31-596: The shadow chancellor of the exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the chancellor of the exchequer . The title is given at the gift of the leader of the Opposition and has no formal constitutional role, but is generally considered the second-most senior position, unless a shadow deputy prime minister is chosen, on
62-477: A committee on the state of the nation. This motion was defeated by 357 to 178, a division involving the largest number of MPs until the debates over the Reform bill in the early 1830s . Foord comments that "this defeat put an effective end to Tierney's leadership ... Tierney did not disclaim the leadership till 23 Jan. 1821 ..., but he had ceased to exercise its functions since the great defeat". Between 1821 and 1830
93-562: A section of the Whigs were also in opposition to the coalition government. It was during this period that the term "His Majesty's Opposition" for the Opposition was coined, by John Cam Hobhouse . The Duke of Wellington formed a ministry in January 1828 and as a direct effect of adopting in earnest the policy of Catholic Emancipation the opposition became composed of most Whigs with many Canningites and some ultra-Tories. Lord Lansdowne, in
124-602: A single party wins outright, this is the party leader of the second-largest political party in the House of Commons. The role has since been codified by statute. The Leader of the Opposition is often viewed as an alternative or shadow prime minister , and is appointed to the Privy Council . They lead an Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet , which scrutinises the actions of the Cabinet and offers alternative policies. In
155-506: Is pre-eminent and has always held the primary title. The Leader of the Opposition is entitled to a salary in addition to their salary as a Member of Parliament . In 2019, this additional entitlement was available up to £65,181. The role is considered by those who have held it as the worst and most difficult job in politics, with Prime Minister Tony Blair and then-Leader of the Opposition William Hague agreeing that
186-763: The Leader of the Opposition , is the person who leads the Official Opposition in the United Kingdom . The position is seen as the shadow head of government of the United Kingdom and thus the shadow prime minister of the United Kingdom . Originally by convention , the Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in the House of Commons that is not in government . When
217-735: The Liberal Democrats , the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson . This was a source of humour for Chancellor Gordon Brown , who in 2005 played the two off against one another in Parliament, saying, "I, too, have a great deal of time for the shadow chancellor who resides in Twickenham [Liberal Democrat Vince Cable ], rather than the shadow chancellor for the Conservative Party." Leader of
248-548: The Shadow Cabinet , is the committee of senior members of the Official Opposition who scrutinise the work of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom . Each Shadow Cabinet member is typically given a position which corresponds to that of a government minister in Cabinet. Shadow Cabinet members, commonly known as shadow ministers, are usually appointed by the leader of the Opposition (currently Kemi Badenoch ). The roles of shadow ministers are to develop alternative policies, hold
279-423: The opposition frontbench , after the leader. Past shadow chancellors include Harold Wilson , James Callaghan , Edward Heath , Geoffrey Howe , Kenneth Clarke , Gordon Brown , John McDonnell and Rachel Reeves . The name for the position has a mixed history. It is used to designate the lead economic spokesman for the Opposition. The name 'Shadow Chancellor' has also been used for the corresponding position for
310-1142: The Opposition Kemi Badenoch Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Mel Stride Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom) King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee The Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet , or His Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition Shadow Cabinet , but usually simply
341-578: The Opposition (United Kingdom) King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee The Leader of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition , more commonly referred to as
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#1732782897311372-1071: The Opposition and the Opposition chief whip in the House of Lords also receive a salary. Other parties may also form frontbench teams of spokespeople which may be referred to as shadow cabinets by the party (e.g. the Liberal Democrats in 2019), but these are not part of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet. As of November 2024 , the members of the shadow cabinet are: MP for North West Essex MP for Central Devon MP for Witham MP for Croydon South MP for South Suffolk MP for Newark MP for Havant MP for Melton and Syston MP for Thirsk and Malton MP for Louth and Horncastle MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire MP for Arundel and South Downs MP for East Surrey Shadow Minister for Equalities Minister for Women and Equalities MP for Faversham and Mid Kent MP for Sevenoaks MP for Orpington Leader of
403-511: The Talents ministry, Lord Grenville had led his eponymous faction from the House of Lords . Meanwhile, the government leader of the House of Commons, Viscount Howick (later known as Earl Grey and the political heir of Charles James Fox who had died in 1806), led his faction, the Foxite whigs, from the House of Commons. Howick's father, the 1st Earl Grey died on 14 November 1807. As such
434-536: The Whig Commons leadership was left vacant. The leadership in the House of Lords was not much more effective: in 1824 Grey retired from active leadership, asking the party to follow the Marquess of Lansdowne "as the person whom his friends were to look upon as their leader". Lansdowne disclaimed the title of leader, although in practice he performed the function. Following the retirement of Lord Liverpool from
465-470: The absence of any alternative, remained the leading figure in the Whig opposition. In 1830 Grey returned to the front rank of politics. On 30 June 1830, he denounced the government in the House of Lords. He rapidly attracted the support of opponents of the ministry. The renewal of organized opposition was also bolstered earlier in the year by the election of a new leader of the opposition in the House of Commons,
496-662: The current Shadow Cabinet . Not all opposition frontbenchers are members of the Shadow Cabinet, which is composed of the most senior opposition members (usually they number around twenty). The leader of the Opposition, the Opposition chief whip and Opposition deputy chief whip are the only members of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons to be paid for their opposition roles in addition to their salaries as members of Parliament . The leader of
527-576: The first leader of the opposition in the House of Commons. Ponsonby, an Irish lawyer who was the uncle of Grey's wife, had been Lord Chancellor of Ireland during the Ministry of all the Talents and had only just been re-elected to the House of Commons in 1808 when he became leader. Ponsonby proved a weak leader but as he could not be persuaded to resign and the duumvirs did not want to depose him, he remained in place until he died in 1817. Lord Grenville retired from active politics in 1817, leaving Grey as
558-417: The government and the other the opposition. These parties were expected to have recognized leaders in the two Houses, so there was normally no problem in identifying who led the opposition in each House. The constitutional convention developed in the nineteenth century was that if one of the leaders was the last prime minister of the party, then he would be considered the overall leader of his party . If that
589-465: The government in the Ministry of All the Talents formed in 1806 and died later that year. For there to be a recognized Leader of the Opposition, it is necessary for there to be a sufficiently cohesive opposition to need a formal leader. The emergence of the office thus coincided with the period when wholly united parties ( Whig and Tory , governments and oppositions) became the norm. This situation
620-410: The government to account for its actions and responses, and act as spokespeople for the opposition party in their own specific policy areas. By convention, shadow ministers are drawn either from serving members of the House of Commons or the House of Lords , with most chosen from the former. Since July 2024, the Conservative Party has been the Official Opposition, and its leadership therefore forms
651-414: The heir of Earl Spencer, Viscount Althorp . In November 1830 Grey was invited to form a government and resumed the formal leadership of the party and as such Wellington and Peel became the leaders of the opposition in the two Houses, from November 1830. In the period of 1830–1937, the normal expectation was that there would be two leading parties (often with smaller allied groups), of which one would form
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#1732782897311682-475: The leader of the opposition in the House of Lords. Grey was not a former prime minister in 1817, unlike Grenville, so under the convention that developed later in the century he would have been in the theory of equal status to whoever was a leader in the other House. However, there was little doubt that if a Whig ministry was possible, Grey rather than the less distinguished Commons leaders would have been invited to form that government. In this respect Grey's position
713-426: The moderates supporting Canning, often called ' Canningites '. As a result, Canning found it difficult to maintain a government and chose to invite a number of Whigs to join his Cabinet, including Lord Lansdowne . After Canning's death, Lord Goderich continued the coalition for a few more months. The principal opposition between April 1827 and January 1828 worked with these brief administrations, although Earl Grey and
744-514: The new Earl Grey vacated his seat in the House of Commons and moved to the House of Lords. This left no obvious Whig leader in the House of Commons. Grenville's article in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography confirms that he was considered the Whig leader in the House of Lords between 1807 and 1817, despite Grey leading the larger faction. Grenville and Grey, political historian Archibald Foord describe as being " duumvirs of
775-477: The nineteenth century, party affiliations were generally less fixed and the leaders in the two Houses were often of equal status. A single and clear Leader of the Opposition was only definitively settled if the opposition leader in the House of Commons or House of Lords was the outgoing prime minister. However, since the Parliament Act 1911 , there has been no dispute that the leader in the House of Commons
806-466: The opposition role was the harder job of the two positions. The incumbent Leader of the Opposition is Kemi Badenoch , the Leader of the Conservative Party , following the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election . The first modern Leader of the Opposition was Charles James Fox , who led the Whigs as such for a generation, except during the Fox–North Coalition in 1783. He finally rejoined
837-457: The party from 1807 to 1817" and consulted about what was to be done. Grenville was at first reluctant to name a leader of the opposition in the House of Commons, commenting "... all the elections in the world would not have made Windham or Sheridan leaders of the old Opposition while Fox was alive ...". Eventually, they jointly recommended George Ponsonby to the Whig MPs, whom they accepted as
868-551: The prime ministership in 1827, the party's political situation changed. Neither the Duke of Wellington or Robert Peel agreed to serve under George Canning and they were followed by five other members of the former Cabinet as well as forty junior members of the previous government. The Tory Party was heavily split between the " High Tories " (or "Ultras", nicknamed after the contemporary party in Restoration France ) and
899-599: Was like that of the Earl of Derby in the Protectionist Conservative opposition of the late 1840s and early 1850s. Earl Grey witnessed a delay of about a year, until 1818, before a new leader of the opposition in the House of Commons was chosen. This was George Tierney who was reluctant to accept the leadership and had weak support from his party. On 18 May 1819, Tierney moved a motion in the Commons for
930-465: Was normalized in the Parliament of 1807–1812 when the members of the Grenvillite and Foxite Whig factions resolved to maintain a joint, dual-house leadership for the whole party. The Ministry of all the Talents , in which both Whig factions participated fell at the 1807 general election , during which the Whigs had re-adopted traditional factions, forming an opposition. The prime minister of
961-435: Was not the case then the leaders of both Houses were of equal status. As the monarch retained some discretion as to which leader should be invited to form a ministry, it was not always obvious in advance which one would be called upon to do so. However, as the leadership of the opposition only existed by custom, the normal expectations and conventions were modified by political realities from time to time. From 1830 until 1846