Secretary of State for Transport

The secretary of state for transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport.[3] The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

United Kingdom
Secretary of State
for Transport
Incumbent
Mark Harper
since 25 October 2022
Department for Transport
StyleTransport Secretary
(informal)
The Right Honourable
(within the UK and Commonwealth)
TypeMinister of the Crown
StatusSecretary of State
Member of
Reports toThe Prime Minister
SeatWestminster
NominatorThe Prime Minister
AppointerThe Monarch
(on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Term lengthAt His Majesty's Pleasure
Formation
  • 19 May 1919:
    (as Minister of Transport)
  • 29 May 2002:
    (as Secretary of State for Transport)
First holderEric Campbell Geddes
(as Minister of Transport)
Salary£159,038 per annum (2022)[1]
(including £86,584 MP salary)[2]
Websitewww.dft.gov.uk

The office holder works alongside the other transport ministers. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow secretary of state for transport, and the secretary of state is also scrutinised by the Transport Select Committee.[4]

The current secretary of state for transport is Mark Harper, who was appointed on 25 October 2022.[5]

History

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.[6]

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.[7] The new Conservative government in 1951 appointed the same minister to both Transport and Civil Aviation, finally amalgamating the ministries on 1 October 1953.[8]

The Ministry was renamed back to the Ministry of Transport on 14 October 1959, when a separate Ministry of Aviation was formed.

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.

The Department for Transport was recreated as a separate department by James Callaghan in 1976.[9]

The super-department Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was created in 1997 for Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

In 2001, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was widely considered unwieldy and so was broken up,[10] with the Transport functions now combined with Local Government and the Regions in the DTLR (Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions).

List of ministers and secretaries of state

Minister of Transport (1919–1941)

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

MinisterTerm of officePolitical partyPrime Minister
Eric Campbell Geddes19 May 19197 November 1921ConservativeDavid Lloyd George
(Coalition)
William Peel, Viscount Peel7 November 192112 April 1922Conservative
David Lindsay, 27th Earl of Crawford12 April 192231 October 1922Conservative
John Baird, 1st Viscount Stonehaven31 October 192222 January 1924ConservativeBonar Law
Stanley Baldwin
Harry Gosling24 January 19243 November 1924LabourRamsay MacDonald
Wilfrid Ashley11 November 19244 June 1929ConservativeStanley Baldwin
Herbert Morrison7 June 192924 August 1931LabourRamsay MacDonald
John Pybus3 September 193122 February 1933LiberalRamsay MacDonald
(1st & 2nd National min.)
Hon. Oliver Stanley22 February 193329 June 1934Conservative
Leslie Hore-Belisha29 June 193428 May 1937National Liberal
Stanley Baldwin
(3rd National min.)
Leslie Burgin28 May 193721 April 1939National LiberalNeville Chamberlain
(4th National min.)
Euan Wallace21 April 193914 May 1940ConservativeNeville Chamberlain
(War Coalition)
John Reith14 May 19403 October 1940National IndependentWinston Churchill
(War Coalition)
John Moore-Brabazon3 October 19401 May 1941Conservative

Minister of (War) Transport and Minister of Civil Aviation (1941–1953)

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

Minister of
Transport
Minister of
Civil Aviation
Term of officePolitical partyPrime Minister
Frederick Leathers, 1st Viscount Leathers
(Min. of War Transport)
1 May 194126 July 1945ConservativeWinston Churchill
(War Coalition)
Philip Cunliffe-Lister, Viscount Swinton8 October 194426 July 1945Conservative
Alfred BarnesReginald Fletcher, 1st Baron Winster3–4 August 19454 October 1946LabourClement Attlee
Harry Nathan, 1st Baron Nathan4 October 194631 May 1948Labour
Francis Pakenham, Lord Pakenham31 May 19481 June 1951Labour
David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore1 June 195126 October 1951Labour
Hon. John Maclay31 October 19517 May 1952National LiberalWinston Churchill
Alan Lennox-Boyd7 May 19521 October 1953Conservative

Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation (1953–1959)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative

MinisterTerm of officePolitical partyPrime Minister
Alan Lennox-Boyd1 October 195328 July 1954ConservativeWinston Churchill
John Boyd-Carpenter28 July 195420 December 1955Conservative
Harold Watkinson20 December 195514 October 1959ConservativeAnthony Eden
Harold Macmillan

Minister of Transport (1959–1970)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative  Labour

MinisterTerm of officePolitical partyPrime Minister
Ernest Marples14 October 195916 October 1964ConservativeHarold Macmillan
Alec Douglas-Home
Thomas Fraser16 October 196423 December 1965LabourHarold Wilson
Barbara Castle23 December 19656 April 1968Labour
Richard Marsh6 April 19686 October 1969Labour
Fred Mulley[11]6 October 196922 June 1970Labour
John Peyton[12]23 June 197014 October 1970ConservativeEdward Heath

Minister within the Department of the Environment (1970–1976)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative  Labour

MinisterTerm of officeLength of TermPolitical partyPrime Minister
Peter Walker15 October 19705 November 19722 yearsConservativeEdward Heath
Geoffrey Rippon5 November 19724 March 19741 year, 3 monthsConservative
Anthony Crosland5 March 19748 April 19762 years, 1 monthLabourHarold Wilson

The junior ministers responsible for transport within the Department for the Environment:

Minister for Transport Industries (1970–1974)

Minister for Transport (1974–1976)

Secretary of State for Transport (1976–1979)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Labour

Secretary of StateTerm of officeLength of TermPolitical partyPrime Minister
Bill Rodgers[14]10 September 19764 May 19792 years, 7 monthsLabourJames Callaghan

Minister of Transport (1979–1981)

Not an official member of the cabinet.

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative

MinisterTerm of officeLength of TermPolitical partyPrime Minister
Norman Fowler[15]11 May 19795 January 19811 year, 7 monthsConservativeMargaret Thatcher

Secretary of State for Transport (1981–1997)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative

Secretary of StateTerm of officeLength of TermPolitical partyPrime Minister
Norman Fowler[15]5 January 198114 September 19818 monthsConservativeMargaret Thatcher
David Howell[16]14 September 198111 June 19831 year, 8 monthsConservative
Tom King[17]11 June 198316 October 19834 monthsConservative
Hon. Nicholas Ridley16 October 198321 May 19862 years, 7 monthsConservative
John Moore[18]21 May 198613 June 19871 yearConservative
Paul Channon13 June 198724 July 19892 years, 1 monthConservative
Cecil Parkinson[19]24 July 198928 November 19901 year, 4 monthsConservative
Malcolm Rifkind[20]28 November 199010 April 19922 years, 8 monthsConservativeJohn Major
John MacGregor[21]11 April 199220 July 19942 years, 3 monthsConservative
Brian Mawhinney[22]20 July 19945 July 199511 monthsConservative
Sir George Young, 6th Baronet[23]5 July 19952 May 19971 year, 9 monthsConservative

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

Colour key (for political parties):
  Labour

Secretary of StateTerm of officeLength of TermPolitical partyPrime Minister
John Prescott[24]
MP for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle

MP for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle

2 May 19977 June 20014 years, 1 monthLabourTony Blair

Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (2001–2002)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Labour

Secretary of StateTerm of officeLength of TermPolitical partyPrime Minister
Stephen Byers[25]

MP for North Tyneside

8 June 200128 May 200211 monthsLabourTony Blair

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.

Secretary of State for Transport (2002–present)

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative  Labour

Secretary of StateTerm of officeLength of TermPolitical partyPrime Minister
Alistair Darling[27]
MP for Edinburgh South West
29 May 20025 May 20063 years, 11 monthsLabourTony Blair
Douglas Alexander[28]
MP for Paisley and South Renfrewshire
5 May 200628 June 20071 year, 1 monthLabour
Ruth Kelly[29]
MP for Bolton West
28 June 20075 October 20081 year, 3 monthsLabourGordon Brown
Geoff Hoon[30]
MP for Ashfield
5 October 20085 June 20098 monthsLabour
Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis[31]6 June 20096 May 201011 monthsLabour
Philip Hammond[32][33]
MP for Runnymede and Weybridge
12 May 201014 October 20111 year, 5 monthsConservativeDavid Cameron
(Coalition)
Justine Greening[34]
MP for Putney
14 October 20116 September 201210 monthsConservative
Patrick McLoughlin[35]
MP for Derbyshire Dales
6 September 201214 July 20163 years, 10 monthsConservative
David Cameron
(II)
Chris Grayling[36]
MP for Epsom and Ewell
14 July 201624 July 20193 years, 10 daysConservativeTheresa May
Grant Shapps[37]
MP for Welwyn Hatfield
24 July 20196 September 20223 years, 1 monthConservativeBoris Johnson
Anne-Marie Trevelyan[38]
MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed
6 September 202225 October 20227 weeksConservativeLiz Truss
Mark Harper[39]
MP for Forest of Dean
25 October 2022Incumbent1 year, 7 monthsConservativeRishi Sunak

Timeline

Mark HarperAnne-Marie TrevelyanGrant ShappsChris GraylingPatrick McLoughlinJustine GreeningPhilip HammondAndrew AdonisGeoff HoonRuth KellyDouglas AlexanderAlistair DarlingStephen ByersJohn PrescottGeorge Young, Baron Young of CookhamBrian MawhinneyJohn MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham MarketMalcom RifkindCecil ParkinsonPaul ChannonJohn Moore, Baron Moore of Lower MarshNicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of LiddesdaleTom KingDavid Howell, Baron Howell of GuildfordNorman FowlerBill RodgersAnthony CroslandGeoffrey RipponPeter Walker, Baron Walker of WorcesterJohn Peyton, Baron Peyton of YeovilFred MulleyRichard Marsh, Baron MarshBarbara CastleTom FraserErnest MarplesHarold WatkinsonJohn Boyd-CarpenterAlan Lennox-BoydJohn MaclayAlfred Barnes, 1st Baron OgmoreFrederick LeathersJohn Moore-BrabazonJohn Reith, 1st Baron ReithEuan WallaceLeslie BurginLeslie Hore-BelishaOliver StanleyJohn PybusHerbert MorrisonWilfrid AshleyHarry GoslingJohn Baird, 1st Viscount StonehavenDavid Lindsay, 27th Earl of CrawfordWilliam Peel, 1st Earl PeelEric Campbell Geddes

See also

References