Leader of the House of Lords facts for kids

Quick facts for kids United Kingdom Leader of the House of Lords
Incumbent The Baroness Smith of Basildon since 5 July 2024
Office of the Leader of the House
Nominator	Prime Minister
Appointer	The Monarch

The leader of the House of Lords is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Lords. The post is also the leader of the governing party in the House of Lords who acts as the government party chairperson in the house. The role is always held in combination with a formal Cabinet position, usually one of the sinecure offices of Lord President of the Council, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal or Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Unless the Leader is also a departmental minister, being Leader constitutes the bulk of their government responsibilities, but it has never been an independent salaried office. The Office of the Leader of the House of Lords is a ministerial department.

Though the leader of the House is a member of the cabinet and remains a partisan figure, the leader also has responsibilities to the House as a whole. In contrast to the House of Commons, where proceedings are controlled by the speaker, proceedings in the Lords are controlled by peers themselves, under the rules set out in the Standing Orders. The leader of the House has the responsibility of reminding the House of these rules and facilitating the Lords' self-regulation, though any member may draw attention to breaches of order or failure to observe customs. The Leader is often called upon to advise on procedures and points of order and is required to determine the order of speakers on Supplementary Questions, subject to the wishes of the House. However, like the Lord Speaker, the Leader of the House has no power to rule on points of order or to intervene during an inappropriate speech.

Until the election of the first Lord Speaker on 4 July 2006, the Leader of the House had responsibility for making preliminary decisions on requests for Private Notice Questions and for waiving the sub judice rule in certain cases. Those functions were transferred to the Lord Speaker.

History

The title seems to have come into use some time after 1800, as a formal way of referring to the peer who managed government business in the upper House, irrespective of which salaried position they held in the cabinet. However, it may have been used as early as 1689, applied to George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, when he was Speaker of the House of Lords during the Convention Parliament of that year.

The role developed during the first quarter of the eighteenth century, at the same time as the role of Prime Minister and the system of Cabinet government. In the wake of the English Civil War, the Glorious Revolution and the succession of the Hanoverians to the throne, Britain evolved a system of government where ministers were sustained in office by their ability to carry legislation through Parliament. It was therefore necessary for a member of the government to take responsibility for steering government legislation through each House.

The Earl of Sunderland initiated aspects of the role during the Whig Junto under Queen Anne. Sunderland and the other Whigs were dismissed from office in reaction to their co-ordination of government matters, which was taken as a threat to the power of the monarch. Sunderland returned to power under George I, as Lord Privy Seal. The first documentary evidence of the existence of the role comes from 1717, when Sunderland became Secretary of State for the Northern Department: in the form of lists of peers invited to the office of the Northern Secretary immediately before sessions of Parliament.

When the Prime Minister sat in the House of Lords, which was common until the beginning of the twentieth century, he usually held the position of Leader of the House of Lords. When the Prime Minister sat in the Commons, the position of Leader of the Lords was often held by the Foreign Secretary or Colonial Secretary. In some coalition governments, it was held by the party leader who was not Prime Minister.

Since the end of the Marquess of Salisbury's last government, in 1902, the position clearly exists in its own right as a member of the cabinet. Since 1966 it has only been combined with sinecure positions and the holder has not been a departmental minister though some have held additional responsibilities such as Quintin Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham also being designated "Minister for Science" or Margaret Baroness Jay also being "Minister for Women". The first female Leader of the Lords was Janet Young, Baroness Young in 1981–1983. Lord Peart, Viscount Whitelaw and Lord Wakeham served as Leader of the Lords having previously been Leader of the House of Commons.

Families

• Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury served as Leader of the House of Lords from 1885 to 1886, from 1886 to 1892 and from 1895 to 1902. His son James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury served as Leader from 1925 to 1929. His son in turn, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury served as Leader first from 1942 to 1945 as Viscount Cranborne by means of a writ of acceleration, and as the Marquess of Salisbury from 1951 to 1957. His grandson, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury, served as Leader from 1994 to 1997, as Viscount Cranborne, again by means of a writ of acceleration.
• Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham served as Leader of the House of Lords from 1931 to 1935. His son Quintin Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham served as Leader from 1960 to 1963.

Responsibilities

• Management and delivery of the Government's legislative programme (through the House of Lords) and facilitating the passage of individual bills.
• Leading the House (in the Chamber and as a key member of domestic committees to do with procedure, conduct, and the internal governance of the House).
• Issues connected to the House of Lords and its governance.
• Speaking for the Government in the Chamber on a range of issues, including repeating in the House of Lords statements made to the Commons by the Prime Minister.
• Ceremonial and other duties as the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal.

List

Because the post is a parliamentary one and not a ministerial office in its own right, it is not always included in official lists of government offices, especially for earlier periods. This can make it difficult to determine who the Leader of the House of Lords was in a particular ministry.

Leader			Term of office		Other ministerial offices held as Leader of the House of Lords	Political party	Prime Minister
		Charles Spencer The Earl of Sunderland	April 1717	March 1718	– Secretary of State for the Northern Department		No such office
		James Stanhope The Earl Stanhope Viscount Stanhope until April 1718	March 1718	5 February 1721	– Secretary of State for the Northern Department		No such office
		Charles Townshend The Viscount Townshend	February 1721	May 1730	– Secretary of State for the Northern Department	Whig		Robert Walpole
		William Stanhope The Earl of Harrington Lord Harrington until 1742	May 1730	February 1742	– Secretary of State for the Northern Department
		John Carteret The Earl Granville Lord Carteret until 1744	12 February 1742	24 November 1744	– Secretary of State for the Northern Department	Whig		Earl of Wilmington (until July 1743)
								Henry Pelham (from 27 August 1743)
		William Stanhope The Earl of Harrington	November 1744	October 1746	– Secretary of State for the Northern Department
		Philip Dormer Stanhope The Earl of Chesterfield	October 1746	February 1748	– Secretary of State for the Northern Department	Whig
		Thomas Pelham-Holles The Duke of Newcastle	February 1748	16 November 1756	– Secretary of State for the Northern Department until March 1754– Prime Minister from March 1754	Whig
								Himself
		William Cavendish The Duke of Devonshire	16 November 1756	25 June 1757	– Prime Minister	Whig		Himself
		Thomas Pelham-Holles The Duke of Newcastle	2 July 1757	26 May 1762	– Prime Minister	Whig		Himself
		Charles Wyndham The Earl of Egremont	May 1762	21 August 1763	– Secretary of State for the Southern Department			Earl of Bute (until April 1763)
								George Grenville (from 16 April 1763)
		George Montagu Dunk The Earl of Halifax	August 1763	July 1765	– Secretary of State for the Southern Department
		Charles Watson-Wentworth The Marquess of Rockingham	13 July 1765	30 July 1766	– Prime Minister	Whig (Rockingham)		Himself
		Augustus FitzRoy The Duke of Grafton	1766	28 January 1770	– First Lord of the Treasury – Prime Minister from October 1768	Whig (Chathamite)		Earl of Chatham (William Pitt the Elder) (until October 1768)
								Himself (from 14 October 1768)
		Thomas Thynne The Viscount Weymouth	January 1770	December 1770	– Secretary of State for the Southern Department			Lord North
		William Nassau de Zuylestein The Earl of Rochford	December 1770	November 1775	– Secretary of State for the Southern Department
		Henry Howard The Earl of Suffolk	November 1775	6 March 1779	– Secretary of State for the Northern Department
		Thomas Thynne The Viscount Weymouth	March 1779	November 1779	– Secretary of State until October 1779 - Secretary of State for the Southern Department from October 1779
		David Murray The Viscount Stormont	November 1779	March 1782	– Secretary of State for the Northern Department
		William Petty The Earl of Shelburne	March 1782	April 1783	– Secretary of State for the Home Department until July 1782 – Prime Minister from July 1782	Whig (Rockingham)		Marquess of Rockingham (until 1 July 1782)
								Himself (from 4 July 1782)
		William Cavendish-Bentinck The Duke of Portland	2 April 1783	December 1783	– Prime Minister	Whig (Foxite)		Himself (figurehead)
		George Nugent-Temple-Grenville The Earl Temple	December 1783	December 1783	– Secretary of State for the Home Department – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	–		William Pitt the Younger
		Thomas Townshend The Lord Sydney	December 1783	June 1789	– Secretary of State for the Home Department	Whig
		Francis Osborne The Duke of Leeds	1789	1790	– Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Tory
		William Grenville The Lord Grenville	November 1790	February 1801	– Secretary of State for the Home Department until June 1791 – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from June 1791	Tory
		Robert Hobart The Lord Hobart	March 1801	October 1801	– Secretary of State for War and the Colonies	Tory		Henry Addington
		Thomas Pelham The Lord Pelham	October 1801	August 1803	– Secretary of State for the Home Department	Tory
		Robert Jenkinson The Lord Hawkesbury	November 1803	February 1806	– Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs until May 1804 – Secretary of State for the Home Department from May 1804	Tory
								William Pitt the Younger
		William Grenville The Lord Grenville	11 February 1806	March 1807	– Prime Minister	Whig		Himself (Ministry of All the Talents)
		Robert Jenkinson The Earl of Liverpool Baron Hawkesbury until 1808 Earl of Liverpool from 1808	25 March 1807	April 1827	– Secretary of State for the Home Department until November 1809 – Secretary of State for War and the Colonies November 1809 – June 1812 – Prime Minister from June 1812	Tory		3rd Duke of Portland
								Spencer Perceval
								Himself
		F. J. Robinson The Viscount Goderich	30 April 1827	January 1828	Secretary of State for War and the Colonies until September 1827 – Prime Minister from August 1827	Tory		George Canning
								Himself
		Arthur Wellesley The Duke of Wellington	January 1828	November 1830	– Prime Minister	Tory		Himself
		Charles Grey The Earl Grey	22 November 1830	9 July 1834	– Prime Minister	Whig		Himself
		William Lamb The Viscount Melbourne	16 July 1834	14 November 1834	– Prime Minister	Whig		Himself
		Arthur Wellesley The Duke of Wellington	17 November 1834	8 April 1835	– Prime Minister until December 1834 – Secretary of State for the Home Department until December 1834 – Secretary of State for War and the Colonies until December 1834 – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Tory		Himself (Caretaker)
								Robert Peel
		William Lamb The Viscount Melbourne	18 April 1835	30 August 1841	– Prime Minister	Whig		Himself
		Arthur Wellesley The Duke of Wellington	3 September 1841	27 June 1846	– Minister without portfolio	Conservative		Robert Peel
		Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice The Marquess of Lansdowne	6 July 1846	21 February 1852	– Lord President of the Council	Whig		Lord John Russell
		Edward Smith-Stanley The Earl of Derby	23 February 1852	17 December 1852	– Prime Minister	Conservative		Himself
		George Hamilton-Gordon The Earl of Aberdeen	19 December 1852	30 January 1855	– Prime Minister	Peelite		Himself (Coalition)
		Granville Leveson-Gower The Earl Granville	8 February 1855	21 February 1858	– Lord President of the Council	Whig		Viscount Palmerston
		Edward Smith-Stanley The Earl of Derby	21 February 1858	11 June 1859	– Prime Minister	Conservative		Himself
		Granville Leveson-Gower The Earl Granville	18 June 1859	29 October 1865	– Lord President of the Council	Liberal		Viscount Palmerston
		John Russell The Earl Russell	29 October 1865	26 June 1866	– Prime Minister	Liberal		Himself
		Edward Smith-Stanley The Earl of Derby	28 June 1866	25 February 1868	– Prime Minister	Conservative		Himself
		James Harris The Earl of Malmesbury	27 February 1868	1 December 1868	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Conservative		Benjamin Disraeli
		Granville Leveson-Gower The Earl Granville	9 December 1868	17 February 1874	– Secretary of State for the Colonies until July 1870 – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from July 1870	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
		Charles Gordon-Lennox The Duke of Richmond	21 February 1874	21 August 1876	– Lord President of the Council	Conservative		Benjamin Disraeli
		Benjamin Disraeli The Earl of Beaconsfield	21 August 1876	21 April 1880	– Prime Minister – Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal from August 1876 until February 1878	Conservative
		Granville Leveson-Gower The Earl Granville	28 April 1880	9 June 1885	– Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil The Marquess of Salisbury	23 June 1885	28 January 1886	– Prime Minister – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Conservative		Himself
		Granville Leveson-Gower The Earl Granville	6 February 1886	20 July 1886	– Secretary of State for the Colonies	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil The Marquess of Salisbury	25 July 1886	11 August 1892	– Prime Minister – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from January 1887	Conservative		Himself
		John Wodehouse The Earl of Kimberley	18 August 1892	5 March 1894	– Lord President of the Council	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
		Archibald Primrose The Earl of Rosebery	5 March 1894	21 June 1895	– Prime Minister	Liberal		Himself
		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil The Marquess of Salisbury	25 June 1895	11 July 1902	– Prime Minister – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs until November 1900 – Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal from 12 November 1900	Conservative		Himself
		Spencer Cavendish The Duke of Devonshire	12 July 1902	13 October 1903	– Lord President of the Council	Liberal Unionist		Arthur Balfour (Conservative)
		Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice The Marquess of Lansdowne	13 October 1903	4 December 1905	– Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Liberal Unionist
		George Robinson The Marquess of Ripon	10 December 1905	14 April 1908	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Liberal		Henry Campbell-Bannerman
		Robert Crewe-Milnes The Marquess of Crewe Earl of Crewe until 1911 Marquess of Crewe from 1911	14 April 1908	10 December 1916	– Secretary of State for the Colonies May 1908– November 1910 – Lord Keeper of the Privy SealOctober 1908 – October 1911; February 1912 – May 1915 – Secretary of State for India November 1910 – March 1911; May 1911 – May 1915 – Lord President of the Council from May 1915 – President of the Board of Education from August 1916	Liberal		H. H. Asquith
		George Curzon The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston Earl Curzon of Kedleston until 1921 Marquess Curzon of Kedleston from 1921	10 December 1916	22 January 1924	– Lord President of the Council until October 1919 – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from October 1919	Conservative		David Lloyd George (Liberal)
								Bonar Law
								Stanley Baldwin
		Richard Haldane The Viscount Haldane	22 January 1924	3 November 1924	– Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
		George Curzon The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston	3 November 1924	20 March 1925	– Lord President of the Council	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin
		James Gascoyne-Cecil The Marquess of Salisbury	27 April 1925	4 June 1929	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Conservative
		Charles Cripps The Lord Parmoor	7 June 1929	24 August 1931	– Lord President of the Council	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
		Rufus Isaacs The Marquess of Reading	24 August 1931	5 November 1931	– Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Liberal		Ramsay MacDonald
		Douglas Hogg The Viscount Hailsham	5 November 1931	7 June 1935	– Secretary of State for War	Conservative
		Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart The Marquess of Londonderry	7 June 1935	22 November 1935	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin
		Edward Wood The Viscount Halifax	22 November 1935	21 February 1938	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal until May 1937 – Lord President of the Council from 28 May 1937	Conservative
								Neville Chamberlain
		James Stanhope The Earl Stanhope	21 February 1938	14 May 1940	– President of the Board of Education until October 1938 – First Lord of the Admiralty October 1938 to September 1939 – Lord President of the Council September 1939 to May 1940	Conservative
		Thomas Inskip The Viscount Caldecote	14 May 1940	3 October 1940	– Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs	Conservative		Winston Churchill
		Edward Wood The Viscount Halifax	3 October 1940	22 December 1940	– Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Conservative
		George Lloyd The Lord Lloyd	22 December 1940	4 February 1941	– Secretary of State for the Colonies	Conservative
		Walter Guinness The Lord Moyne	8 February 1941	21 February 1942	– Secretary of State for the Colonies	Conservative
		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil Viscount Cranborne	21 February 1942	26 July 1945	– Secretary of State for the Colonies to November 1942 – Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal November 1942 to September 1943 – Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs September 1943 to 1945	Conservative
		Christopher Addison The Viscount Addison	3 August 1945	26 October 1951	– Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs until July 1947 – Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations July 1947 – October 1947 – Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal October 1947 – March 1951 – Paymaster General July 1948– April 1949 – Lord President of the Council from March 1951	Labour		Clement Attlee
		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil The Marquess of Salisbury	28 October 1951	29 March 1957	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal until May 1952 – Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations March 1952– November 1952 – Lord President of the Council from November 1952	Conservative		Winston Churchill
								Anthony Eden
		Alec Douglas-Home The Earl of Home	29 March 1957	27 July 1960	– Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations – Lord President of the Council until September 1957; from October 1959	Conservative		Harold Macmillan
		Quintin Hogg The Viscount Hailsham	27 July 1960	20 October 1963	– Lord President of the Council – Minister for Science	Conservative
		Peter Carington The Lord Carrington	20 October 1963	16 October 1964	– Minister without portfolio	Conservative		Alec Douglas-Home
		Frank Pakenham The Earl of Longford	18 October 1964	16 January 1968	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Sealuntil December 1965; from April 1966 – Secretary of State for the Colonies December 1965 – April 1966	Labour		Harold Wilson
		Edward Shackleton The Lord Shackleton	16 January 1968	19 June 1970	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal until April 1968; from October 1968 – Paymaster General April 1968–November 1968	Labour
		George Jellicoe The Earl Jellicoe	20 June 1970	23 May 1973	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Conservative		Edward Heath
		David Hennessy The Lord Windlesham	5 June 1973	4 March 1974	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Conservative
		Malcolm Shepherd The Lord Shepherd	7 March 1974	10 September 1976	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Labour		Harold Wilson
								James Callaghan
		Fred Peart The Lord Peart	10 September 1976	4 May 1979	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Labour
		Christopher Soames The Lord Soames	5 May 1979	14 September 1981	– Lord President of the Council	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
		Janet Young The Baroness Young	14 September 1981	11 June 1983	– Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster until April 1982 – Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal from April 1982	Conservative
		William Whitelaw The Viscount Whitelaw	11 June 1983	10 January 1988	– Lord President of the Council	Conservative
		John Ganzoni The Lord Belstead	10 January 1988	28 November 1990	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Conservative
		David Waddington The Lord Waddington	28 November 1990	11 April 1992	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Conservative		John Major
		John Wakeham The Lord Wakeham	11 April 1992	20 July 1994	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Conservative
		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil Viscount Cranborne	20 July 1994	2 May 1997	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Conservative
		Ivor Richard The Lord Richard	2 May 1997	27 July 1998	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Labour		Tony Blair
		Margaret Jay The Baroness Jay of Paddington	27 July 1998	8 June 2001	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal – Minister for Women	Labour
		Gareth Williams The Lord Williams of Mostyn	8 June 2001	20 September 2003	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal until June 2003 – Lord President of the Council from June 2003	Labour
		Valerie Amos The Baroness Amos	6 October 2003	27 June 2007	– Lord President of the Council	Labour
		Catherine Ashton The Baroness Ashton of Upholland	28 June 2007	2 October 2008	– Lord President of the Council	Labour		Gordon Brown
		Janet Royall The Baroness Royall of Blaisdon	2 October 2008	11 May 2010	– Lord President of the Council until June 2009 – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from June 2009	Labour
		Thomas Galbraith The Lord Strathclyde	12 May 2010	7 January 2013	– Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster	Conservative		David Cameron
		Jonathan Hill The Lord Hill of Oareford	7 January 2013	15 July 2014	– Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster	Conservative
		Tina Stowell The Baroness Stowell of Beeston	15 July 2014	14 July 2016	– Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal	Conservative
		Natalie Evans The Baroness Evans of Bowes Park	14 July 2016	6 September 2022		Conservative		Theresa May
								Boris Johnson
		Nicholas True The Lord True	6 September 2022	30 May 2024		Conservative		Liz Truss
								Rishi Sunak
		Angela Smith The Baroness Smith of Basildon	5 July 2024	Incumbent		Labour		Keir Starmer

Deputy Leaders

The following peers have served as Deputy Leaders of the House of Lords since 1963:

See also

• House of Lords
• Leader of the House of Commons