Barely 24 hours after Labour’s victory on the polls, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s high crew of MPs started to line the trail to No. 10 Downing Avenue, hoping to have their shadow portfolios translated into long-awaited ministerial roles.
First among the many parade of MPs was Angela Rayner, who was appointed Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Native Authorities and Deputy Prime Minister.
Whereas her transient on the newly renamed Ministry of Housing definitely comes with formidable affect, it’s the penultimate Cupboard position of Deputy Prime Minister that sends the strongest sign of Rayner’s seniority within the ministerial rating. However what does being Deputy Prime Minister truly entail? Statutorily, completely nothing.
The position of Deputy Prime Minister will not be codified in laws, and its use in successive governments has been inconsistent since Clement Attlee was first styled with the title in 1942.
The title confronted opposition from ardent constitutionalists since its inception—chief amongst them the monarch. Throughout Churchill’s conflict ministry, chief of the Labour Celebration Clement Attlee was styled Deputy Prime Minister in recognition of his celebration’s standing because the second largest celebration within the cross-party unity authorities. However George VI was notoriously reluctant to acknowledge the title, as he considered the title as an encroachment on the monarch’s proper to pick a Prime Minister’s successor (Thornton, 2024). This view was shared by his successor Elizabeth II, who refused to formally appoint any particular person as DPM (Brazier, 2020). As such, the position of Deputy Prime Minister is merely a title and never an official appointment.
Reflecting the enduring consensus in opposition to formally recognizing the position, it was excluded from the Ministerial and Different Salaries Act 1975, stopping the position from carrying a ministerial wage and requiring a concurrent appointment for the holder to obtain ministerial compensation.
The motivation for appointing a Deputy Prime Minister varies primarily based on the political priorities of the Prime Minister, and the position’s authority is usually measured by the affect of the holder, resulting in a place which is fairly malleable and missing in formal authority. For Rayner, which means constitutionally, she is little greater than the Secretary of State for Housing—regardless of being designated because the second most senior minister of the crown.
One resolution to this constitutional conundrum could be to grant Angela Rayner the title First Secretary of State.
Whereas neither Deputy Prime Minister nor First Secretary of State enjoys automated proper of ascension to the position of Prime Minister, the First Secretary of State enjoys a statutory footing that the DPM doesn’t. Created in 1962 for R.A. Butler, the First Secretary of State carries a seal of workplace, and was integrated as an organization sole in 2002 below the statutory instrument The Switch of Features (Transport, Native Authorities and the Areas) Order 2002. The First Secretary can also be eligible to obtain a wage below the 1975 Act, impartial from one other ministerial appointment.
These incremental makes an attempt at codification have resulted within the publish of First Secretary carrying some statutory authority, or at the very least greater than the position of Deputy Prime Minister.
The prominence of the First Secretary was highlighted through the COVID-19 pandemic when then-First Secretary Dominic Raab was designated to deputize for Prime Minister Boris Johnson throughout his hospitalization with the virus. Raab concurrently held the position of Overseas Secretary, but it surely was his appointment as First Secretary from which his authority to deputize for the Prime Minister was drawn.
Historic precedent gives two examples of a Deputy Prime Minister concurrently occupying the workplace of First Secretary of State. Michael Heseltine held each roles within the second Main ministry, whereas John Prescott carried each titles in Blair’s second and third ministries.
Whereas Prescott’s commanding presence vastly elevated the interpersonal authority of the Deputy Prime Minister, his authorized authority was derived from his official ministerial appointments—first as Secretary of State for Atmosphere, Transport and Areas and subsequently as First Secretary of State. Whereas some students argue Prescott was solely made First Secretary as compensation for the breakup of his super-department (the Division for the Atmosphere, Transport and the Areas) in 2001, he continued to wield wide-ranging affect each by his ministerial positions, and his elected position as Deputy Chief of the Labour Celebration—a publish at present occupied by Rayner.
Rayner familiarized herself with the position of First Secretary whereas shadowing Dominic Raab. Even when Raab ceased to make use of the title upon his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister, Rayner maintained the Shadow FSS moniker till 2023 when she was named Shadow Deputy Prime Minister—aligning her shadow roles to mirror the Authorities’s discontinuation of the FSS appointment.
Regardless of the advantages, the position of First Secretary of State itself stays ambiguous. Main students on deputies to the British premier Stephen Thornton and Jonathan Kirkup argue that too usually, the First Secretary’s priority depends on the character occupying the position—much like the Deputy Prime Minister. There have additionally been successive First Secretaries that weren’t acknowledged because the Prime Minister’s deputy whereas holding the position. For example, Barbara Citadel served as First Secretary from 1968–1970 below Labour PM Harold Wilson, however Overseas Secretary Michael Stewart was extensively acknowledged as Wilson’s deputy and got here first within the cupboard order of priority (Thornton and Kirkup, 2021).
Above all, the controversy in regards to the deputy premiership solely additional highlights the will for significant constitutional readability. Although with the Labour authorities starting to sort out a burgeoning in-tray, constitutional tinkering looks like a minor precedence.
Within the meantime, appointing Angela Rayner First Secretary of State might assist lower ambiguity about her skill to deputize the place needed—and squash rumors that she has been ‘frozen out’ of Starmer’s high crew. When held independently the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary might battle to outline their position in extremely unstable political environments, however when held concurrently, holders have loved enhanced affect.
Although each roles undergo from a scarcity of readability, their mixed use might assist formalize each the non-public and statutory authority of the holder because the second most senior Cupboard minister—realigning the position with precedent set below the New Labour years, which have already served as one in every of Keir Starmer’s best inspirations.
Robert Swetlic, M.A. is an early profession researcher and incoming PhD pupil at Wayne State College in Detroit, Michigan. His analysis pursuits embrace political communications and British politics.
A particular thanks to Dr. Stephen Thornton for lending his experience through the writing of this publish.
(Instructed quotation: R. Swetlic, ‘For Constitutional Readability, Ought to Angela Rayner be Named First Secretary of State?’, U.Okay. Const. L. Weblog (18th July 2024) (accessible at https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/))
