of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council and has few other formal responsibilities, for this reason.

On some occasions the post of First Secretary of State has been used; when John Prescott lost his departmental responsibilities in a reshuffle in 2005 he was given the office to enable him to retain a ministerial post, and Michael Heseltine was similarly appointed.

Choice

The Deputy Prime Ministership, where it exists, may bring with it practical influence depending on the status of the holder, rather than the status of the position.

Labour Party leader Clement Attlee held the post in the wartime coalition government led by Winston Churchill, and had general responsibility for domestic affairs, allowing Churchill to concentrate on the war. Rab Butler held the post in 1962/63 under Harold Macmillan, but was passed over for the premiership in favour of Alec Douglas-Home.

During the Labour Government 1964–1970, George Brown was Deputy Prime Minister.[2] During the Heath administration of the 1970s, the title of Deputy Prime Minister was not formally used. In his Memoirs, Home Secretary Reginald Maudling describes himself as Deputy Prime Minister under Heath from 1970 to his resignation in 1972 over the Poulson affair. William Armstrong, head of the Civil Service, was also called Heath's Deputy Prime Minister.[3] The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Ted Short, was Leader of the House of Commons from 1974 to 1976 and often thought of as Deputy Prime Minister; he was referred to as such in the citation for being made an Honorary Freeman of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne.

William Whitelaw was Margaret Thatcher's deputy from 1979–1988, a post he combined with that of Home Secretary in 1979–83 and Leader of the House of Lords after 1983. Sir Geoffrey Howe was given the title in 1989, on being removed from the post of Foreign Secretary. He resigned as Deputy Prime Minister in 1990, making a resignation speech that is widely thought to have hastened Thatcher's downfall. Thatcher's successor John Major did not appoint a Deputy Prime Minister until 1995, when Michael Heseltine was given the post.

John Prescott, who was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in opposition, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister by Tony Blair in 1997, in addition to being Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions. In 2001 this "superdepartment" was split up, with Prescott being given his own Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with fewer specific responsibilities. In May 2006 the department was removed from the control of the Deputy Prime Minister and renamed as the Department for Communities and Local Government with Ruth Kelly as the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Following the 2010 general election, which returned a hung parliament, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreed to form a coalition government. As leader of the smaller of the two parties in the coalition, Nick Clegg was appointed Deputy Prime Minister on the advice of the new Prime Minister, Conservative leader David Cameron.

Office and residence

The Deputy Prime Minister's Office (DPMO) is a non-constitutional office, only being formed when a deputy prime minister is appointed which consists of the staff members and advisers who assist the deputy prime minister in his or her role. The most recent Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg maintained an office at the Cabinet Office headquarters, 70 Whitehall, which is linked to 10 Downing Street.[4] Clegg's predecessor, John Prescott, maintained his main office at 26 Whitehall.[5] The office is not an official single department and as such is part of and organised as part of the Cabinet Office.

Given that there is no constitutional office of Deputy Prime Minister, with the position being recreated on a case by case basis, the person who holds the post has no official residence. As a cabinet minister, however, they may have the use of a grace and favour London residence and country house. While in office, Nick Clegg resided at his private residence in Putney, London, and he shared Chevening House with former Foreign Secretary William Hague as a weekend residence.[6] Clegg's predecessor, John Prescott, had the use of a flat in Admiralty House and used Dorneywood as his country residence.

List of Deputy Prime Ministers

Colour key
Name Picture Term of Office Political party and position Ministerial Offices Prime Minister
Clement Attlee 19 February 1942 23 May 1945 Labour (Leader)
Junior leader in a Coalition Government		 Deputy Prime Minister
Dominions Secretary (until 1943)
Lord President of the Council (from 1943)		 Winston Churchill
(War Coalition)
Herbert Morrison 26 July 1945 26 October 1951 Labour (Deputy Leader) Deputy Prime Minister
Lord President of the Council (until 1951)
Leader of the House of Commons (until 1951)
Foreign Secretary (from 1951)		 Clement Attlee
Anthony Eden 26 October 1951 6 April 1955 Conservative Deputy Prime Minister
Foreign Secretary		 Winston Churchill
Office not in use 1955–1962 Anthony Eden
Harold Macmillan
R. A. Butler 13 July 1962 18 October 1963 Conservative Deputy Prime Minister
First Secretary of State
Office not in use 1963–1979 Alec Douglas-Home
Harold Wilson
Edward Heath
Harold Wilson
James Callaghan
William Whitelaw
(Viscount Whitelaw from 1983)		 4 May 1979 10 January 1988 Conservative Deputy Prime Minister
Home Secretary (1979–1983)
Lord President of the Council (from 1983)
Leader of the House of Lords (from 1983)		 Margaret Thatcher
Sir Geoffrey Howe 24 July 1989 1 November 1990 Conservative Deputy Prime Minister
Lord President of the Council
Leader of the House of Commons
Office not in use 1990–1995 John Major
Michael Heseltine 20 July 1995 2 May 1997 Conservative Deputy Prime Minister
First Secretary of State
John Prescott 2 May 1997 27 June 2007 Labour (Deputy Leader) Deputy Prime Minister
Environment, Transport and Regions Secretary (until 2001)
First Secretary of State (from 2001)		 Tony Blair
Office not in use 2007–2010 Gordon Brown
Nick Clegg 11 May 2010 8 May 2015 Liberal Democrats (Leader)
Junior leader in a Coalition Government		 Deputy Prime Minister
Lord President of the Council[7][8]
Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform		 David Cameron
Office not in use 2015–present

Footnotes

  1. ↑ In the British constitutional tradition, the sovereign invites someone to form a government "capable of surviving in the House of Commons". This is not the same as having a majority. In theory a minority government could survive if the opposition parties were divided on issues and so failed to all vote together against the government. In times of national emergency, sovereigns set a different, higher standard, namely that a government be formed "capable of commanding a majority in the House of Commons." In the event of no party possessing a majority, this forces the party invited to form a government to enter into a coalition with another party. This latter request was made on only a handful of cases, most notably in 1916 when King George V invited Andrew Bonar Law to form a government, who declined so the King invited David Lloyd George to form a government. Lloyd George was forced by the nature of his commission to form a coalition government.
  2. ↑ No Prime Minister has been dismissed by a sovereign since 1834. Except in exceptional circumstances it is thought unlikely that a prime minister would ever be dismissed.[1]
  3. ↑ In practice the monarch's choice has been limited by the evolution of a clear party structure, with each party possessing a structure by which leaders are elected. Only where no party has a majority, or where a division exists between the person chosen by the party's electoral college and its MPs on who should be prime minister, can a modern sovereign expect to freely choose on whom to appoint.

References

  1. 1 2 Stanley de Smith and Rodney Brazier, Constitutional and Administrative Law (Penguin, 1989) p.116.
  2. ↑ Cabinet Papers Series 3, Part 5 http://www.ampltd.co.uk/digital_guides/cabinet_papers_series_3_part_5/key-government-officials.aspx
  3. ↑ Ziegler, Philip. "How the last Tory-Liberal deal fell apart" The Sunday Times, 9 May 2010.
  4. ↑ "Nick Clegg could be given use of stately home where John Prescott played croquet". Telegraph. 13 May 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  5. ↑ "Deputy Prime Minister | Contact us". Archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 16 May 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  6. ↑ "Hague and Clegg given timeshare of official residence". BBC News. 18 May 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  7. ↑ Clegg To Be Cameron's Deputy In New Cabinet Sky News
  8. ↑ Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg to be deputy PM Reuters

External links

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