Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Secretary of State for Transport

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Elizabeth II

Formation
  
19 May 1919

Inaugural holder
  
Eric Campbell Geddes

Website
  
Transport

Secretary of State for Transport

Style
  
The Right Honourable (Formal prefix) Transport Secretary '

Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The office used to be called the Minister of Transport and has been merged with the Department for the Environment at various times.

Contents

The current Secretary of State for Transport is Chris Grayling.

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

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 Transport and Civil Aviation, finally amalgamating the Ministries on 1 October 1953.

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

Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation (1953–1959)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative

Minister of Transport (1959–1970)

The Ministry was renamed back to the Ministry of Transport on 14 October 1959.

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour

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

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)

  • Fred Mulley (Labour, 7 March 1974 – 12 June 1975)
  • John Gilbert (Labour, 12 June 1975 – 10 September 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

    Minister of Transport (1979–1981)

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

    Secretary of State for Transport (1981–1997)

    Colour key (for political parties):
      Conservative

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

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

    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

    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.

  • John Spellar (8 June 2001 – 29 May 2002)

    • Secretary of State for Transport (2002– )

    Colour key (for political parties):
      Conservative   Labour

    References

    Secretary of State for Transport Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA