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Lord President of the Council

United Kingdom official position From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lord President of the Council
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The Lord President of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. The Lord President usually attends and is responsible for chairing the meetings of the Privy Council, presenting business for the approval of the Sovereign.

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The office and its history

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The Privy Council meets once a month, wherever the sovereign may be residing at the time, to give formal approval to Orders in Council.[3] 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 typical for the Lord President also to serve as Leader of the House of Commons or Leader of the House of Lords. The Lord President has no role in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

In the history of British government, the President of the Council is a relatively recent creation. The first certain appointment to the office being that of the Duke of Suffolk in 1529.[4] Although there is a reference to Edmund Dudley serving as 'president of the council' in 1497, it was only in 1529 that the role was given the style and precedence of a Great Officer of State by act of Parliament (21 Hen. 8. c. 20).[5] Prior to 1679 there were several periods in which the office was left vacant. During coronations of the monarch, the Lord President carries the Sword of State.[6]

In the 19th century, the Lord President was generally the cabinet member responsible for the education system, amongst his 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.

During times of National or coalition government the office of Lord President has sometimes been held by the leader of a minority party (e.g. Baldwin 1931–1935, MacDonald 1935–1937, Attlee 1943–1945, Clegg 2010–2015). It has been suggested that the office has been intermittently used for Prime Ministerial deputies in the past.[clarification needed][7][8]

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 which dealt with the country's economic problems. This 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.[9] The so-called 'overlord ministers' included Frederick 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.[10] The historian Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield 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.[11]

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.[12][13][14] Examples of this practice are the meetings in New Zealand in 1990 and 1995, when Geoffrey Palmer and James Bolger respectively were acting Lords President.

Andrea Leadsom's appointment in June 2017 was the first in some time where the post holder was not a full Cabinet member.[15]

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Role and responsibilities

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Routine functions

"The Privy Council is the mechanism through which interdepartmental agreement is reached on those items of Government business which, for historical or other reasons, fall to Ministers as Privy Counsellors rather than as Departmental Ministers."[16]

The routine functions of the lord president are as follows:

  1. Preside at Privy Council meetings, including any emergency meetings, and attend to both ministerial correspondence and parliamentary questions relating to Privy Council business.[17]
  2. Consider for approval prerogative and statutory Orders in Council.[18] Prerogative orders deal with the basic functioning of the British state and are thus applicable under a number of circumstances, including but not limited to the prorogation of Parliament, the granting, amendment, and revocation of royal charters, the appointment of high sheriffs, or the governance of British Overseas Territories.[19][20][21][22] On the other hand, statutory orders are a form of delegated legislation conferred on His Majesty's Government by Parliament for the purposes of creating detailed regulations through rulemaking.[23] Unlike prerogative orders, statutory Orders in Council are subject to parliamentary scrutiny.[24] As a consequence, most Orders in Council operate on statutory footing as opposed to the common law authorities conferred by the royal prerogative.[25]
  3. Consider for approval Orders of Council concerning various matters of state, namely appointments to and regulation of professional bodies and institutions of higher education. Unlike Orders in Council which are enacted by the sovereign on the advice of the Privy Council, Orders of Council are enacted by the Privy Council itself pursuant to statutory authority conferred by Parliament.[26][27][28]
  4. As a member of the Privy Council's Committee for the Affairs of Jersey and Guernsey, review laws passed by the bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and make recommendations to the sovereign concerning their approval.[29][30]

Visitorial functions

In addition to his or her routine functions, the lord president also serves as the visitor for several English universities, including:[31]

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Partial list of Lords President of the Council

Lords President of the Council (c. 1530–1702)

More information Term of office ...

Lords President of the Council (1702–present)

More information Term of office, Other ministerial portfolios held during tenure ...
  1. [N 1]
    Marquess of Carmarthen from 1689, created Duke of Leeds in 1694
  2. [N 2]
    Served as Secretary of State for the Northern Department from February 1721
  3. [N 3]
    Served as Secretary of State for the Northern Department from November 1744
  4. [N 4]
    Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from December 1750
  5. [N 5]
    Baron Camden from 1765; created Earl Camden and Viscount Bayham in 1786[32]
  6. [N 6]
    Lord Privy Seal until February 1798
  7. [N 7]
    Earl of Ripon and Earl de Grey from 1859; created Marquess of Ripon in 1871[33]
  8. [N 8]
    Served Leader of the House of Lords until August 1876
  9. [N 9]
    Served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from May 1882
  10. [N 10]
    Served as Lord Privy Seal until March 1885
  11. [N 11]
    Served as Secretary of State for War from January 1886
  12. [N 12]
    Served as President of the Board of Education March 1900 – July 1902
  13. [N 13]
    Served as Leader of the House of Lords from July 1902
  14. [N 14]
    Served as Secretary of State for India March 1911– May 1911
  15. [N 15]
    Served as President of the Board of Trade from August 1916
  16. [N 16]
    MP for City of London until 1922; thereafter created Earl of Balfour and Viscount Traprain and joined the House of Lords[34]
  17. [N 17]
    Served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster until May 1923
  18. [N 18]
    Served as Lord Privy Seal September 1932 – December 1933
  19. [N 19]
    MP for Seaham until 1935; returned to Parliament as MP for Combined Scottish Universities in 1936[35]
  20. [N 20]
    Served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from February 1938
  21. [N 21]
    MP for Lewisham East until 1950; MP for Lewisham South thereafter.[36]
  22. [N 22]
    Viscount Hailsham until 1963 when disclaimed under the Peerage Act 1963; returned to Parliament as MP for St. Marylebone in 1963[37]
  23. [N 23]
    Served as Leader of the House of Lords until October 1963
  24. [N 24]
    Served as Minister for Science from October 1963 – April 1964
  25. [N 25]
    Served as Secretary of State for Education and Science from April 1964
  26. [N 26]
    With special responsibility for political and constitutional reform
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Timeline

Lucy PowellPenny MordauntMark Spencer (British politician)Jacob Rees-MoggMel StrideAndrea LeadsomDavid LidingtonChris GraylingNick CleggPeter MandelsonJanet RoyallCatherine AshtonValerie AmosGareth Williams, Baron Williams of MostynJohn Reid, Baron Reid of CardowanRobin CookMargaret BeckettAnn Taylor, Baroness Taylor of BoltonTony Newton, Baron Newton of BraintreeJohn MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham MarketGeoffrey HoweJohn WakehamJohn BiffenFrancis PymNorman St John-StevasMichael FootEdward Short, Baron GlenamaraJim PriorRobert CarrWilliam WhitelawFred PeartRichard CrossmanHerbert BowdenQuintin Hogg, 2nd Viscount HalishamAlec Douglas-HomeRobert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of SailsburyChristopher AddisonHerbert MorrisonFrederick MarquisClement AttleeJohn Anderson, 1st Viscount WaverleyNeville ChamberlainJames Stanhope, 7th Earl StanhopeWalter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of DoxfordDouglas Hogg, 1st Viscount HalishamEdward Wood, 3rd Viscount HalifaxRamsay MacDonaldStanley BaldwinCharles CrippsJames Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of SalisburyArthur BalfourGeorge Curzon, 1st Earl Curzon of KedlestonJohn MorleyWilliam Lygon, 7th Earl BeuchampHenry Fowler, 1st Viscount WolverhamptonEdward Majoribanks, 2nd Baron TweedmouthRobert Crewe-MilnesCharles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of LondonderrySpencer CavendishArchibald Primrose, 5th Earl of RoseberyJohn Wodehouse, 1st Earl of KimberleyGathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Viscount CranbrookChichester Parkinson-FortescueJohn Spencer, 5th Earl SpencerCharles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of RichmondHenry Bruce, 1st Baron AberdareGeorge Robinson, 1st Marquess of RiponJohn Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of MarlboroughRichard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and ChandosJames Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of SalisburyJohn Russell, 1st Earl RussellGranville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl GranvilleWilliam Lowther, 2nd Earl of LonsdaleWalter Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of BuccleuchJames Stuart-Wortley, 1st Baron WharncliffeJames St Clair-Erskine, 2nd Earl of RosslynHenry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of LansdowneHenry Bathurst, 3rd Earl BathurstWilliam Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 4th Duke of PortlandDudley Ryder, 1st Earl of HarrowbyJohn Prat, 2nd Earl CamdenHenry AddingtonWilliam Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of PortlandJohn Pitt, 2nd Earl of ChathamDavid Murray, 2nd Earl of MansfieldWilliam Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl FitzwilliamDavid Murray, 7th Viscount StormontCharles Pratt, 1st Baron CamdenHenry Bathurst, 2nd Earl BathurstGranville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl GowerRobert Henley, 1st Earl of NorthingtonDaniel Finch, 8th Earl of WinchilseaJohn Russell, 4th Duke of BedfordJohn CarteretLionel Sackville, 1st Duke of DorsetWilliam Stanhope, 1st Earl of HarringtonSpencer Compton, 1sst Earl of WilmingtonThomas Trevor, 1st Baron TrevorHenry Boyle, 1st Baron CarletonCharles Townshend, 2nd Viscount TownshendEvelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-HullCharles Spencer, 3rd Earl of SunderlandWilliam Cavendish, 2nd Duke of DevonshireDaniel Finch, 2nd Earl of NottinghamJohn Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and NormanbyLaurence Hyde, 1st Earl of RochesterJohn SomersThomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke

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