Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Many theories exist as to the absence of a formal post of Deputy Prime Minister in Britain's uncodified constitution. Theoretically the sovereign possesses the unrestricted right to choose someone to form a government[note 1] following the death, resignation or dismissal of a Prime Minister.[note 2][2] One argument made to justify the non-existence of a permanent deputy premiership is that such an office-holder would be seen as possessing a presumption of succession to the premiership, thereby effectively limiting the sovereign's right to choose a prime minister.[note 3]

However, only two Deputy Prime Ministers have gone on to become Prime Minister. Clement Attlee led his party to victory in the 1945 general election and succeeded Winston Churchill's first premiership after their coalition broke up, but only after a two-month interval when Attlee was not a member of the government. Anthony Eden succeeded Churchill after his second premiership in 1955, not because he had been Deputy Prime Minister, but because he had long been seen as Churchill's heir apparent and natural successor.

The intermittent existence of a Deputy Prime Minister has been on occasion so informal that there have been a number of occasions on which dispute has arisen as to whether or not the title has actually been conferred.

The position of Deputy Prime Minister is not recognised in United Kingdom law, so any post-holder must be given an additional title in order to have legal status and to be paid a salary additional to the parliamentary one. Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2015, was appointed Lord President of the Council, a minister who presides over meetings of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council and has few other formal responsibilities, for this reason. On some occasions the post of First Secretary of State has been used; when John Prescott lost his departmental responsibilities in a reshuffle in 2001, he was given the office to enable him to retain a ministerial post, and Michael Heseltine was similarly appointed.

The Deputy Prime Ministership, where it exists, may bring with it practical influence depending on the status of the holder, rather than the status of the position.

Labour Party leader Clement Attlee held the post in the wartime coalition government led by Winston Churchill, and had general responsibility for domestic affairs, allowing Churchill to concentrate on the war. Rab Butler held the post in 1962–63 under Harold Macmillan, but was passed over for the premiership in favour of Alec Douglas-Home.

During Edward Heath's government (1970–1974), the title of Deputy Prime Minister was not formally used. However, in his Memoirs, Home Secretary Reginald Maudling described himself as Deputy Prime Minister under Heath from 1970 to his resignation in 1972 over the Poulson affair. William Armstrong, head of the Civil Service, was also called Heath's Deputy Prime Minister.[3] The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Ted Short, was Leader of the House of Commons from 1974 to 1976 under Harold Wilson and often thought of as Deputy Prime Minister; he was referred to as such in the citation for being made an Honorary Freeman of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne.

William Whitelaw was Margaret Thatcher's de facto deputy from 1979–1988,[4] an unofficial position he combined with that of Home Secretary in 1979–1983 and Leader of the House of Lords after 1983. Sir Geoffrey Howe was bestowed the title of Deputy Prime Minister by Thatcher in 1989,[4] on being removed from the post of Foreign Secretary. He resigned as her deputy in 1990, making a resignation speech that is widely thought to have hastened Thatcher's downfall. Thatcher's successor John Major did not appoint a Deputy Prime Minister until 1995, when Michael Heseltine was given the title.

John Prescott, who was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in opposition, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister by Tony Blair in 1997, in addition to being Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions. In 2001 this "superdepartment" was split up, with Prescott being given his own Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with fewer specific responsibilities. In May 2006, the department was removed from the control of the Deputy Prime Minister and renamed as the Department for Communities and Local Government with Ruth Kelly as the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Following the 2010 general election, which returned a hung parliament, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreed to form a coalition government. As leader of the smaller of the two parties in the coalition, Nick Clegg was appointed Deputy Prime Minister on the advice of the new Prime Minister, Conservative leader David Cameron.

Clegg was the last person to officially hold the post as, following the subsequent 2015 election, in which the Conservatives won an overall majority in the House of Commons, Cameron decided not to appoint a replacement. He chose instead to appoint the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne as First Secretary of State— effectively his deputy. After the 2016 referendum on European Union membership, and David Cameron's subsequent resignation, his successor as Prime Minister, Theresa May, also chose not to appoint an individual to either position. Following the 2017 snap general election, May again did not appoint a Deputy Prime Minister but did appoint Damian Green as First Secretary of State.[5]

After Green's resignation in 2017, the de facto Deputy Prime Minister function and responsibility was carried out by David Lidington in the office as Minister for the Cabinet Office, before passing to new First Secretary of State Dominic Raab in 2019.

The Deputy Prime Minister's Office (DPMO) is a non-statutory office, only being formed when a deputy prime minister is appointed which consists of the staff members and advisers who assist the deputy prime minister in his or her role. The most recent Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg maintained an office at the Cabinet Office headquarters, 70 Whitehall, which is linked to 10 Downing Street.[6] Clegg's predecessor, John Prescott, maintained his main office at 26 Whitehall.[7] The office is not an official single department and as such is part of and organised as part of the Cabinet Office.

Given that there is no constitutional office of Deputy Prime Minister, with the position being recreated on a case by case basis, the person who holds the post has no official residence. As a cabinet minister, however, they may have the use of a grace and favour London residence and country house. While in office, Nick Clegg resided at his private residence in Putney, London, and he shared Chevening House with former Foreign Secretary William Hague as a weekend residence.[8] Clegg's predecessor, John Prescott, had the use of a flat in Admiralty House and used Dorneywood as his country residence.

• Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)
• Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)
• First Secretary of State

• The website of the Deputy Prime Minister