Secretary of State for Transport

The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the Transport Secretary, is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport.[1] The office used to be called the Minister of Transport and has been merged with the Department for the Environment at various times.

Her Majesty's Principal
Secretary of State for Transport
Royal Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent
Grant Shapps
since 24 July 2019
Department for Transport
StyleTransport Secretary
(informal)
The Right Honourable
(within the UK and the Commonwealth)
AppointerThe Monarch
on advice of the Prime Minister
Formation19 May 1919
First holderEric Campbell Geddes
Websitewww.dft.gov.uk
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The Secretary of State is supported by a small team of junior Ministers. Each Minister is a Member of Parliament from either the House of Commons or the House of Lords. The number of Ministers supporting the Secretary of State for Transport vary from time to time, but is usually about 3. The titles given to these Ministers also vary. Currently the positions are held by one Minister of State for Transport and two Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State for Transport.

During the tenure of different governments the title of Minister of/for Transport has been used to refer to the Secretary of State for Transport, one or more of the junior Ministers or even both the Secretary of State and the junior Ministers at the same time.

From 2003 until June 2007 the role of Secretary of State for Transport was combined with the role of Secretary of State for Scotland. This arrangement changed on 28 June 2007, when in the appointment of his first Cabinet, Prime Minister Gordon Brown assigned the responsibilities of Secretary of State for Scotland to Des Browne, his Secretary of State for Defence.

The names provided in the sections below are those who have served in a position equivalent to the Secretary of State for Transport.

Minister of Transport (1919–1941)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour   National Labour   Liberal   National Liberal

Name Term of office Political party Prime Minister
Eric Campbell Geddes 19 May 1919 7 November 1921 Conservative David Lloyd George
(Coalition)
The Viscount Peel 7 November 1921 12 April 1922 Conservative
The Earl of Crawford 12 April 1922 31 October 1922 Conservative
Sir John Baird, Bt 31 October 1922 22 January 1924 Conservative Bonar Law
Stanley Baldwin
Harry Gosling 24 January 1924 3 November 1924 Labour Ramsay MacDonald
Wilfrid Ashley 11 November 1924 4 June 1929 Conservative Stanley Baldwin
Herbert Morrison 7 June 1929 24 August 1931 Labour Ramsay MacDonald
John Pybus 3 September 1931 22 February 1933 Liberal Ramsay MacDonald
(1st & 2nd National min.)
Hon. Oliver Stanley 22 February 1933 29 June 1934 Conservative
Leslie Hore-Belisha 29 June 1934 28 May 1937 National Liberal
Stanley Baldwin
(3rd National min.)
Leslie Burgin 28 May 1937 21 April 1939 National Liberal Neville Chamberlain
(4th National min.)
Euan Wallace 21 April 1939 14 May 1940 Conservative Neville Chamberlain
(War Coalition)
John Reith 14 May 1940 3 October 1940 National Independent Winston Churchill
(War Coalition)
John Moore-Brabazon 3 October 1940 1 May 1941 Conservative

Minister of (War) Transport and Minister of Civil Aviation (1941–1953)

The Ministry of Transport absorbed the Ministry of Shipping and was renamed the Ministry of War Transport in 1941, but resumed its previous name at the end of the war.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation was created by Winston Churchill in 1944 to look at peaceful ways of using aircraft and to find something for the aircraft factories to do after the war. The new Conservative government in 1951 appointed the same minister to both Transport and Civil Aviation, finally amalgamating the ministries on 1 October 1953.

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour   National Liberal

Minister of
Transport		 Minister of
Civil Aviation		 Term of office Political party Prime Minister
The Lord Leathers
(Min. of War Transport)		 — 1 May 1941 8 October 1944 Conservative Winston Churchill
(War Coalition)
The Viscount Swinton 8 October 1944 26 July 1945 Conservative
Alfred Barnes The Lord Winster 3-4 August 1945 4 October 1946 Labour Clement Attlee
The Lord Nathan 4 October 1946 31 May 1948 Labour
The Lord Pakenham 31 May 1948 1 June 1951 Labour
The Lord Ogmore 1 June 1951 26 October 1951 Labour
Hon. John Maclay 31 October 1951 7 May 1952 National Liberal Sir Winston Churchill
Alan Lennox-Boyd 7 May 1952 1 October 1953 Conservative

Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation (1953–1959)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative

Name Term of office Political party Prime Minister
Alan Lennox-Boyd 1 October 1953 28 July 1954 Conservative Sir Winston Churchill
John Boyd-Carpenter 28 July 1954 20 December 1955 Conservative
Harold Watkinson 20 December 1955 14 October 1959 Conservative Sir Anthony Eden
Harold Macmillan

Minister of Transport (1959–1970)

The Ministry was renamed back to the Ministry of Transport on 14 October 1959, when a separate Ministry of Aviation was formed.

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour

Name Term of office Political party Prime Minister
Ernest Marples 14 October 1959 16 October 1964 Conservative Harold Macmillan
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Thomas Fraser 16 October 1964 23 December 1965 Labour Harold Wilson
Barbara Castle 23 December 1965 6 April 1968 Labour
Richard Marsh 6 April 1968 6 October 1969 Labour
Fred Mulley 6 October 1969 19 June 1970 Labour
John Peyton 23 June 1970 15 October 1970 Conservative Edward Heath

Minister within the Department of the Environment (1970–1976)

Transport responsibilities were subsumed by the Department for the Environment, headed by the Secretary of State for the Environment from 15 October 1970 to 10 September 1976.

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour

Name Term of office Political party Prime Minister
Peter Walker 15 October 1970 5 November 1972 Conservative Edward Heath
Geoffrey Rippon 5 November 1972 4 March 1974 Conservative
Anthony Crosland 5 March 1974 8 April 1976 Labour Harold Wilson

The junior ministers responsible for transport within the Department for the Environment:

Minister for Transport Industries (1970–1974)
  • John Peyton (Conservative, 15 October 1970 – 4 March 1974)

Minister for Transport (1974–1976)

The Department for Transport was recreated as a separate department by James Callaghan in 1976.

Secretary of State for Transport (1976–1979)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Labour

Name Term of office Political party Prime Minister
Bill Rodgers 10 September 1976 4 May 1979 Labour James Callaghan

Minister of Transport (1979–1981)

Not an official member of the cabinet. Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative

Name Term of office Political party Prime Minister
Norman Fowler 11 May 1979 5 January 1981 Conservative Margaret Thatcher

Secretary of State for Transport (1981–1997)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative

Name Term of office Political party Prime Minister
Norman Fowler 5 January 1981 14 September 1981 Conservative Margaret Thatcher
David Howell 14 September 1981 11 June 1983 Conservative
Tom King 11 June 1983 16 October 1983 Conservative
Hon. Nicholas Ridley 16 October 1983 21 May 1986 Conservative
John Moore 21 May 1986 13 June 1987 Conservative
Paul Channon 13 June 1987 24 July 1989 Conservative
Cecil Parkinson 24 July 1989 28 November 1990 Conservative
Malcolm Rifkind 28 November 1990 10 April 1992 Conservative John Major
John MacGregor 10 April 1992 20 July 1994 Conservative
Brian Mawhinney 20 July 1994 5 July 1995 Conservative
Sir George Young, Bt 5 July 1995 2 May 1997 Conservative

Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions (1997–2001)

The super-department Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was created in 1997 for Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. Colour key (for political parties):
  Labour

Name Portrait Term of office Political party Prime Minister
John Prescott 2 May 1997 8 June 2001 Labour Tony Blair

From 1997 to 2001, the Ministers of State with responsibility for Transport were:

  • Gavin Strang (3 May 1997 – 27 July 1998)
  • John Reid (27 July 1998 – 17 May 1999)
  • Helen Liddell (17 May 1999 – 29 July 1999)
  • Lord Macdonald of Tradeston (29 July 1999 – 8 June 2001)

John Reid attended cabinet meetings, but was not formally a member of the cabinet whereas Gavin Strang was given a seat in the cabinet when he held the position.

Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (2001–2002)

The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was widely considered unwieldy and so was broken up, with the Transport functions now combined with Local Government and the Regions in the DTLR (Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions). Critics argued from the outset that this was a mistake and that a post of Secretary of State for Transport was needed in its own right.

Colour key (for political parties):
  Labour

Name Term of office Political party Prime Minister
Stephen Byers 8 June 2001 29 May 2002 Labour Tony Blair

After Byers' resignation, such a division was made, with the portfolios of Local Government and the Regions transferred to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

During the lifetime of DTLGR, John Spellar served as Minister of State for Transport with a right to attend Cabinet.

Secretary of State for Transport (2002– )

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour

Name Portrait Term of office Political party Prime Minister
Alistair Darling 29 May 2002 5 May 2006 Labour Tony Blair
Douglas Alexander 5 May 2006 27 June 2007 Labour
Ruth Kelly 28 June 2007 3 October 2008 Labour Gordon Brown
Geoff Hoon 3 October 2008 5 June 2009 Labour
The Lord Adonis 5 June 2009 11 May 2010 Labour
Philip Hammond 12 May 2010[2] 14 October 2011 Conservative David Cameron
(Coalition)
Justine Greening 14 October 2011 4 September 2012 Conservative
Patrick McLoughlin 4 September 2012 14 July 2016 Conservative
David Cameron
(II)
Chris Grayling 14 July 2016 24 July 2019 Conservative Theresa May
Grant Shapps 24 July 2019 Incumbent Conservative Boris Johnson
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See also

References
  1. "Secretary of State for Transport - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  2. "Out with the old cabinet, in with the new". Public Service. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
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