Minister for London

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United Kingdom
Minister for London
Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government
Incumbent
Greg Hands
since 13 November 2023
Department for Business and Trade
StatusMinister of the Crown
Reports toThe Prime Minister
SeatWestminster
AppointerThe King
(on advice of the Prime Minister)
Term lengthAt His Majesty's Pleasure
Inaugural holderJohn Gummer
Formation1994

The Minister for London is a United Kingdom Government ministerial post in His Majesty's Government. The officeholder is responsible for policy relating to London including informing Members of Parliament in the House of Commons on the activities of the Greater London Authority. The role is currently held by Greg Hands, who was appointed on 13 November 2023.

History

London had been under the authority of the London County Council and then the Greater London Council, but Margaret Thatcher abolished the GLC in 1986 after clashes with its leader, Ken Livingstone. Most of the municipal powers were then devolved to the 32 individual boroughs. Under John Major, however, the need for more centralised organisation was addressed by a series of moves. John Gummer was appointed Minister of London concurrently with his tenure as Secretary of State for Environment, and in 1994 the Government Office for London was established.[1] After Tony Blair entered office, the Labour government set up an elected Mayor of London.[1] This office, along with a reconstituted Greater London Authority, worked with the Minister and the Government Office.

The post was scrapped by David Cameron after he came to office in 2010.[2] In 2016 however, the post was revived by Theresa May and was assigned to Gavin Barwell.

List of ministers for London

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour

Portrait Name Term of office Concurrently held office Political party Prime Minister
John Gummer
MP for Suffolk Coastal
1994 2 May
1997
Secretary of State for the Environment Conservative John Major
Nick Raynsford
MP for Greenwich and Woolwich
2 May
1997
29 July
1999
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Construction Labour Tony Blair
Keith Hill
MP for Streatham
29 July
1999
7 June
2001
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport Labour
Nick Raynsford
MP for Greenwich and Woolwich
7 June
2001
12 March
2003
Minister of State for Local and Regional Government[a] Labour
Tony McNulty
MP for Harrow East
12 March 2003 13 June
2003
[3]
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport Labour
Keith Hill
MP for Streatham
13 June
2003
6 May
2005
[4]
Minister of State for Housing and Planning Labour
Jim Fitzpatrick
MP for Poplar and Canning Town
6 May
2005
28 June
2007
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development Labour
Tessa Jowell
MP for Dulwich and West Norwood
28 June
2007
3 October
2008
Minister for the Olympics
Paymaster General
Labour Gordon Brown
Tony McNulty
MP for Harrow East
3 October
2008
5 June
2009
Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform Labour
Tessa Jowell
MP for Dulwich and West Norwood
5 June
2009
11 May
2010
Paymaster General
Minister for the Olympics
Minister for the Cabinet Office
Labour
Office not in use 11 May
2010
17 July
2016
David Cameron (I·II)
Gavin Barwell
MP for Croydon Central
17 July
2016
9 June
2017
Minister of State for Housing and Planning Conservative Theresa May
Greg Hands
MP for Chelsea and Fulham
13 June
2017
9 January
2018
Minister of State for Trade Policy Conservative
Jo Johnson
MP for Orpington
9 January
2018
9 November
2018
Minister of State for Transport Conservative
Nick Hurd
MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
14 November
2018
18 December
2019
Minister for Policing and the Fire Service Conservative
Boris Johnson
Chris Philp
MP for Croydon South
18 December
2019
13 February
2020
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice (until 25 July 2019)
Minister of State for Northern Ireland (from 25 July 2019)
Conservative
Paul Scully
MP for Sutton and Cheam
13 February
2020
13 November
2023
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets (until 8 July 2022)
Minister of State for Local Government and Building Safety (8 July 2022 to 27 October 2022)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy (from 27 October 2022)
Conservative
Liz Truss
Rishi Sunak
Greg Hands
MP for Chelsea and Fulham
13 November
2023
Incumbent Minister of State for Trade Policy Conservative

Shadow Minister

The position of Shadow Minister for London was retained by Labour under the leadership of Ed Miliband, and was held by Sadiq Khan throughout Miliband's leadership. However, since Khan's nomination as Labour's candidate for Mayor of London and Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, the office has remained vacant.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Local Government (2001–02)

References

  1. ^ a b Ben Pimlott (2002). Governing London. Nirmala Rao. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-924492-8.
  2. ^ Mulholland, Hélène (4 June 2010). "Minister for London post abolished by David Cameron". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
  3. ^ "Press release: Association of London Government looking forward to working with new Minister for London". 12 March 2003. Archived from the original on 27 November 2007.
  4. ^ [1][dead link]