Leader of the House of Commons

For equivalent positions in other countries, see Leader of the House (disambiguation).

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. ("Government" here means the controlling faction of the parliament, headed by the Prime Minister.) The Leader is always a member or attendee of the cabinet of the United Kingdom.

United Kingdom Leader of the House of Commons
Incumbent Lucy Powell since 5 July 2024
Cabinet Office Office of the Leader of the House of Commons
Style	The Right Honourable
Formation	4 April 1721
First holder	Sir Robert Walpole
Salary	£159,038 per annum (2022)[1] (including £86,584 MP salary)[2]
Website	gov.uk/leader-commons

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[3]

The position of leader of the House of Commons is currently held by Lucy Powell, who was appointed on 5 July 2024 by Keir Starmer.

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

History

The title was not established until about the middle of the 19th century, although the institution is much older.^[6]

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.^[6]

The title holder is not formally appointed by the Crown^{[clarification needed]} and the title alone does not attract a salary,^[6] so is now usually held in addition to a sinecure, currently Lord President of the Council.

List of Leaders of the House of Commons (1721–present)

Leader Constituency			Term of office		Other ministerial offices held as Leader	Party	Ministry
		Robert Walpole MP for King's Lynn	4 April 1721	6 February 1742	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig		Walpole–Townshend
								Walpole
		Samuel Sandys MP for Worcester	12 February 1742	27 August 1743	Chancellor of the Exchequer			Carteret
		Henry Pelham MP for Sussex	27 August 1743	6 March 1754	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer
								Broad Bottom (I & II)
		Thomas Robinson MP for Christchurch	23 March 1754	October 1755	Secretary of State for the Southern Department			Newcastle I
		Henry Fox MP for Windsor	14 November 1755	13 November 1756
		William Pitt 'the Elder' MP for Okehampton	4 December 1756	6 April 1757				Pitt–Devonshire
Vacant			April 1757	June 1757				1757 Caretaker
		William Pitt 'the Elder' MP for Bath	27 June 1757	6 October 1761	Secretary of State for the Southern Department	Whig		Pitt–Newcastle
		George Grenville MP for Buckingham	October 1761	May 1762	Treasurer of the Navy
		Henry Fox MP for Dunwich	May 1762	April 1763	Paymaster of the Forces			Bute (Tory–Whig)
		George Grenville MP for Buckingham	16 April 1763	13 July 1765	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer			Grenville
		Henry Seymour Conway MP for Thetford	July 1765	20 October 1768	Secretary of State for the Southern Department until May 1766 Secretary of State for the Northern Department from May 1766			Rockingham I
								Chatham (Whig–Tory)
		Frederick North Lord North MP for Banbury	October 1768	22 March 1782	Prime Minister from 28 January 1770 First Lord of the Treasury from 28 January 1770 Chancellor of the Exchequer	Tory		Grafton (Whig–Tory)
								North
		Charles James Fox MP for Westminster	27 March 1782	July 1782	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Whig		Rockingham II
		Thomas Townshend MP for Whitchurch	10 July 1782	6 March 1783	Secretary of State for the Home Department			Shelburne (Whig–Tory)
		Charles James Fox MP for Westminster	2 April 1783	19 December 1783	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs			Fox–North
		Frederick North Lord North MP for Banbury			Secretary of State for the Home Department	Tory
		William Pitt 'the Younger' MP for Appleby until 1784 MP for Cambridge University from 1784	19 December 1783	14 March 1801	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer			Pitt I
		Henry Addington MP for Devizes	17 March 1801	10 May 1804				Addington
		William Pitt 'the Younger' MP for Cambridge University	10 May 1804	23 January 1806†				Pitt II
		Charles James Fox MP for Westminster	February 1806	13 September 1806†	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Whig		All the Talents
		Charles Grey Viscount Howick MP for Northumberland	September 1806	31 March 1807
		Spencer Perceval MP for Northampton	April 1807	11 May 1812†	Chancellor of the Exchequer Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Prime Minister from October 1809 First Lord of the Treasury from October 1809	Tory		Portland II
								Perceval
		Robert Stewart Viscount Castlereagh MP for Down until 1821 MP for Orford from 1821 The Marquess of Londonderry from 1821	June 1812	12 August 1822†	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs			Liverpool
		George Canning MP for Liverpool until 1823 MP for Harwich 1823–1826 MP for Newport 1826–1827 MP for Seaford from 1827	16 September 1822	8 August 1827†	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs until April 1827 Prime Minister from April 1827 First Lord of the Treasury from April 1827 Chancellor of the Exchequer from April 1827
								Canning (Canningite–Whig)
		William Huskisson MP for Liverpool	3 September 1827	21 January 1828	Secretary of State for War and the Colonies			Goderich (Canningite–Whig)
		Robert Peel MP for Oxford University until 1829 MP for Westbury from 1829	26 January 1828	16 November 1830	Secretary of State for the Home Department			Wellington–Peel
		John Spencer Viscount Althorp MP for Northamptonshire until 1832 MP for South Northamptonshire from 1832	22 November 1830	14 November 1834	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig		Grey
								Melbourne I
Vacant			14 November 1834	10 December 1834				Wellington Caretaker
		Robert Peel MP for Tamworth	10 December 1834	8 April 1835	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative		Peel I
		Lord John Russell MP for Stroud	18 April 1835	30 August 1841	Secretary of State for the Home Department until August 1839 Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from August 1839	Whig		Melbourne II
		Robert Peel MP for Tamworth	30 August 1841	29 June 1846	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative		Peel II
		Lord John Russell MP for City of London	30 June 1846	21 February 1852	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Whig		Russell I
		Benjamin Disraeli MP for Buckinghamshire	27 February 1852	17 December 1852	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative		Who? Who?
		Lord John Russell MP for City of London	28 December 1852	30 January 1855	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs until February 1853 Minister without Portfolio February 1853 – June 1854 Lord President of the Council from June 1854	Whig		Aberdeen (Peelite–Whig)
		Henry John Temple The Viscount Palmerston MP for Tiverton	6 February 1855	19 February 1858	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury			Palmerston I
		Benjamin Disraeli MP for Buckinghamshire	26 February 1858	11 June 1859	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative		Derby–Disraeli II
		Henry John Temple The Viscount Palmerston MP for Tiverton	12 June 1859	18 October 1865†	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Liberal		Palmerston II
		William Ewart Gladstone MP for South Lancashire	October 1865	26 June 1866	Chancellor of the Exchequer			Russell II
		Benjamin Disraeli MP for Buckinghamshire	6 July 1866	1 December 1868	Chancellor of the Exchequer until February 1868 Prime Minister from February 1868 First Lord of the Treasury from February 1868	Conservative		Derby–Disraeli III
		William Ewart Gladstone MP for Greenwich	3 December 1868	17 February 1874	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer from August 1873	Liberal		Gladstone I
		Benjamin Disraeli MP for Buckinghamshire	20 February 1874	21 August 1876	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative		Disraeli II
		Stafford Northcote MP for Devonshire North	21 August 1876	21 April 1880	Chancellor of the Exchequer
		William Ewart Gladstone MP for Midlothian	23 April 1880	9 June 1885	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer until December 1882	Liberal		Gladstone II
		Michael Hicks-Beach MP for Bristol West	24 June 1885	28 January 1886	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative		Salisbury I
		William Ewart Gladstone MP for Midlothian	1 February 1886	2 July 1886	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Lord Privy Seal	Liberal		Gladstone III
		Lord Randolph Churchill MP for Paddington South	3 August 1886	14 January 1887	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative		Salisbury II
		W. H. Smith MP for Strand	17 January 1887	October 1891	First Lord of the Treasury
		Arthur Balfour MP for Manchester East	October 1891	11 August 1892
		William Ewart Gladstone MP for Midlothian	15 August 1892	2 March 1894	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Lord Privy Seal	Liberal		Gladstone IV
		William Harcourt MP for Derby	2 March 1894	21 June 1895	Chancellor of the Exchequer			Rosebery
		Arthur Balfour[7] MP for Manchester East	29 June 1895	4 December 1905	Prime Minister from July 1902 First Lord of the Treasury Lord Privy Seal July 1902 – October 1903	Conservative		Salisbury (III & IV) (Con.–Lib.U.)
								Balfour (Con.–Lib.U.)
		Henry Campbell-Bannerman[7] MP for Stirling Burghs	5 December 1905	5 April 1908	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Liberal		Campbell-Bannerman
		H. H. Asquith[7] MP for East Fife	5 April 1908	5 December 1916	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Secretary of State for War March – August 1914			Asquith (I–III)
								Asquith Coalition (Lib.–Con.–Lab.)
		Bonar Law[7] MP for Bootle until 1918 MP for Glasgow Central from 1918	10 December 1916	23 March 1921	Chancellor of the Exchequer until January 1919 Lord Privy Seal from January 1919	Conservative		Lloyd George (I & II) (Lib.–Con.–Lab.)
		Austen Chamberlain[7] MP for Birmingham West	23 March 1921	19 October 1922	Lord Privy Seal
		Bonar Law[7] MP for Glasgow Central	23 October 1922	20 May 1923	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury			Law
		Stanley Baldwin[7] MP for Bewdley	22 May 1923	22 January 1924	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer until August 1923			Baldwin I
		Ramsay MacDonald[7] MP for Aberavon	22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Labour		MacDonald I
		Stanley Baldwin[7] MP for Bewdley	4 November 1924	4 June 1929	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative		Baldwin II
		Ramsay MacDonald[7] MP for Seaham	5 June 1929	7 June 1935		Labour		MacDonald II
						National Labour		National I (N.Lab.–Con.–Lib.N. –Lib.)
								National II (N.Lab.–Con.–Lib.N. –Lib. until 1932)
		Stanley Baldwin[7] MP for Bewdley	7 June 1935	28 May 1937		Conservative		National III (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)
		Neville Chamberlain[7] MP for Birmingham Edgbaston	28 May 1937	10 May 1940				National IV (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)
								Chamberlain War (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)
		Winston Churchill[7] MP for Epping	10 May 1940	19 February 1942	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Minister of Defence			Churchill War (All parties)
		Stafford Cripps[7] MP for Bristol East	19 February 1942	22 November 1942	Lord Privy Seal	Independent
		Anthony Eden[7] MP for Warwick and Leamington	22 November 1942	26 July 1945	Foreign Secretary	Conservative
								Churchill Caretaker (Con.–N.Lib.)
		Herbert Morrison[7] MP for Lewisham East until 1950 MP for Lewisham South from 1950	27 July 1945	9 March 1951	Deputy Prime Minister Lord President of the Council	Labour		Attlee (I & II)
		James Chuter Ede[7] MP for South Shields	9 March 1951	26 October 1951	Secretary of State for the Home Department
		Harry Crookshank[7] MP for Gainsborough	28 October 1951	20 December 1955	Minister of Health until May 1952 Lord Privy Seal from May 1952	Conservative		Churchill III
								Eden
		R. A. Butler[7] MP for Saffron Walden	20 December 1955	9 October 1961	Lord Privy Seal until October 1959 Secretary of State for the Home Department from January 1957
								Macmillan (I & II)
		Iain Macleod[7] MP for Enfield West	9 October 1961	20 October 1963	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
		Selwyn Lloyd[7] MP for Wirral	20 October 1963	16 October 1964	Lord Privy Seal			Douglas-Home
		Herbert Bowden[7] MP for Leicester South West	16 October 1964	11 August 1966	Lord President of the Council	Labour		Wilson (I & II)
		Richard Crossman[7] MP for Coventry East	11 August 1966	18 October 1968
		Fred Peart[7] MP for Workington	18 October 1968	19 June 1970
		William Whitelaw[7] MP for Penrith and The Border	20 June 1970	7 April 1972		Conservative		Heath
		Robert Carr[7] MP for Mitcham	7 April 1972	5 November 1972
		Jim Prior[7] MP for Lowestoft	5 November 1972	4 March 1974
		Edward Short[7] MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central	5 March 1974	8 April 1976		Labour		Wilson (III & IV)
		Michael Foot[7] MP for Ebbw Vale	8 April 1976	4 May 1979				Callaghan
		Norman St John-Stevas[7] MP for Chelmsford	5 May 1979	5 January 1981	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Minister for the Arts	Conservative		Thatcher I
		Francis Pym[7] MP for Cambridgeshire	5 January 1981	5 April 1982	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster until September 1981 Lord President of the Council from September 1981
		John Biffen[7] MP for Oswestry until 1983 MP for Shropshire North from 1983	5 April 1982	13 June 1987	Lord President of the Council until June 1983 Lord Privy Seal from 11 June 1983
								Thatcher II
		John Wakeham[7] MP for South Colchester and Maldon	13 June 1987	24 July 1989	Lord Privy Seal until January 1988 Lord President of the Council from 10 January 1988			Thatcher III
		Geoffrey Howe[7] MP for East Surrey	24 July 1989	2 November 1990	Lord President of the Council Deputy Prime Minister
		John MacGregor[7] MP for South Norfolk	2 November 1990	10 April 1992	Lord President of the Council
								Major I
		Tony Newton[8] MP for Braintree	10 April 1992	2 May 1997				Major II
		Ann Taylor[9] MP for Dewsbury	2 May 1997	27 July 1998		Labour		Blair I
		Margaret Beckett[10] MP for Derby South	27 July 1998	8 June 2001
		Robin Cook[11] MP for Livingston	8 June 2001	17 March 2003				Blair II
		John Reid[12] MP for Hamilton North and Bellshill	4 April 2003	13 June 2003
		Peter Hain[13] MP for Neath	11 June 2003	6 May 2005	Lord Privy Seal Secretary of State for Wales
		Geoff Hoon[14] MP for Ashfield	6 May 2005	5 May 2006	Lord Privy Seal			Blair III
		Jack Straw[15] MP for Blackburn	5 May 2006	27 June 2007
		Harriet Harman[16] MP for Camberwell and Peckham	28 June 2007	11 May 2010	Lord Privy Seal Minister for Women and Equality			Brown
		George Young[17] MP for North West Hampshire	12 May 2010	3 September 2012	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative		Cameron–Clegg (Con.–L.D.)
		Andrew Lansley[18] MP for South Cambridgeshire	4 September 2012	14 July 2014
		William Hague[19] MP for Richmond (Yorks)	14 July 2014	8 May 2015	First Secretary of State
		Chris Grayling[20] MP for Epsom and Ewell	9 May 2015	14 July 2016	Lord President of the Council			Cameron II
		David Lidington[21] MP for Aylesbury	14 July 2016	11 June 2017				May I
		Andrea Leadsom[22] MP for South Northamptonshire	11 June 2017	22 May 2019				May II
		Mel Stride[23] MP for Central Devon	23 May 2019	24 July 2019
		Jacob Rees-Mogg[24] MP for North East Somerset	24 July 2019	8 February 2022				Johnson I
								Johnson II
		Mark Spencer[25] MP for Sherwood	8 February 2022	6 September 2022
		Penny Mordaunt[26] MP for Portsmouth North	6 September 2022	5 July 2024				Truss
								Sunak
		Lucy Powell MP for Manchester Central	5 July 2024	Incumbent		Labour		Starmer

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.^[6] At other times, a Deputy Leader of the House of Commons was appointed merely to enhance an individual politician's standing within the government.^{[citation needed]}

The title has been in use since 1942, but was not used from the 2019 dissolution of the Second May ministry to 2022, when it was revived by Boris Johnson.^[27] This was shortlived however, as it was abolished by Liz Truss after she became Prime Minister a few months later.^[28]

List of Deputy Leaders of the House of Commons

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

See also

• Leader of the House of Lords
• Speaker of the House of Commons
• Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
• Minister for Parliamentary Business, the equivalent cabinet post in the Scottish Government