Leader of the House of Commons

For the historic position in Northern Ireland, see Minister and Leader of the House of Commons.

Leader of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
The Crowned Portcullis Office of the Leader of the House of Commons
Incumbent The Right Honourable Andrew Lansley CBE MP since 4 September 2012
Department	Office of the Leader of the House of Commons
Style	The Right Honourable
Appointer	Elizabeth II as the Sovereign, on the advice of the Prime Minister
Inaugural holder	Sir Robert Walpole
Formation	4 April 1721
Website	www.commonsleader.gov.uk

The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons. Although at one time the position was usually held by the Prime Minister, in recent years, the post has usually been combined with that of Lord President of the Council (i.e., of the Privy Council); from 2003 it has been combined instead with the office of Lord Privy Seal.

The House of Commons devotes approximately three quarters of its time to Government business, such as bills introduced by the government and ministerial statements. The Leader of the House, with the parties' chief whips ("the usual channels"), is responsible for organising the government business and providing time for non-government business to be put before the House, and announces the next week's schedule in the Business Statement each Thursday.

When there is no Deputy Prime Minister, or the Deputy Prime Minister is unavailable, the Leader of the House may stand in for an absent Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions.

Jointly administered by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons and the Cabinet Office are the Osmotherly Rules, which set out guidance on how civil servants should respond to parliamentary select committees.

Leaders of the House of Commons since 1721

At times the nominal leadership was held by the Prime Minister but the day to day work was done by a Deputy. At other times a Deputy was appointed merely to enhance an individual politician's standing within the government.

18th century

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Offices held in conjunction	Political Party	Prime Minister
	Sir Robert Walpole		4 April 1721	6 February 1742	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig	Himself
	Samuel Sandys		12 February 1742	27 August 1743	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig	The Earl of Wilmington
	Henry Pelham		27 August 1743	6 March 1754	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig	Himself
	Thomas Robinson		23 March 1754	October 1755	Southern Secretary	Whig	The Duke of Newcastle
	Henry Fox		14 November 1755	13 November 1756	Southern Secretary	Whig
	William Pitt the Elder		4 December 1756	6 April 1757	Southern Secretary	Whig	The Duke of Devonshire
	Vacant (Caretaker Ministry)		1757
	William Pitt the Elder		27 June 1757	6 October 1761	Southern Secretary	Whig	The Duke of Newcastle
	George Grenville		October 1761	May 1762	Treasurer of the Navy	Grenvillite Whig
	Henry Fox		May 1762	April 1763	Paymaster of the Forces	Whig	The Earl of Bute
	George Grenville		16 April 1763	13 July 1765	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Grenvillite Whig	Himself
	Henry Seymour Conway		July 1765	20 October 1768	Southern Secretary 1765–66 Northern Secretary 1766–68	Rockinghamite Whig	The Marquess of Rockingham 1765–66
							The Earl of Chatham 1766–68
	Lord North		October 1768	22 March 1782	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1768–82 Prime Minister 1770–82	Tory	The Duke of Grafton 1768–70
							Himself 1770–82
	Charles James Fox		27 March 1782	July 1782	Foreign Secretary	Whig	The Marquess of Rockingham
	Thomas Townshend		10 July 1782	6 March 1783	Home Secretary	Whig	The Earl of Shelburne
	Charles James Fox and Lord North	Fox North	2 April 1783	19 December 1783	Home Secretary (North) Foreign Secretary (Fox)	Fox-North Coalition	The Duke of Portland
	William Pitt the Younger		19 December 1783	14 March 1801	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Pittite Tory	Himself

19th century

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Offices held in conjunction	Political Party	Prime Minister
	Henry Addington		17 March 1801	10 May 1804	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Pittite Tory	Himself
	William Pitt the Younger		10 May 1804	23 January 1806 (died)	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Pittite Tory	Himself
	Charles James Fox		February 1806	13 September 1806 (died)	Foreign Secretary	Whig (Ministry of All the Talents)	Lord Grenville
	Viscount Howick		September 1806	31 March 1807	Foreign Secretary
	Spencer Perceval		April 1807	11 May 1812 (died)	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1807–12 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1807–12 Prime Minister 1809–12	Tory	The Duke of Portland 1807–09
							Himself 1809–12
	Viscount Castlereagh		June 1812	12 August 1822 (died)	Foreign Secretary	Tory	Lord Liverpool 1812–27
	George Canning		16 September 1822	8 August 1827 (died)	Foreign Secretary 1822–27 Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1827	Canningite Tory
							Himself 1827
	William Huskisson		3 September 1827	21 January 1828	War and Colonial Secretary	Canningite Tory	The Viscount Goderich
	Robert Peel		26 January 1828	16 November 1830	Home Secretary	Tory	The Duke of Wellington
	Viscount Althorp		22 November 1830	14 November 1834	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig	The Viscount Melbourne
	Sir Robert Peel, Bt		10 December 1834	8 April 1835	Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	Himself
	Lord John Russell		18 April 1835	30 August 1841	Home Secretary 1835–39 War and Colonial Secretary 1839–41	Whig	The Viscount Melbourne
	Sir Robert Peel, Bt		30 August 1841	29 June 1846	Prime Minister	Conservative	Himself
	Lord John Russell		30 June 1846	21 February 1852	Prime Minister	Whig	Himself
	Benjamin Disraeli		27 February 1852	17 December 1852	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	The Earl of Derby
	Lord John Russell		28 December 1852	30 January 1855	Foreign Secretary 1852–53 Minister without Portfolio 1853–54 Lord President of the Council 1854–55	Whig (Coalition)	The Earl of Aberdeen
	Viscount Palmerston		6 February 1855	19 February 1858	Prime Minister	Whig	Himself
	Benjamin Disraeli		26 February 1858	11 June 1859	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	The Earl of Derby
	Viscount Palmerston		12 June 1859	18 October 1865 (died)	Prime Minister	Liberal	Himself
	William Ewart Gladstone		October 1865	26 June 1866	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Liberal	The Earl Russell
	Benjamin Disraeli		6 July 1866	1 December 1868	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1866–68 Prime Minister 1868	Conservative	The Earl of Derby 1866–68
							Himself 1868
	William Ewart Gladstone		3 December 1868	17 February 1874	Prime Minister 1868–74 Chancellor of the Exchequer 1873–74	Liberal	Himself
	Benjamin Disraeli		20 February 1874	21 August 1876	Prime Minister	Conservative	Himself
	Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt		21 August 1876	21 April 1880	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	The Earl of Beaconsfield
	William Ewart Gladstone		23 April 1880	9 June 1885	Prime Minister 1880–85 Chancellor of the Exchequer 1880–82	Liberal	Himself
	Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Bt		24 June 1885	28 January 1886	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	The Marquess of Salisbury
	William Ewart Gladstone		1 February 1886	2 July 1886	Prime Minister and Lord Privy Seal	Liberal	Himself
	Lord Randolph Churchill		3 August 1886	14 January 1887	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	The Marquess of Salisbury
	W. H. Smith		17 January 1887	October 1891	First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative
	Arthur Balfour		October 1891	11 August 1892	First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative
	William Ewart Gladstone		15 August 1892	2 March 1894	Prime Minister and Lord Privy Seal	Liberal	Himself
	Sir William Vernon Harcourt		2 March 1894	21 June 1895	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Liberal	The Earl of Rosebery
	Arthur Balfour		29 June 1895	4 December 1905	First Lord of the Treasury 1895–1905 Prime Minister 1902–05 Lord Privy Seal 1902–03	Conservative	The Marquess of Salisbury 1895–1902
							Himself 1902–05

20th century

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Offices held in conjunction	Political Party	Prime Minister
	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman		5 December 1905	5 April 1908	Prime Minister	Liberal	Himself
	H. H. Asquith		5 April 1908	5 December 1916	Prime Minister 1908–16 War Secretary 1914	Liberal (Coalition 1915–16)	Himself
	Andrew Bonar Law		10 December 1916	23 March 1921	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1916–19 Lord Privy Seal 1919–21	Conservative (Coalition)	David Lloyd George
	Austen Chamberlain		23 March 1921	19 October 1922	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative (Coalition)
	Andrew Bonar Law		23 October 1922	20 May 1923	Prime Minister	Conservative	Himself
	Stanley Baldwin		22 May 1923	22 January 1924	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1923 Prime Minister 1923–24	Conservative	Himself
	Ramsay MacDonald Deputy: J. R. Clynes		22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary	Labour	Himself
	Stanley Baldwin Deputy: Austen Chamberlain		4 November 1924	4 June 1929	Prime Minister	Conservative	Himself
	Ramsay MacDonald		5 June 1929	7 June 1935	Prime Minister	Labour	Himself
						National Labour (National Govt 1931–35)
	Stanley Baldwin Deputy: Sir John Simon		7 June 1935	28 May 1937	Prime Minister	Conservative (National Govt 1935–37)	Himself
	Neville Chamberlain		28 May 1937	10 May 1940	Prime Minister	Conservative (National Govt 1937–39; War Govt 1939–40)	Himself
	Winston Churchill Deputy: Clement Attlee		10 May 1940	19 February 1942	Prime Minister Minister of Defence	Conservative (Coalition)	Winston Churchill
	Sir Stafford Cripps		19 February 1942	22 November 1942	Lord Privy Seal	Independent (Coalition)
	Anthony Eden		22 February 1942	26 July 1945	Foreign Secretary	Conservative (Coalition)
	Herbert Morrison		27 July 1945	9 March 1951	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Clement Attlee
	James Chuter Ede		9 March 1951	26 October 1951	Home Secretary	Labour
	Harry Crookshank		28 October 1951	20 December 1955	Minister of Health 1951–52 Lord Privy Seal 1952–55	Conservative	Sir Winston Churchill
							Sir Anthony Eden
	R. A. Butler		20 December 1955	9 October 1961	Lord Privy Seal 1955–59 Home Secretary 1957–61	Conservative
							Harold Macmillan
	Iain Macleod		9 October 1961	20 October 1963	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster	Conservative
	Selwyn Lloyd		20 October 1963	16 October 1964	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative	Sir Alec Douglas-Home
	Herbert Bowden		16 October 1964	11 August 1966	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Harold Wilson
	Richard Crossman		11 August 1966	18 October 1968	Lord President of the Council	Labour
	Fred Peart		18 October 1968	19 June 1970	Lord President of the Council	Labour
	William Whitelaw		20 June 1970	7 April 1972	Lord President of the Council	Conservative	Edward Heath
	Robert Carr		7 April 1972	5 November 1972	Lord President of the Council	Conservative
	James Prior		5 November 1972	4 March 1974	Lord President of the Council	Conservative
	Edward Short		5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Harold Wilson
	Michael Foot		8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Lord President of the Council	Labour	James Callaghan
	Norman St John-Stevas		5 May 1979	5 January 1981	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Minister for the Arts	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher
	Francis Pym		5 January 1981	5 April 1982	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1981 Lord President of the Council 1981–82	Conservative
	John Biffen		5 April 1982	13 June 1987	Lord President of the Council 1982–83 Lord Privy Seal 1983–87	Conservative
	John Wakeham		13 June 1987	24 July 1989	Lord Privy Seal 1987–88 Lord President of the Council 1988–89	Conservative
	Sir Geoffrey Howe		24 July 1989	2 November 1990	Lord President of the Council and Deputy Prime Minister	Conservative
	John MacGregor		2 November 1990	10 April 1992	Lord President of the Council	Conservative
							John Major
	Tony Newton		10 April 1992	1 May 1997	Lord President of the Council	Conservative
	Ann Taylor		2 May 1997	27 July 1998	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Tony Blair
	Margaret Beckett		27 July 1998	8 June 2001	Lord President of the Council	Labour

21st century

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Offices held in conjunction	Political Party	Prime Minister
	Robin Cook		8 June 2001	17 March 2003	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Tony Blair
	John Reid		4 April 2003	13 June 2003	Lord President of the Council	Labour
	Peter Hain		11 June 2003	6 May 2005	Lord Privy Seal	Labour
	Geoff Hoon		6 May 2005	5 May 2006	Lord Privy Seal	Labour
	Jack Straw		5 May 2006	27 June 2007	Lord Privy Seal	Labour
	Harriet Harman		28 June 2007	11 May 2010	Lord Privy Seal Minister for Women and Equality	Labour	Gordon Brown
	Sir George Young, Bt		12 May 2010	3 September 2012	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative	David Cameron (Coalition)
	Andrew Lansley		4 September 2012	Incumbent	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative

See also

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

External links

• Official website