First Secretary of State

Like the deputy prime minister, the first secretary enjoys no right of automatic succession to the office of Prime Minister.{{Cite book|last=Norton|first=Philip|title=Governing Britain: Parliament, Ministers and Our Ambiguous Constitution|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=2020|isbn=9-781526-145451|pages=152}} However, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to an intensive care unit on 6 April 2020, after contracting COVID-19, First Secretary Dominic Raab was asked "to deputise for him where necessary."{{Cite web|date=6 April 2020|title=Statement from Downing Street: 6 April 2020|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/statement-from-downing-street-6-april-2020|access-date=3 June 2021|website=gov.uk|language=}}

The office temporarily enjoyed some greater constitutional footing between when it was incorporated as a corporation sole in 2002[https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2626/article/3/made The Transfer of Functions (Transport, Local Government and the Regions) Order 2002], art 3(1). and having all of its remaining functions transferred in 2008.[https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1034/made The Transfer of Functions (Miscellaneous) Order 2008], art 7 During most of this time, John Prescott was First Secretary.

In 1962, R.A. Butler was the first person to be appointed to the office, in part to avoid earlier royal objections to the office of Deputy Prime Minister.{{Cite book|last=Brazier|first=Rodney|url=|title=Choosing a Prime Minister: The Transfer of Power in Britain|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2020|isbn=978-0-19-260307-4|edition=|location=|pages=74–5|oclc=}} The office gave Butler ministerial superiority over the rest of the Cabinet{{Cite book|last=Brazier|first=Rodney|url=|title=Choosing a Prime Minister: The Transfer of Power in Britain|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2020|isbn=978-0-19-260307-4|edition=|location=|pages=75|oclc=}} and indicated that he was second-in-command.{{Cite book|last1=Seldon|first1=Anthony|title=The Impossible Office? The History of the British Prime Minister|last2=Meakin|first2=Jonathan|last3=Thoms|first3=Illias|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2021|isbn=9781316515327|pages=171|author-link=Anthony Seldon}} Harold Wilson appointed three people to the office between 1964 and 1970, but it has been noted by Anthony Seldon et al. that the office may have caught on "more as an ego-massager than for functional reasons."

Later, Michael Heseltine and John Prescott held the office alongside being Deputy Prime Minister.{{Cite book|last=Brazier|first=Rodney|url=|title=Choosing a Prime Minister: The Transfer of Power in Britain|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2020|isbn=978-0-19-260307-4|edition=|location=|pages=77|oclc=}} The two offices have only existed concurrently with different holders in David Cameron's coalition government, wherein Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg was appointed Deputy Prime Minister while Conservative William Hague was First Secretary.

The office is currently listed on the gov.uk website as bringing no additional responsibilities.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=First Secretary of State|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/first-secretary-of-state--2|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=3 June 2021|website=gov.uk}} However, Lord Norton says that there are two benefits to a prime minister in appointing a first secretary: firstly, it leaves a senior minister free to perform correlation and co-ordination and to chair committees and, secondly, it enables the prime minister to send a signal as to the status of the holder.{{Cite book|last=Norton|first=Philip|title=Governing Britain: Parliament, Ministers and Our Ambiguous Constitution|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=2020|isbn=9-781526-145451|pages=149–50}} Stephen Thornton and Jonathan Kirkup have said that "the Office of First Secretary of State is only as important as the person holding that office is perceived to be important",{{Cite journal|last=Thornton|first=Stephen|title=From Rab to Raab: The Construction of the Office of First Secretary of State|journal=Parliamentary Affairs|year=2023 |volume=2021|pages=186–210|doi=10.1093/pa/gsab038 |doi-access=free}} but in certain circumstances the office "can assume acute importance and real power" and it may yet become an office of substance.{{Cite journal|last1=Thornton|first1=Stephen|last2=Kirkup|first2=Jonathan|title=From Rab to Raab: The Construction of the Office of First Secretary of State|journal=Parliamentary Affairs|year=2023 |volume=2021|pages=186–210|doi=10.1093/pa/gsab038 |doi-access=free}}

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• Ministerial ranking - the "pecking order" or relative importance of senior ministers in the UK government.
• Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a similar position, sometimes used as an alternative to the First Secretary

{{notelist}}

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{{First Secretary of State}}

{{Downing Street}}

Category:Ministerial offices in the United Kingdom

Category:Honorary titles of the United Kingdom

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