UK/Paymaster General
 UK/Paymaster General  | |
|---|---|
| Start | 27 April 1836 |
| Website | http://web.archive.org/web/20080614152903/http://www.opg.gov.uk/ |
| UK ministerial position. Today, the Paymaster General is usually a minister without portfolio available for any duties which the government of the day may designate. | |
His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. Today, the Paymaster General is usually a minister without portfolio available for any duties which the government of the day may designate.
History
The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the positions of the offices of the Paymaster of the Forces (1661–1836), the Treasurer of the Navy (1546–1835), the Paymaster and Treasurer of Chelsea Hospital (responsible for Army pensions) (1681–1835) and the Treasurer of the Ordnance (1670–1835).
Initially, the Paymaster General only had responsibilities in relation to the armed services but in 1848 two more offices were merged into that of Paymaster General: the Paymaster of Exchequer Bills (1723–1848) and the Paymaster of the Civil Service (1834–1848), the latter followed by its Irish counterpart in 1861. They thus became 'the principal paying agent of the government and the banker for all government departments except the revenue departments and the National Debt Office'.[1]
From 1848 to 1868, the post was held concurrently with that of Vice-President of the Board of Trade.
Today, the Paymaster General is usually a minister without portfolio available for any duties which the government of the day may designate. The post may be combined with another office, or may be left unfilled.
Though the Paymaster General was titular head of the Paymaster General's Office, their executive functions were delegated to the Assistant Paymaster General, a permanent civil servant who (though acting in the name of the Paymaster General) was answerable to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.[1]
Office Holders on Wikispooks
| Name | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Matt Hancock | 11 May 2015 | 14 July 2016 |
| Francis Maude | 12 May 2010 | 11 May 2015 |
| Tessa Jowell | 28 June 2007 | 11 May 2010 |
| Michael Bates | 21 November 1996 | 2 May 1997 |
| David Willetts | 20 July 1996 | 21 November 1996 |
| Peter Brooke | 13 July 1987 | 24 July 1989 |
| Kenneth Clarke | 2 September 1985 | 13 July 1987 |
| Cecil Parkinson | 14 September 1981 | 11 June 1983 |
| Francis Pym | 5 January 1981 | 14 September 1981 |
| Shirley Williams | 10 September 1976 | 4 May 1979 |
| Maurice Macmillan | December 1973 | March 1974 |
| John Boyd-Carpenter | 16 July 1962 | 15 October 1964 |
| Reginald Maudling | 14 January 1957 | 14 October 1959 |
| Neville Chamberlain | 5 February 1923 | 7 March 1923 |
