Leader of the House of Commons

The Leader of the House of Commons is generally a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons.

For the equivalent position in Canada, see Leader of the Government in 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
Incumbent Jacob Rees-Mogg since 24 July 2019
House of Commons of the United Kingdom Cabinet Office
Style	The Right Honourable
Formation	4 April 1721
First holder	Sir Robert Walpole
Website	www.gov.uk

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 government business and providing time for non-government (backbench) business to be put before the House. The Leader of the House additionally announces the next week's debate schedule in the Business Statement every Thursday.

Roles and honours

Until 1942, the position was usually held by the Prime Minister if he sat in the House of Commons; in more recent years, the post has been usually held jointly with that of Lord President of the Council or Lord Privy Seal.

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. However, since 2010 the Deputy Leader of the House of Commons has been a ministerial role at the level of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.[1] Since 8 January 2018 the post of Deputy Leader of the House of Commons has been vacant following a ministerial reshuffle.[2]

The office is not appointed by the Monarch and does not attract a ministerial salary.[3][4] For this reason, it is usually held jointly with another ministerial position which is often a sinecure.

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

The Osmotherly Rules, which set out guidance on how civil servants should respond to parliamentary select committees, are jointly administered by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons and the Cabinet Office.[5]

List of Leaders of the House of Commons (1721–present)

Portrait		Name Constituency	Term of office		Other ministerial offices held as leader	Party	Ministry	Ref.
		Robert Walpole MP for King's Lynn	4 April 1721	6 February 1742	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig	Walpole–Townshend
							Walpole
		Samuel Sandys MP for Worcester	12 February 1742	27 August 1743	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig	Carteret
		Henry Pelham MP for Sussex	27 August 1743	6 March 1754	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig
							Broad Bottom (I & II)
		Thomas Robinson MP for Christchurch	23 March 1754	October 1755	Secretary of State for the Southern Department	Whig	Newcastle I
		Henry Fox MP for Windsor	14 November 1755	13 November 1756	Secretary of State for the Southern Department	Whig
		William Pitt 'the Elder' MP for Okehampton	4 December 1756	6 April 1757	Secretary of State for the Southern Department	Whig	Pitt–Devonshire
	Vacant		April 1757	June 1757			1757 Caretaker
		William Pitt 'the Elder' MP for Bath	27 June 1757	6 October 1761	Secretary of State for the Southern Department	Whig	Pitt–Newcastle
		George Grenville MP for Buckingham	October 1761	May 1762	Treasurer of the Navy	Whig (Grenvillite)
		Henry Fox MP for Dunwich	May 1762	April 1763	Paymaster of the Forces	Whig	Bute (Tory–Whig)
		George Grenville MP for Buckingham	16 April 1763	13 July 1765	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig (Grenvillite)	Grenville
		Henry Seymour Conway MP for Thetford	July 1765	20 October 1768	Secretary of State for the Southern Department until May 1766 Secretary of State for the Northern Department from May 1766	Whig (Rockinghamite)	Rockingham I
							Chatham (Whig–Tory)
		Frederick North Lord North MP for Banbury	October 1768	22 March 1782	Prime Minister from 28 January 1770 First Lord of the Treasury from 28 January 1770 Chancellor of the Exchequer	Tory	Grafton (Whig–Tory)
							North
		Charles James Fox MP for Westminster	27 March 1782	July 1782	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Whig	Rockingham II
		Thomas Townshend MP for Whitchurch	10 July 1782	6 March 1783	Secretary of State for the Home Department	Whig	Shelburne (Whig–Tory)
		Charles James Fox MP for Westminster	2 April 1783	19 December 1783	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Whig	Fox–North
		Frederick North Lord North MP for Banbury			Secretary of State for the Home Department	Tory
		William Pitt 'the Younger' MP for Appleby until 1784 MP for Cambridge University from 1784	19 December 1783	14 March 1801	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer	Tory (Pittite)	Pitt I
		Henry Addington MP for Devizes	17 March 1801	10 May 1804	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer	Tory (Pittite)	Addington
		William Pitt 'the Younger' MP for Cambridge University	10 May 1804	23 January 1806†	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer	Tory (Pittite)	Pitt II
		Charles James Fox MP for Westminster	February 1806	13 September 1806†	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Whig	All the Talents
		Charles Grey Viscount Howick MP for Northumberland	September 1806	31 March 1807	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Whig
		Spencer Perceval MP for Northampton	April 1807	11 May 1812†	Chancellor of the Exchequer Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Prime Minister from October 1809 First Lord of the Treasury from October 1809	Tory	Portland II
							Perceval
		Robert Stewart Viscount Castlereagh MP for Down until 1821 MP for Orford from 1821 The Marquess of Londonderry from 1821	June 1812	12 August 1822†	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Tory	Liverpool
		George Canning MP for Liverpool until 1823 MP for Harwich 1823–1826 MP for Newport 1826–1827 MP for Seaford from 1827	16 September 1822	8 August 1827†	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs until April 1827 Prime Minister from April 1827 First Lord of the Treasury from April 1827 Chancellor of the Exchequer from April 1827	Tory (Canningite)
							Canning (Canningite–Whig)
		William Huskisson MP for Liverpool	3 September 1827	21 January 1828	Secretary of State for War and the Colonies	Tory (Canningite)	Goderich (Canningite–Whig)
		Sir Robert Peel MP for Oxford University until 1829 MP for Westbury from 1829	26 January 1828	16 November 1830	Secretary of State for the Home Department	Tory	Wellington–Peel
		John Spencer Viscount Althorp MP for Northamptonshire until 1832 MP for South Northamptonshire from 1832	22 November 1830	14 November 1834	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Whig	Grey
							Melbourne I
	Vacant		14 November 1834	10 December 1834			Wellington Caretaker
		Sir Robert Peel MP for Tamworth	10 December 1834	8 April 1835	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	Peel I
		Lord John Russell MP for Stroud	18 April 1835	30 August 1841	Secretary of State for the Home Department until August 1839 Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from August 1839	Whig	Melbourne II
		Sir Robert Peel MP for Tamworth	30 August 1841	29 June 1846	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative	Peel II
		Lord John Russell MP for City of London	30 June 1846	21 February 1852	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Whig	Russell I
		Benjamin Disraeli MP for Buckinghamshire	27 February 1852	17 December 1852	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	Who? Who?
		Lord John Russell MP for City of London	28 December 1852	30 January 1855	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs until February 1853 Minister without Portfolio February 1853–June 1854 Lord President of the Council from June 1854	Whig	Aberdeen (Peelite–Whig)
		Henry John Temple The Viscount Palmerston MP for Tiverton	6 February 1855	19 February 1858	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Whig	Palmerston I
		Benjamin Disraeli MP for Buckinghamshire	26 February 1858	11 June 1859	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	Derby–Disraeli II
		Henry John Temple The Viscount Palmerston MP for Tiverton	12 June 1859	18 October 1865†	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Liberal	Palmerston II
		William Ewart Gladstone MP for South Lancashire	October 1865	26 June 1866	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Liberal	Russell II
		Benjamin Disraeli MP for Buckinghamshire	6 July 1866	1 December 1868	Chancellor of the Exchequer until February 1868 Prime Minister from February 1868 First Lord of the Treasury from February 1868	Conservative	Derby–Disraeli III
		William Ewart Gladstone MP for Greenwich	3 December 1868	17 February 1874	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer from August 1873	Liberal	Gladstone I
		Benjamin Disraeli MP for Buckinghamshire	20 February 1874	21 August 1876	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative	Disraeli II
		Stafford Northcote MP for Devonshire North	21 August 1876	21 April 1880	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative
		William Ewart Gladstone MP for Midlothian	23 April 1880	9 June 1885	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer until December 1882	Liberal	Gladstone II
		Michael Hicks-Beach MP for Bristol West	24 June 1885	28 January 1886	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	Salisbury I
		William Ewart Gladstone MP for Midlothian	1 February 1886	2 July 1886	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Lord Privy Seal	Liberal	Gladstone III
		Lord Randolph Churchill MP for Paddington South	3 August 1886	14 January 1887	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Conservative	Salisbury II
		W. H. Smith MP for Strand	17 January 1887	October 1891	First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative
		Arthur Balfour MP for Manchester East	October 1891	11 August 1892	First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative
		William Ewart Gladstone MP for Midlothian	15 August 1892	2 March 1894	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Lord Privy Seal	Liberal	Gladstone IV
		Sir William Harcourt MP for Derby	2 March 1894	21 June 1895	Chancellor of the Exchequer	Liberal	Rosebery
		Arthur Balfour MP for Manchester East	29 June 1895	4 December 1905	Prime Minister from July 1902 First Lord of the Treasury Lord Privy Seal July 1902– October 1903	Conservative	Salisbury (III & IV) (Con.–Lib.U.)	[6]
							Balfour (Con.–Lib.U.)
		Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman MP for Stirling Burghs	5 December 1905	5 April 1908	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Liberal	Campbell-Bannerman	[6]
		H. H. Asquith MP for East Fife	5 April 1908	5 December 1916	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Secretary of State for War March 1914– August 1914	Liberal	Asquith (I–III)	[6]
							Asquith Coalition (Lib.–Con.–Lab.)
		Bonar Law MP for Bootle until 1918 MP for Glasgow Central from 1918	10 December 1916	23 March 1921	Chancellor of the Exchequer until January 1919 Lord Privy Seal from January 1919	Conservative	Lloyd George (I & II) (Lib.–Con.–Lab.)	[6]
		Austen Chamberlain MP for Birmingham West	23 March 1921	19 October 1922	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative		[6]
		Bonar Law MP for Glasgow Central	23 October 1922	20 May 1923	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative	Law	[6]
		Stanley Baldwin MP for Bewdley	22 May 1923	22 January 1924	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer until August 1923	Conservative	Baldwin I	[6]
		Ramsay MacDonald MP for Aberavon	22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Labour	MacDonald I	[6]
		Stanley Baldwin MP for Bewdley	4 November 1924	4 June 1929	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative	Baldwin II	[6]
		Ramsay MacDonald MP for Seaham	5 June 1929	7 June 1935	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Labour	MacDonald II	[6]
						National Labour	National I (N.Lab.–Con.–Lib.N. –Lib.)
							National II (N.Lab.–Con.–Lib.N. –Lib. until 1932)
		Stanley Baldwin MP for Bewdley	7 June 1935	28 May 1937	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative	National III (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)	[6]
		Neville Chamberlain MP for Birmingham Edgbaston	28 May 1937	10 May 1940	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury	Conservative	National IV (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)	[6]
							Chamberlain War (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)
		Winston Churchill MP for Epping	10 May 1940	19 February 1942	Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury Minister of Defence	Conservative	Churchill War (All parties)	[6]
		Sir Stafford Cripps MP for Bristol East	19 February 1942	22 November 1942	Lord Privy Seal	Independent		[6]
		Anthony Eden MP for Warwick and Leamington	22 November 1942	23 May 1945	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Conservative		[6]
		Anthony Eden MP for Warwick and Leamington	23 May 1942	26 July 1945	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Conservative	Churchill Caretaker (Con.–N.Lib.)	[6]
		Herbert Morrison MP for Lewisham East until 1950 MP for Lewisham South from 1950	27 July 1945	9 March 1951	Deputy Prime Minister Lord President of the Council	Labour	Attlee (I & II)	[6]
		James Chuter Ede MP for South Shields	9 March 1951	26 October 1951	Secretary of State for the Home Department	Labour		[6]
		Harry Crookshank MP for Gainsborough	28 October 1951	20 December 1955	Minister of Health until May 1952 Lord Privy Seal from May 1952	Conservative	Churchill III	[6]
							Eden
		R. A. Butler MP for Saffron Walden	20 December 1955	9 October 1961	Lord Privy Seal until October 1959 Secretary of State for the Home Department from January 1957	Conservative		[6]
							Macmillan (I & II)
		Iain Macleod MP for Enfield West	9 October 1961	20 October 1963	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster	Conservative		[6]
		Selwyn Lloyd MP for Wirral	20 October 1963	16 October 1964	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative	Douglas-Home	[6]
		Herbert Bowden MP for Leicester South West	16 October 1964	11 August 1966	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Wilson (I & II)	[6]
		Richard Crossman MP for Coventry East	11 August 1966	18 October 1968	Lord President of the Council	Labour		[6]
		Fred Peart MP for Workington	18 October 1968	19 June 1970	Lord President of the Council	Labour		[6]
		Willie Whitelaw MP for Penrith and The Border	20 June 1970	7 April 1972	Lord President of the Council	Conservative	Heath	[6]
		Robert Carr MP for Mitcham	7 April 1972	5 November 1972	Lord President of the Council	Conservative		[6]
		Jim Prior MP for Lowestoft	5 November 1972	4 March 1974	Lord President of the Council	Conservative		[6]
		Edward Short MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central	5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Wilson (III & IV)	[6]
		Michael Foot MP for Ebbw Vale	8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Callaghan	[6]
		Norman St John-Stevas MP for Chelmsford	5 May 1979	5 January 1981	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Minister for the Arts	Conservative	Thatcher I	[6]
		Francis Pym MP for Cambridgeshire	5 January 1981	5 April 1982	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster until September 1981 Lord President of the Council from September 1981	Conservative		[6]
		John Biffen MP for Oswestry until 1983 MP for Shropshire North from 1983	5 April 1982	13 June 1987	Lord President of the Council until June 1983 Lord Privy Seal from 11 June 1983	Conservative		[6]
							Thatcher II
		John Wakeham MP for South Colchester and Maldon	13 June 1987	24 July 1989	Lord Privy Seal until January 1988 Lord President of the Council from 10 January 1988	Conservative	Thatcher III	[6]
		Sir Geoffrey Howe MP for East Surrey	24 July 1989	2 November 1990	Lord President of the Council Deputy Prime Minister	Conservative		[6]
		John MacGregor MP for South Norfolk	2 November 1990	10 April 1992	Lord President of the Council	Conservative		[6]
							Major I
		Tony Newton MP for Braintree	10 April 1992	1 May 1997	Lord President of the Council	Conservative	Major II	[7]
		Ann Taylor MP for Dewsbury	2 May 1997	27 July 1998	Lord President of the Council	Labour	Blair (I–III)	[8]
		Margaret Beckett MP for Derby South	27 July 1998	8 June 2001	Lord President of the Council	Labour		[9]
		Robin Cook MP for Livingston	8 June 2001	17 March 2003	Lord President of the Council	Labour		[10]
		John Reid MP for Hamilton North and Bellshill	4 April 2003	13 June 2003	Lord President of the Council	Labour		[11]
		Peter Hain MP for Neath	11 June 2003	6 May 2005	Lord Privy Seal Secretary of State for Wales	Labour		[12]
		Geoff Hoon MP for Ashfield	6 May 2005	5 May 2006	Lord Privy Seal	Labour		[13]
		Jack Straw MP for Blackburn	5 May 2006	27 June 2007	Lord Privy Seal	Labour		[14]
		Harriet Harman MP for Camberwell and Peckham	28 June 2007	11 May 2010	Lord Privy Seal Minister for Women and Equality	Labour	Brown	[15]
		Sir George Young MP for North West Hampshire	12 May 2010	3 September 2012	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative	Cameron–Clegg (Con.–L.D.)	[16]
		Andrew Lansley MP for South Cambridgeshire	4 September 2012	14 July 2014	Lord Privy Seal	Conservative		[17]
		William Hague MP for Richmond (Yorks)	14 July 2014	8 May 2015	First Secretary of State	Conservative		[18]
		Chris Grayling MP for Epsom and Ewell	9 May 2015	14 July 2016	Lord President of the Council	Conservative	Cameron II	[19]
		David Lidington MP for Aylesbury	14 July 2016	11 June 2017	Lord President of the Council	Conservative	May I	[20]
		Andrea Leadsom MP for South Northamptonshire	11 June 2017	22 May 2019	Lord President of the Council	Conservative	May II	[21]
		The Right Honourable Mel Stride MP for Central Devon	23 May 2019	24 July 2019	Lord President of the Council	Conservative		[22]
		The Right Honourable Jacob Rees-Mogg MP for North East Somerset	24 July 2019	Incumbent	Lord President of the Council	Conservative	Johnson (I–II)	[23]

See also

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

References

1. The first incumbent of the Deputy role was a Liberal Democrat MP, The Rt Hon. David Heath CBE, serving in the Coalition Government. "Parliamentary Secretary of State (Deputy Leader of the House of Commons)". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
2. "Parliamentary Secretary of State (Deputy Leader of the House of Commons) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk.
3. https://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/principal/leader-commons/
4. Participation, Expert. "Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975". www.legislation.gov.uk.
5. Gay, Oonagh (4 August 2005). "The Osmotherly Rules (Standard Note: SN/PC/2671)" (PDF). Parliament and Constitution Centre, House of Commons Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 May 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
6. David Butler and Gareth Butler, British Political Facts 1900–1994 (7th edn, Macmillan 1994) 65.
7. "Lord Newton of Braintree". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
8. "Baroness Taylor of Bolton". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
9. "Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
10. "Rt Hon Robin Cook". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
11. "Lord Reid of Cardowan". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
12. "Lord Hain". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
13. "Mr Geoffrey Hoon". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
14. "Rt Hon Jack Straw". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
15. "Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
16. "Lord Young of Cookham". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
17. "Lord Lansley". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
18. "Lord Hague of Richmond". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
19. "Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
20. "Rt Hon David Lidington MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
21. "Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
22. "Rt Hon Mel Stride MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
23. "Rt Hon Jacob Rees-Mogg MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 29 July 2019.

External links

• Official website
• Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
• Parliamentary website