The Downing Street chief of staff is the most senior political appointee in the Office of the prime minister of the United Kingdom, acting as a senior aide to the prime minister. The chief of staff holds a highly powerful, non-ministerial position within His Majesty's Government.

The role of chief of staff initially had executive authority, vested by the prime minister, and at the time of its inception, was referred to as the most powerful unelected official in the UK and possibly ranked third in government, after the prime minister and the chancellor of the exchequer. Since 2007, the role does not have legal or executive authority, although the post holder remains, by definition, the senior adviser to the prime minister, and controls access to the prime minister and their staff.

From 1997 to 2019, and from November 2020, the title of chief of staff has been held by the most senior special adviser at Downing Street. Steve Barclay, the Member of Parliament for North East Cambridgeshire, served as chief of staff from February 2022 to July 2022, following the resignation of Dan Rosenfield. He was the first MP to serve in the role, and also retained his position as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and as a Cabinet minister. On 24 July 2019, Dominic Cummings was appointed as a senior adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and was described as the de facto chief of staff from 24 July 2019 to 13 November 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vidhya Alakeson and Jill Cuthbertson were the acting chiefs of staff, having replaced Morgan McSweeney, who was appointed to the position in October 2024 and resigned on 8 February 2026. Former government minister James Purnell was appointed to the role when Andy Burnham became Prime Minister.

Description The chief of staff is an appointed special adviser or a career civil servant who is personally and politically close to the prime minister. The responsibilities of the post have varied according to the wishes of the sitting prime minister. Since the chief of staff is at the centre of the Downing Street operation, he or she will always be influential and closely involved in government policy formulation and implementation, political strategy and communication, and generally advising the prime minister, in conjunction with their wider "ministerial adviser" colleagues.

History The first official chief of staff in 10 Downing Street was David Wolfson, under Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1985. The position of Downing Street Chief of Staff was recreated by Tony Blair upon his becoming prime minister in 1997 and Jonathan Powell held the post for ten years.

In 1997 Tony Blair gave his chief of staff, a special adviser, 'unprecedented powers' to issue orders to civil servants.Nick Assinder. Jonathan Powell BBC 14 July 2004. (Accessed 25 September 2007) Previously the Cabinet secretary had been the most senior non-ministerial figure in the British Government, and along with the principal private secretary to the prime minister had supported the prime minister in the running of 10 Downing Street. Following the creation of the role, the chief of staff supplanted the principal private secretary in running Downing Street operations and effectively replaced the power of the Cabinet secretary in terms of co-ordinating government policy.

Although the Cabinet secretary continued to be a highly important role, through remaining responsible for making sure that the civil service was organised effectively and was capable of delivering the Government's objectives, the chief of staff replaced the Cabinet Secretary as the "right-hand man" for the prime minister. "Powell had been at the epicentre of power. As Tony Blair's chief of staff, he was the ultimate fixer, the prime minister's first line of defence against events, baby-catcher in chief. When things went wrong, people called Powell."

When Powell stood down as chief of staff at the end of the Blair premiership in June 2007, the incoming prime minister, Gordon Brown, temporarily appointed civil servant Tom Scholar as both Downing Street chief of staff and principal private secretary to the prime minister. This was changed upon Scholar's scheduled departure in January 2008, when the title chief of staff was divided amongst two posts in an attempt to split the political policy communication role from the management of civil servants within Number 10. As such, senior civil servant Jeremy Heywood replaced Scholar as principal private secretary to the prime minister, a position he had held under Tony Blair several years earlier, with the role of chief of strategy and principal adviser to the prime minister (effectively chief of staff) being given to political adviser Stephen Carter.

After less than a year in the post Carter resigned, becoming a minister and receiving a peerage amid speculation that his 'chief of strategy' role had insufficient authority to direct cross-government operations; the position of chief of staff remained vacant for the remainder of the Brown Premiership. Upon David Cameron becoming prime minister in May 2010, Conservative adviser Edward Llewellyn was appointed as Downing Street chief of staff. Cameron also created the role of Downing Street deputy chief of staff, with responsibility for supporting the chief of staff, which was given to Catherine Fall.

Theresa May appointed two joint chiefs of staff in Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill upon becoming prime minister in 2016. Former minister Gavin Barwell succeeded Timothy and Hill after the 2017 general election. The formal title was out of use between July 2019 and November 2020, under prime minister Boris Johnson, when the role was overseen by Dominic Cummings as chief adviser and Edward Lister as chief strategic adviser; during this time, Cummings was noted to be the de facto chief of staff. When Cummings departed Downing Street, Johnson appointed Lister as acting chief of staff.

Lister was succeeded by Dan Rosenfield on a permanent basis. In February 2022, following months of scandal owing to Partygate, Rosenfield, alongside other senior aides Martin Reynolds, Munira Mirza and Jack Doyle, resigned. He was replaced by Steve Barclay, the first MP to hold the position. Barclay served concurrently as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, giving him notable power over Whitehall operations.

Five months later, the resignation of Sajid Javid during the July 2022 government crisis caused a vacancy in the office of Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Barclay was appointed to fill shortly before Boris Johnson's resignation as prime minister. While no successor was formally appointed, Simone Finn, Baroness Finn held the role in a de facto, acting capacity.

On 6 September 2022 Mark Fullbrook, a veteran Conservative party strategist was installed in the role as part of the incoming Truss ministry. Upon Rishi Sunak becoming prime minister on 25 October 2022, he installed long-term adviser Liam Booth-Smith as chief of staff, making Fullbrook the shortest-serving chief of staff in the office's history.

List of Downing Street chiefs of staff

+Downing Street chief of staff Chief of Staff Term of office DurationPeerage Party Ministry David WolfsonBaron Wolfson of Sunningdale Conservative Thatcher IThatcher II Vacant 2 September 1985 – 2 May 1997 Thatcher IIThatcher IIIMajor IMajor II Jonathan Powell Labour Blair IBlair IIBlair III Tom Scholar Independent Brown Vacant 23 January 2008 – 11 May 2010It has sometimes been claimed that Jeremy Heywood served as chief of staff from October 2008 – May 2010, but he himself maintained that this was not the case (see adjacently-cited Institute for Government article). Edward Llewellyn Baron Llewellyn of Steep Conservative Cameron–Clegg Cameron II Fiona Hill Both Received CBE for political and public service. May I Nick Timothy Gavin Barwell Baron Barwell May II Vacant 24 July 2019 – 13 November 2020 Johnson I Edward Lister, Baron Udny-Lister(Acting) Conservative Johnson II Dan Rosenfield Baron Rosenfield Independent Steve Barclay MP Conservative Simone Finn, Baroness Finn(acting; de facto) Mark Fullbrook Truss Liam Booth-Smith Baron Booth-Smith Sunak Sue Gray Baroness Gray of Tottenham Labour Starmer Morgan McSweeney February 8, 2026 Vidhya Alakeson 20 July 2026 Jill Cuthbertson James Purnell 20 July 2026 Incumbent Burnham Deputy chiefs of staff

+ Downing Street deputy chiefs of staff Deputy Chief of Staff Term of office Duration Peerage Chief(s) of Staff Prime Minister Ministry No formal Deputy Chief of Staff appointed before 1997 Pat McFadden 1997 2001 * Jonathan Powell Tony Blair Blair I Vacant 2001–2005 Various advisers performed deputy chief of staff functions during this period. Liz Lloyd 2005 27 June 2007 * Baroness Lloyd Jonathan Powell Tony Blair Blair III Gavin Kelly 27 June 2007 2010 * Tom ScholarStephen Carter Gordon Brown Brown Kate Fall 11 May 2010 13 July 2016 Baroness Fall Edward Llewellyn David Cameron Cameron–CleggCameron II Oliver Dowden 2012 2015 * Cameron II Joanna Penn July 2016 July 2019 * Baroness Penn Fiona Hill and Nick TimothyGavin Barwell Theresa May May IMay II Cleo Watson 2019 2020 * Dominic CummingsEdward Lister Boris Johnson Johnson I Katie Lam 2019 12 March 2021 * Dominic CummingsDan Rosenfield Johnson IJohnson II Henry Cook September 2020 January 2021 * Dan Rosenfield Johnson II Simone Finn 13 February 2021 6 September 2022 Baroness Finn Dan RosenfieldSteve Barclay Ben Gascoigne November 2021 5 July 2022 * Baron Gas coigne David Canzini February 2022 5 July 2022 * Steve Barclay Ruth Porter 6 September 2022 25 October 2022 Baroness Porter of Fulwood Mark Fullbrook Liz Truss Truss Will Tanner November 2022 July 2024 * Liam Booth-Smith Rishi Sunak Sunak Rupert Yorke November 2022 July 2024 * Vidhya Alakeson 6 October 2024 8 February 2026 Morgan McSweeney Keir Starmer Starmer Jill Cuthbertson 6 October 2024 8 February 2026 Alison Phillips 20 July 2026 Incumbent James Purnell Andy Burnham Burnham Caroline Simpson 20 July 2026 Incumbent Unofficial deputies NameOfficeTermBernard InghamPress Secretary to the Prime Minister1979–1990Charles PowellPrivate Secretary for Foreign Affairs to the Prime Minister1984–1991Sarah HoggDirector of the Policy Unit1990–1995Norman BlackwellDirector of the Policy Unit1995–1997Jeremy HeywoodPrincipal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister1999–2003Ivan RogersPrincipal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister2003–2005

See also Chief of staff Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister (Canada) Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister (Australia) White House Chief of Staff Prime Minister's Office

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