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Secretary of State for Economic Affairs

Former cabinet-level position in British government

Summary

Former cabinet-level position in British government

FieldValue
flagFlag of the United Kingdom.svg
flagsize110px
flagcaptionFlag of the United Kingdom
insigniaRoyal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
insigniacaptionRoyal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government
departmentDepartment of Economic Affairs
member_ofBritish Cabinet
Privy Council
reports_toThe Prime Minister
postUnited Kingdom
Secretary of State for
Economic Affairs
seatWestminster, London
appointerThe British Monarch
on advice of the Prime Minister
termlengthNo fixed term
inauguralGeorge Brown
formation19 October 1964
abolished6 October 1969
Functions reincorporated into HM Treasury
styleThe Right Honourable
(Formal prefix)
Economic Affairs Secretary

Privy Council Secretary of State for Economic Affairs on advice of the Prime Minister Functions reincorporated into HM Treasury (Formal prefix) Economic Affairs Secretary

The Secretary of State for Economic Affairs was briefly an office of Her Majesty's government in the United Kingdom. It was established by Harold Wilson in October 1964. Wilson had been impressed by the six-week experiment of a minister for economic affairs in 1947, an office occupied by Stafford Cripps before he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. The office was revived for eight months in 1950 and held by Hugh Gaitskell. After a Conservative victory at the 1951 election, Winston Churchill also appointed a minister of economic affairs, Arthur Salter, in the period 1951–52.

Wilson's advisers Patrick Blackett and Thomas Balogh advised him to create a new ministry, to be called the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), in order to drive through his economic plan. Wilson wanted to divide the functions of the Treasury in two, in part to reduce its power. The DEA was to undertake long-term planning of the economy and industry, while the Treasury would determine short-term revenue raising and financial management. The DEA was therefore tasked with the preparation of a national plan for the economy, which was published in September 1965.

Critics of Wilson's approach, including Douglas Jay, suspected the main reason for the department was to appease George Brown, the deputy leader of the Labour Party. The (true) story told at the time, that Brown finally accepted the job while riding in a taxi with Wilson, tended to lend credence to this analysis.

Under Brown, the department had a reasonable degree of influence. However, Brown was moved to the Foreign Office in August 1966, and the two succeeding secretaries of state were not of his rank. The Treasury was able to claw back its power, and the Department had become moribund long before it was wound up in 1969.

The DEA was the model for the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in the television series Yes Minister.

Department of Economic Affairs (1947; 1950 and 1951–52)

Ministers for economic affairs

Colour key (for political parties):

NameTerm of officePolitical partyP.M.ChancellorLabour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Conservative Party (UK)}}"
Sir Stafford Cripps29 September 194713 November 1947LabourLabour Party (UK)}}"AttleeDalton
Office not in use1947–1950Cripps
Hugh Gaitskell28 February 195019 October 1950Labour
Office not in use1950–1951Gaitskell
Sir Arthur Salter26 October 1951November 1952ConservativeConservative Party (UK)}}"ChurchillButler

Department of Economic Affairs (1964–1969)

Secretaries of state for economic affairs

Colour key (for political parties):

NameTerm of officePolitical partyP.M.ChancellorLabour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"
George Brown16 October 196411 August 1966LabourLabour Party (UK)}}"WilsonCallaghan
Michael Stewart11 August 196629 August 1967Labour
Peter Shore29 August 19676 October 1969LabourJenkins

Ministers of state for economic affairs

  • Anthony Crosland (20 October 1964 – 22 January 1965) – nominally Economic Secretary to the Treasury until 22 December 1964
  • Austen Albu (27 January 1965 – 7 January 1967)
  • Thomas Urwin (6 April 1968 – 6 October 1969)

Under-secretaries of state for economic affairs

  • Maurice Foley (21 October 1964 – 6 April 1966)
  • Bill Rodgers (21 October 1964 – 7 January 1967)
  • Harold Lever (7 January 1967 – 29 August 1967)
  • Peter Shore (7 January 1967 – 29 August 1967)
  • Alan Williams (29 August 1967 – 6 October 1969)
  • Edmund Dell (29 August 1967 – 6 April 1968)

References

Source: Butler, D., and Butler, G., Twentieth Century British Political Facts 1900–2000

References

  1. (1981). "Yes Minister: Volume One". [[BBC Books]].
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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