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Friday, May 16, 2008

Chancellor of the Exchequer

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the ancient title held by the British cabinet minister whose responsibilities are akin to the posts of Minister for Finance or Secretary of the Treasury in other jurisdictions. The third oldest major state office in English and United Kingdom1 history, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, (often simply called The Chancellor) is the cabinet minister responsible for all financial matters. Historically the Exchequer included monetary policy as well as fiscal policy, but this ended when the Bank of England was granted independence from government in 1997.

One of the Chancellor's key roles involves the framing of the annual "Budget", which is revealed in a speech to the House of Commons. Traditionally the budget speech was delivered on a Tuesday (although not always) in March, as Britain's tax year follows the Julian Calendar. From 1993 the Budget was merged with the annual 'Autumn Statement' which outlined government spending and the Budget was moved to November. The 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2003 Budgets were delivered on a Wednesday.

The holder of the office of Chancellor is ex-officio Second Lord of the Treasury. As Second Lord, his official residence is Number 11 Downing Street in London, next door to the residence of the First Lord of the Treasury (a post usually though not always held by the Prime Minister), who resides in 10 Downing Street. While in the past both houses were private residences, today they serve as interlinked offices, with the occupant living in a small apartment made from attic rooms previously resided in by servants. In 1997, the current First and Second Lords, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, swapped apartments, as the Chancellor's apartment in No. 11 was bigger and thus better suited to the needs of Blair (who had children) than Brown who was at that stage unmarried. So though no 11 is still officially Brown's residence, he actually resides in the apartment in the attic of No. 10, with Blair though officially residing in No. 10 actually lives in the attic apartment of No. 11.

The Chancellor is also obliged to be a member of the Privy Council, and thus is styled the Right Honourable (Rt. Hon.)

The Chancellor's department is officially called the HM Treasury where she/he is supported by a political team of four junior ministers and by permanent Civil Servants. The most important junior minister is the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to whom the negotiations with other government departments on the details of government spending are delegated.

List of Holders of the Office since 1559:

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