| Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | |
|---|---|
| Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | |
| Style | Business Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (UK and the Commonwealth) |
| Status | Secretary of state Minister of the Crown |
| Member of | Cabinet Privy Council National Security Council |
| Reports to | The Prime Minister |
| Seat | Westminster |
| Appointer | The Monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister) |
| Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure |
| Formation |
|
| First holder | Edward Heath as Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development |
| Website | www.gov.uk |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Politics of the United Kingdom |
|---|
 United Kingdom portal |
The secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.[1] The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
The incumbent Business Secretary is Grant Shapps who was appointed by Rishi Sunak on 25 October 2022.
Corresponding to what is generally known as a commerce minister in many other countries, the business secretary's remit includes:
During the government of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the then President of the Board of Trade Edward Heath was given in addition the job of Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development. This title was not continued under Harold Wilson, but when Heath became Prime Minister in 1970 he decided to merge functions of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology to create the Department of Trade and Industry. The head of this department became known as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and also retained the title of President of the Board of Trade.
When Harold Wilson re-entered office in March 1974, the office was split into the Department of Trade, the Department of Industry and the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection, resulting in the creation of three new positions: Secretary of State for Industry, Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection, and Secretary of State for Trade. The title President of the Board of Trade became the secondary title of the secretary of state for trade. By 1979 the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection was abolished by the incoming Conservative government and its responsibilities were reintegrated into the Department of Trade. Furthermore, 1983 the offices of trade and industry were remerged and the title of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry was recreated. When Michael Heseltine held this office, he preferred to be known by the older title of President of the Board of Trade, and this practice was also followed by Ian Lang and Margaret Beckett. Heseltine's decision to reuse the old title caused some controversy, and it was discovered[by whom?] that the Board of Trade had not in fact met since the mid-nineteenth century.[citation needed]
Under Gordon Brown's premiership there were two renamings of the role and three re-alignments of responsibility. In his first cabinet of 2007, he called the post Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. With this change, the Better Regulation Executive was added to the department but the Office of Science and Innovation was lost. In 2008, the title remained the same but responsibility for energy was lost. In 2009, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was merged into the existing department and the post became Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
In July 2016, Prime Minister Theresa May decided to merge the Department for Energy and Climate Change into this department with the responsibilities for post-19 education and skills being returned to the Department for Education resulting in the position being renamed to Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. At the same time in July 2016, the post of President of the Board of Trade was transferred to the newly created post of Secretary of State for International Trade.[3]
| Secretary of State | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edward Heath MP for Bexley |
20 October 1963 | 16 October 1964 | Conservative | Alec Douglas-Home | |||
| Secretary of State | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Davies MP for Knutsford |
15 October 1970 | 5 November 1972 | Conservative | Edward Heath | |||
| Peter Walker MP for Worcester |
5 November 1972 | 4 March 1974 | |||||
|
Secretary of State for Industry |
Secretary of State for Trade |
Political party | Prime Minister | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Took office | Left office | Name | Took office | Left office | Name | Took office | Left office | ||||||
Tony Benn MP for Bristol South East |
5 March 1974 | 10 June 1975 | Shirley Williams MP for Hertford and Stevenage |
5 March 1974 | 10 September 1976 | Peter Shore MP for Stepney and Poplar |
5 March 1974 | 8 April 1976 | Each Labour | Harold Wilson | ||||
Eric Varley MP for Chesterfield |
10 June 1975 | 4 May 1979 | ||||||||||||
| Edmund Dell MP for Birkenhead |
8 April 1976 | 11 November 1978 | Each Labour | James Callaghan | ||||||||||
Roy Hattersley MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook |
10 September 1976 | 4 May 1979 | ||||||||||||
| John Smith MP for North Lanarkshire |
11 November 1978 | 4 May 1979 | ||||||||||||
| Keith Joseph MP for Leeds North East |
4 May 1979 | 14 September 1981 | OFFICE ABOLISHED (responsibilities returned to the Trade Secretary) |
John Nott MP for St Ives |
5 May 1979 | 5 January 1981 | Each Conservative | Margaret Thatcher | ||||||
| John Biffen MP for Oswestry |
5 January 1981 | 6 April 1982 | ||||||||||||
| Patrick Jenkin MP for Wanstead and Woodford |
14 September 1981 | 12 June 1983 | ||||||||||||
| Arthur Cockfield, Baron Cockfield | 6 April 1982 | 12 June 1983 | ||||||||||||
| Secretary of State | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cecil Parkinson MP for Hertsmere |
12 June 1983 | 11 October 1983 | Conservative | Margaret Thatcher | |||
| Norman Tebbit MP for Chingford |
16 October 1983 | 2 September 1985 | |||||
| Leon Brittan MP for Richmond (Yorks) |
2 September 1985 | 22 January 1986 | |||||
| Paul Channon MP for Southend West |
24 January 1986 | 13 June 1987 | |||||
| The Lord Young of Graffham | 13 June 1987 | 24 July 1989 | |||||
| Nicholas Ridley MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury |
24 July 1989 | 13 July 1990 | |||||
| Peter Lilley MP for St Albans |
14 July 1990 | 10 April 1992 | |||||
| Conservative | John Major | ||||||
| Michael Heseltine[a] MP for Henley |
10 April 1992 | 5 July 1995 | |||||
| Ian Lang[a] MP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale |
5 July 1995 | 2 May 1997 | |||||
| Margaret Beckett[a] MP for Derby South |
2 May 1997 | 27 July 1998 | Labour | Tony Blair | |||
| Peter Mandelson MP for Hartlepool |
27 July 1998 | 23 December 1998 | |||||
| Stephen Byers MP for North Tyneside |
23 December 1998 | 8 June 2001 | |||||
| Patricia Hewitt MP for Leicester West |
8 June 2001 | 6 May 2005 | |||||
| Alan Johnson[b] MP for Hull West and Hessle |
6 May 2005 | 5 May 2006 | |||||
| Alistair Darling MP for Edinburgh South West |
5 May 2006 | 27 June 2007 | |||||
| Secretary of State | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Hutton MP for Barrow and Furness |
28 June 2007 | 3 October 2008 | Labour | Gordon Brown | |||
| The Lord Mandelson Lord Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool |
3 October 2008 | 5 June 2009 | |||||
| Secretary of State | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord Mandelson Lord Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool |
5 June 2009 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | Gordon Brown | |||
| Vince Cable MP for Twickenham |
12 May 2010 | 8 May 2015 | Liberal Democrats | David Cameron (Coalition) | |||
| Sajid Javid MP for Bromsgrove |
11 May 2015 | 14 July 2016 | Conservative | David Cameron (II) | |||
| Secretary of State | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ed Miliband MP for Doncaster North |
3 October 2008 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | Gordon Brown | ||||
| Chris Huhne MP for Eastleigh |
12 May 2010 | 3 February 2012 | Liberal Democrats | David Cameron (Coalition) | ||||
| Ed Davey MP for Kingston and Surbiton |
3 February 2012 | 8 May 2015 | ||||||
| Amber Rudd MP for Hastings and Rye |
11 May 2015 | 14 July 2016 | Conservative | David Cameron (II) | ||||
| Department abolished 2016, merged into Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. | ||||||||
| Secretary of State | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Clark MP for Tunbridge Wells |
14 July 2016 | 24 July 2019 | Conservative | Theresa May | |||
| Andrea Leadsom MP for South Northamptonshire |
24 July 2019 | 13 February 2020 | Boris Johnson | ||||
| Alok Sharma MP for Reading West |
13 February 2020 | 8 January 2021 | |||||
| Kwasi Kwarteng MP for Spelthorne |
8 January 2021 | 6 September 2022 | |||||
| Jacob Rees-Mogg MP for North East Somerset |
6 September 2022 | 25 October 2022 | Liz Truss | ||||
| Grant Shapps MP for Welwyn Hatfield |
25 October 2022 | Incumbent | Rishi Sunak | ||||
* Last updated 10 November 2022
