The ministerial ranking, Cabinet ranking, order of precedence in Cabinet or order of precedence of ministers is the "pecking order" or relative importance of senior ministers in the

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

Use

The ministerial ranking is said by

Peter Hennessy Peter John Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield, (born 28 March 1947) is an English historian and academic specialising in the history of government. Since 1992, he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary Univ ...

to be decided by the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

alone and reportedly by the Cabinet Office Precedent Book as being wholly decided by the Prime Minister, "guided partly by tradition and partly by political and personal considerations". In his autobiography

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

said that it "...combines seniority of post and the length of time as a cabinet minister to determine the rank of everyone present". The Cabinet Manual states that when the Prime Minister is unable to attend

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

, or the chair and any deputy chair of a Cabinet committee are absent, the next most senior minister in the ministerial ranking should take the chair. One constitutional law academic, Rodney Brazier, has suggested that if the Prime Minister were to die suddenly, the monarch could ask the

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

, or if there was no such person available, the next most senior MP in the ministerial ranking to take temporary charge of the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

Importance

Hennessy says that it "...matters more than one thinks in establishing the power of a Prime Minister in relation to his most senior colleagues" and Harold Wilson has been noted to be one Prime Minister to take the ranking seriously. It has been noted that it was through the ministerial ranking rather than being First Secretary that George Brown was able to exercise "...deputising duties". It has also been said that, upon his 1995 appointment as Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary,

Michael Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician and businessman. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Heseltine served ...

also insisted that he became number two on the ministerial ranking. However, David Cameron has stated that it was "something we had never bothered with" and

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as " Supermac", ...

has reportedly said that he would have preferred an order based on the traditional dignity of offices, deeming it "all rather nonsense". Additionally, in April 2020, when

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...

was moved into intensive care with COVID-19, a government press release stated that he had asked

First Secretary of State The First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The office indicates seniority, including over all other Secretaries of State. The office is not always in use, ...

Dominic Raab Dominic Rennie Raab (; born 25 February 1974) is a British politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Justice, and Lord Chancellor since October 2022, having previously served from 2021 t ...

"to deputise for him where necessary", but the ministerial ranking on the parliament.uk website around the time showed

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (; born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022. He previously held two cabinet positions under Boris Johnson, lastly as ...

technically ranking above Raab.{{cite web, last=, first=, date=2020-04-21, title=Her Majesty's Government: The Cabinet, url=https://members.parliament.uk/Government/Cabinet, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421083403/https://members.parliament.uk/Government/Cabinet, archive-date=2020-04-21, access-date=2020-08-12, website=

References

External links

Official UK Parliament website
which orders Cabinet Ministers by ministerial ranking. Government institutions Orders of precedence Political terms in the United Kingdom Constitution of the United Kingdom Cabinet of the United Kingdom

Use

Importance

See also

References

External links