Secretary of State for Transport

Secretary of State for Transport
Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent [[]]
Department for Transport
Style	The Right Honourable
Appointer	David Cameron
Inaugural holder	Eric Campbell Geddes
Formation	19 May 1919
Website	Transport

The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors. The office used to be called the Minister of Transport and has been merged with the Department for the Environment at various times.

The current Secretary of State for Transport is Philip Hammond.

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.

Unfortunately, as far as clarity is concerned, 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

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Eric Campbell Geddes	19 May 1919	7 November 1921	Conservative	David Lloyd George
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Viscount Peel	7 November 1921	12 April 1922	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Earl of Crawford	12 April 1922	31 October 1922	Conservative
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir John Baird, Bt	31 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative	Andrew Bonar Law
Stanley Baldwin
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harry Gosling	24 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour	Ramsay MacDonald
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Wilfrid Ashley	11 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative	Stanley Baldwin
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Herbert Morrison	7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour	Ramsay MacDonald
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Percy Pybus	3 September 1931	22 February 1933	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Hon. Oliver Stanley	22 February 1933	29 June 1934	Conservative
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)/meta/color" |	Leslie Hore-Belisha	29 June 1934	28 May 1937	National Liberal
Stanley Baldwin
style="background-color: Template:National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)/meta/color" |	Leslie Burgin	28 May 1937	21 April 1939	National Liberal	Neville Chamberlain
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Euan Wallace	21 April 1939	14 May 1940	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:National Independent/meta/color" |	John Reith	14 May 1940	3 October 1940	National Independent	Winston Churchill
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Moore-Brabazon	3 October 1940	1 May 1941	Conservative

Minister of War Transport

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.

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Lord Leathers	1 May 1941	26 July 1945	Conservative	Winston Churchill

Minister of Civil Aviation

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.

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Viscount Swinton	8 October 1944	26 July 1945	Conservative	Winston Churchill
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Lord Winster	4 August 1945	4 October 1946	Labour	Clement Attlee
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Lord Nathan	4 October 1946	31 May 1948	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Lord Pakenham	31 May 1948	1 June 1951	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Lord Ogmore	1 June 1951	26 October 1951	Labour
style="background-color: Template:National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)/meta/color" |	Hon. John Maclay	31 October 1951	7 May 1952	National Liberal	Sir Winston Churchill
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alan Lennox-Boyd	7 May 1952	1 October 1953	Conservative

Minister of Transport

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alfred Barnes	3 August 1945	26 October 1951	Labour	Clement Attlee
style="background-color: Template:National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)/meta/color" |	Hon. John Maclay	31 October 1951	7 May 1952	National Liberal	Sir Winston Churchill
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alan Lennox-Boyd	7 May 1952	1 October 1953	Conservative

Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alan Lennox-Boyd	1 October 1953	28 July 1954	Conservative	Sir Winston Churchill
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Boyd-Carpenter	28 July 1954	20 December 1955	Conservative
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harold Watkinson	20 December 1955	14 October 1959	Conservative	Sir Anthony Eden
Harold Macmillan

Minister of Transport

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

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Ernest Marples	14 October 1959	16 October 1964	Conservative	Harold Macmillan
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Thomas Fraser	16 October 1964	23 December 1965	Labour	Harold Wilson
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Barbara Castle	23 December 1965	6 April 1968	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Richard Marsh	6 April 1968	6 October 1969	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Fred Mulley	6 October 1969	19 June 1970	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Peyton	23 June 1970	15 October 1970	Conservative	Edward Heath

Transport responsibilities were subsumed by the Department of the Environment from 15 October 1970 to 10 September 1976. This shows the junior minister responsible for transport within that department.

Minister for Transport Industries

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Peyton	15 October 1970	4 March 1974	Conservative	Edward Heath

Minister for Transport

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Fred Mulley	7 March 1974	12 June 1975	Labour	Harold Wilson
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Gilbert	12 June 1975	10 September 1976	Labour

Secretary of State for Transport

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Bill Rodgers	10 September 1976	4 May 1979	Labour	James Callaghan

Minister of Transport

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Norman Fowler	11 May 1979	5 January 1981	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher

Secretary of State for Transport

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Norman Fowler	5 January 1981	14 September 1981	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	David Howell	14 September 1981	11 June 1983	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Tom King	11 June 1983	16 October 1983	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Hon. Nicholas Ridley	16 October 1983	21 May 1986	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Moore	21 May 1986	13 June 1987	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Paul Channon	13 June 1987	24 July 1989	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Cecil Parkinson	24 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Malcolm Rifkind	28 November 1990	10 April 1992	Conservative	John Major
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John MacGregor	10 April 1992	20 July 1994	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Brian Mawhinney	20 July 1994	5 July 1995	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir George Young, Bt	5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative

Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions

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

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	John Prescott		2 May 1997	8 June 2001	Labour	Tony Blair

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

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.

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Stephen Byers	8 June 2001	29 May 2002	Labour	Tony 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

Name		Portrait	Took office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Alistair Darling		29 May 2002	5 May 2006	Labour	Tony Blair
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Douglas Alexander		5 May 2006	27 June 2007	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Ruth Kelly		28 June 2007	3 October 2008	Labour	Gordon Brown
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Geoff Hoon		3 October 2008	5 June 2009	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	The Lord Adonis		5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Philip Hammond		12 May 2010	14 October 2011	Conservative	David Cameron

See also

• Ministry of Civil Aviation Aerodrome Fire Service

External links

• Track record: Transport secretaries