In the United Kingdom, a minister without portfolio is often a cabinet position, or often attends cabinet. The role is sometimes used to enable the chairman of the governing party, contemporarily either the chairman of the Conservative Party or the chair of the Labour Party, to attend cabinet meetings. (If so, they hold the title of "Party chairman".) The sinecure positions of Lord Privy Seal, Paymaster General, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which have few responsibilities and have a higher rank in the order of precedence than minister without portfolio can also be used to similar effect. The corresponding shadow minister is the Shadow Minister without Portfolio.
List of office holders The Lord Somers, as part of the Townshend ministry Henry Seymour Conway, as part of the Chatham ministry and Grafton ministry
Minister Concurrent office(s) Tenure Political party Prime Minister William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland January 1805 –February 1806 Whig William Pitt the Younger William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam October 1806 –March 1807 William Grenville(Ministry of All the Talents) William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland 4 October 1809 –30 October 1809 Tory Spencer Perceval Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby November 1809 –June 1812 Tory (Pittite) John Pratt, 2nd Earl Camden (created 1st Marquess Camden, August 1812) 8 April 1812 –December 1812 Tory Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave January 1819 –May 1820 Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne April 1827 –July 1827 Whig George Canning William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland July 1827 –September 1827 Tory (Canningite) George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle 22 November 1830 –5 June 1834 Whig Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington 3 September 1841 –July 1846 Conservative Robert Peel Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne 28 December 1852 –21 February 1858 Whig George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen(until February 1855) Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston Lord John Russell February 1853 –June 1854 George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen Spencer Horatio Walpole May 1867 –February 1868 Conservative Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby Michael Hicks Beach 7 March 1887 –20 February 1888 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne 25 May 1915 –December 1916 Liberal Unionist H. H. Asquith(Coalition) Arthur Henderson Member of the War Cabinet 10 December 1916 –12 August 1917 Labour David Lloyd George(Coalition) Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner 10 December 1916 –18 April 1918 Conservative Jan Smuts 22 June 1917 –10 January 1919 South African Party Edward Carson 17 July 1917 –21 January 1918 Ulster Unionist Party (Irish Unionist) George Barnes Member of the War Cabinet (until October 1919) 13 August 1917 –27 January 1920 Labour Austen Chamberlain Member of the War Cabinet 18 April 1918 –10 January 1919 Conservative Eric Campbell Geddes 10 January 1919 –31 October 1919 Laming Worthington-Evans Member of the War Cabinet (until October 1919) 10 January 1919 –13 February 1921 Christopher Addison 1 April 1921 –14 July 1921 Liberal Anthony Eden Minister for League of Nations affairs 7 June 1935 –22 December 1935 Conservative Stanley Baldwin(Coalition) Eustace Percy 7 June 1935 –31 March 1936 Leslie Burgin Minister of Supply-designate 21 April 1939 –14 July 1939 National Liberal Party Neville Chamberlain(Coalition) Maurice Hankey Member of the War Cabinet September 1939 –10 May 1940 no party Neville Chamberlain(Coalition) Arthur Greenwood 11 May 1940 –22 February 1942 Labour Winston Churchill(Coalition) William Jowitt 30 December 1942 –8 October 1944 A. V. Alexander 4 October 1946 –20 December 1946 Labour Co-operative Clement Attlee Arthur Greenwood 17 April 1947 –29 September 1947 Labour Geoffrey FitzClarence, 5th Earl of Munster 18 October 1954 –1957 Conservative Winston Churchill Anthony Eden Stormont Mancroft, 2nd Baron Mancroft 11 June 1957 –1958 Harold Macmillan Henry Scrymgeour-Wedderburn, 11th Earl of Dundee 23 October 1958 –1961 Unionist Percy Mills, 1st Baron Mills Deputy Leader of the House of Lords 9 October 1961 –13 July 1962 Conservative Bill Deedes 13 July 1962 –16 October 1964 Alec Douglas-Home Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington Leader of the House of Lords 20 October 1963 –16 October 1964 Eric Fletcher 19 October 1964 –6 April 1966 Labour Harold Wilson Arthur Champion, Baron Champion Deputy Leader of the House of Lords 21 October 1964 –7 January 1967 Douglas Houghton 6 April 1966 –7 January 1967 Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton Deputy Leader of the House of Lords 7 January 1967 –16 January 1968 Patrick Gordon Walker 7 January 1967–21 August 1967 George Thomson 17 October 1968 –6 October 1969 Peter Shore 6 October 1969 –19 June 1970 Niall Macpherson, 1st Baron Drumalbyn 15 October 1970 –1974 Unionist Edward Heath Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare 8 January – March 1974 Conservative David Young, Baron Young of Graffham advising on unemployment 11 September 1984 –3 September 1985 Margaret Thatcher Jeremy Hanley Chairman of the Conservative Party 20 July 1994 –5 July 1995 John Major Brian Mawhinney 5 July 1995 –2 May 1997 Peter Mandelson called the "Dome Secretary" 5 May 1997 –26 July 1998 Labour Tony Blair Charles Clarke Labour Party Chair 8 June 2001 –24 October 2002 Labour Tony Blair John Reid 24 October 2002 –4 April 2003 Ian McCartney 4 April 2003 –5 May 2006 Hazel Blears 5 May 2006 –28 June 2007 no appointment 28 June 2007 –12 May 2010 Gordon Brown Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party 12 May 2010 –6 September 2012 Conservative David Cameron(Coalition) Grant Shapps 6 September 2012 –8 May 2015 Kenneth Clarke Trade envoy 6 September 2012 –14 July 2014 John Hayes Senior Parliamentary Adviser to the Prime Minister (Cabinet Office) 28 March 2013 –15 July 2014 Robert Halfon Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party 8 May 2015 –17 July 2016 David Cameron no appointment 17 July 2016 –8 January 2018 Theresa May Brandon Lewis Chairman of the Conservative Party 8 January 2018 –24 July 2019 James Cleverly 24 July 2019 –13 February 2020 Boris Johnson Amanda Milling 13 February 2020 –15 September 2021 Oliver Dowden 15 September 2021 –24 June 2022 no appointment 24 June 2022 –7 July 2022 Andrew Stephenson Chairman of the Conservative Party 7 July 2022 –6 September 2022 Sir Jake Berry 6 September 2022 –25 October 2022 Liz Truss Nadhim Zahawi 25 October 2022 –29 January 2023 Rishi Sunak Greg Hands 7 February 2023 –13 November 2023 Richard Holden 13 November 2023 –5 July 2024 Ellie Reeves Chair of the Labour Party 6 July 2024 –6 September 2025 Labour Keir Starmer Anna Turley 6 September 2025 –21 July 2026 no appointment 21 July 2026 –Present Labour Andy Burnham
See also Minister without portfolio
References