Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

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Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Minister without Portfolio)



Incumbent: Ed Miliband MP Took office: 28 June 2007
Style:	The Right Honourable
Appointed by:	Gordon Brown as Prime Minister
First :	Sir Henry de Haydock
Formation:	1361

United Kingdom
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United Kingdom

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The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is, in modern times, a sinecure office in the British government.

[edit] History

Originally he was the chief officer in the daily management of the Duchy of Lancaster (a former county palatine merged into the Crown in 1399), but that estate is now run by a deputy, leaving the position of Chancellor to serve in effect as an alternative Minister without Portfolio. The position has often been given to a junior Cabinet minister with responsibilities in a particular area of policy for which there is no department with an appropriate portfolio.

Most recently, ownership of the title has been combined with serving as one of the Ministers for the Cabinet Office. This is true of Alan Milburn, who was given the title by Labour PM Tony Blair in 2004 and at the same time rejoined the Cabinet. Some have suggested^{[citation needed]} that this was a means to allow Milburn to be a member of the Cabinet but without a demanding government job, so that he could be at the heart of government but able to devote much of his time to the Labour Party's campaign for re-election in the 2005 general election.

The post was vacant after John Hutton was promoted to Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on November 2, 2005 following the second resignation of David Blunkett from the Cabinet. This was the longest period that the post has been left unfilled since at least 1687. The post was filled on 5 May 2006 by former Government Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong as part of a major reshuffle and combined with the role of Minister for Social Exclusion. Ed Miliband was appointed minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in June 2007, as part of Gordon Brown's first Cabinet. In recent times, the Chancellor's duties, administrative, financial and legal, have been said to occupy an average of one day a week.

Since 1491 there has been a Vice Chancellor. He is now the Chancery Division Judge in the north-west, and no longer appointed to that position as legal officer of the Duchy.