Ministerial ranking

{{short description|Ranking of senior ministers in the UK}} {{Use British English|date=January 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Politics of the United Kingdom}} The '''ministerial ranking''', '''Cabinet ranking''', '''order of precedence in Cabinet''' or '''order of precedence of ministers''' is the "pecking order"<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Hennessy|first=Peter|title=The Prime Minister: The Office and its Holders Since 1945|publisher=Penguin Group|year=2000|isbn=0713993405|location=|pages=63}}</ref> or relative importance<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Thornton|first1=Stephen|last2=Kirkup|first2=Jonathan|date=14 June 2021|title=From Rab to Raab: The Construction of the Office of First Secretary of State|journal=Parliamentary Affairs|volume=2021:0|pages=186–210|doi=10.1093/pa/gsab038|doi-access=free}}</ref> or order of authority of senior ministers in the UK government.

== Use == thumb|Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield wrote about the ministerial ranking, in his 2000 book ''The Prime Minister: The Office And Its Holders Since 1945''. The ministerial ranking is said by Peter Hennessy to be decided by the Prime Minister alone<ref name=":0" /> and the Cabinet Office Precedent Book notes it is wholly decided by the Prime Minister, "guided partly by tradition and partly by political and personal considerations".<ref name=":2" /> In his autobiography, David Cameron said that the ranking exercise "... combines seniority of post and the length of time as a cabinet minister to determine the rank of everyone present".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Cameron|first=David|title=For the Record|publisher=William Collins|year=2019|isbn=9780008239305|location=|pages=656}}</ref>

The Cabinet Manual states that when the Prime Minister is unable to attend Cabinet, or the chair and deputy chair of a Cabinet committee are absent, the next most senior minister in the ministerial ranking should take the chair.<ref>[https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/60641/cabinet-manual.pdf The Cabinet Manual] 2011, p. 35.</ref> Thus the ranking does have real consequence in the administrative practice of the government of the UK.

One constitutional law academic, Rodney Brazier, has suggested that if the Prime Minister were to die suddenly, the monarch could ask the Deputy Prime Minister, or if there was no such person available, the next most senior MP in the ministerial ranking to take temporary charge of the government.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brazier|first=Rodney|title=Choosing a Prime Minister: the Transfer of Power in Britain|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2020|isbn=9780198859291|location=|pages=87}}</ref>

== Importance == Hennessy says that it "... matters more than one thinks in establishing the power of a Prime Minister in relation to his most senior colleagues"<ref name=":0" /> and Harold Wilson has been noted to be one prime minister to take the ranking seriously.<ref name=":2" /> It has been noted that it was through the ministerial ranking rather than being first secretary that George Brown was able to exercise "deputising duties".<ref name=":2" /> It has also been reported that, upon his 1995 appointment as deputy prime minister and first secretary, Michael Heseltine also insisted that he became number two on the ministerial ranking.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Thornton|first1=Stephen|last2=Kirkup|first2=Jonathan|date=14 June 2021|title=From Rab to Raab: The Construction of the Office of First Secretary of State|journal=Parliamentary Affairs|volume=2021:0|pages=186–210|doi=10.1093/pa/gsab038|doi-access=free}}</ref>

However, David Cameron has stated that it was "something we had never bothered with"<ref name=":1" /> and Harold Macmillan has reportedly said that he would have preferred an order based on the traditional dignity of offices, deeming it "all rather nonsense".<ref name=":2" />

Additionally, in April 2020, when Boris Johnson was moved into intensive care with COVID-19, a government press release stated that he had asked First Secretary of State Dominic Raab "to deputise for him where necessary",<ref>{{cite web |title=Statement from Downing Street: 6 April 2020 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/statement-from-downing-street-6-april-2020 |access-date=2020-08-12 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}</ref> but the ministerial ranking on the parliament.uk website around the time showed Rishi Sunak technically ranking above Raab.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=2020-04-21|title=Her Majesty's Government: The Cabinet|url=https://members.parliament.uk/Government/Cabinet|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421083403/https://members.parliament.uk/Government/Cabinet|archive-date=2020-04-21|access-date=2020-08-12|website=}}</ref> <!--== List == This is a list of cabinet members by ministerial ranking as of 2023.<ref>{{cite web |title=His Majesty's Government: The Cabinet |url=https://members.parliament.uk/government/cabinet |website=Parliament.UK |access-date=16 July 2024}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|- | colspan=4 | 50px Starmer Ministry

|- ! --><!--Minister {{Small|Constituency}} ! Office(s) ! Department ! Took office

|- | scope="row" | '''Keir Starmer''' {{Small|MP for Holborn and St Pancras (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury | Cabinet Office | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Angela Rayner''' {{Small|MP for Ashton-under-Lyne (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Deputy Prime Minister<hr />Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government | Cabinet Office<hr />Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Rachel Reeves''' {{Small|MP for Leeds West and Pudsey (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Chancellor of the Exchequer Second Lord of the Treasury | HM Treasury | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Yvette Cooper''' {{Small|MP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for the Home Department | Home Office | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Ed Miliband''' {{Small|MP for Doncaster North (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero | Department for Energy Security and Net Zero | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''David Lammy''' {{Small|MP for Tottenham (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs | Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Pat McFadden''' {{Small|MP for Wolverhampton South East (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | Cabinet Office | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Shabana Mahmood''' {{Small|MP for Birmingham Ladywood (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Lord Chancellor Secretary of State for Justice | Ministry of Justice | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Wes Streeting''' {{Small|MP for Ilford North (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Health and Social Care | Department of Health and Social Care | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Jonathan Reynolds''' {{Small|MP for Stalybridge and Hyde (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Business and Trade President of the Board of Trade | Department for Business and Trade UK Export Finance | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Liz Kendall''' {{Small|MP for Leicester West (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | Department for Work and Pensions | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''John Healey''' {{Small|MP for Rawmarsh and Conisbrough (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Defence | Ministry of Defence | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Louise Haigh''' {{Small|MP for Sheffield Heeley (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Transport | Department for Transport | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Peter Kyle''' {{Small|MP for Hove and Portslade (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology | Department for Science, Innovation and Technology | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Hilary Benn''' {{Small|MP for Leeds South (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | Northern Ireland Office | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Ian Murray (Scottish politician)''' {{Small|MP for Edinburgh South (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Scotland | Scotland Office | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Bridget Phillipson''' {{Small|MP for Houghton and Sunderland South (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Education Minister for Women and Equalities | Department for Education | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Lisa Nandy''' {{Small|MP for Wigan (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport | Department for Culture, Media and Sport | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Alan Campbell (politician)''' {{Small|MP for Tynemouth (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury {{Small|(Government Chief Whip)}} | HM Treasury{{Efn|Technically a part of the Treasury, but de facto a part of a semi-independent whips office supported by the Cabinet Office.}} | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Darren Jones (politician)''' {{Small|MP for Bristol North West (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Chief Secretary to the Treasury | HM Treasury | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Angela Smith''' {{Small|The Baroness Smith of Basildon}} | Leader of the House of Lords Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal | Office of the Leader of the House of Lords{{Efn|The Office of the Leader of the House of Lords is a ministerial department of the Cabinet Office.}} | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Lucy Powell''' {{Small|MP for Manchester Central (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Leader of the House of Commons Lord President of the Council | Office of the Leader of the House of Commons{{Efn|The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons is a ministerial department of the Cabinet Office.}} | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Jo Stevens''' {{Small|MP for Cardiff East (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Wales | Wales Office | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Steve Reed (politician)''' {{Small|MP for Streatham and Croydon North (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}

|- | scope="row" | '''Anneliese Dodds''' {{Small|MP for Oxford East (UK Parliament constituency)}} | Minister for Women and Equalities<hr />Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) | Department of Education<hr />Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | {{Start date and age|2024|7|5|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}} |}-->

== References == <references/>

==External links== * [https://members.parliament.uk/Government/Cabinet Official UK Parliament website], which orders Cabinet Ministers by ministerial ranking.

Category:Government institutions Category:Orders of precedence Category:Political terminology in the United Kingdom Category:Constitution of the United Kingdom Category:Cabinet of the United Kingdom