HM Government

saltire shield'The interesting thing about Gordon Brown's new administration is its lack of interest; a monochrome Cabinet compared with the Technicolor of the past 10 years, full of grey men like Alastair Darling, Des Browne and Jack Straw. "A government of bores," said one commentator, "the snoozers, the narcolepts and the headbangers." The press are distraught at the prospect of a Cabinet bereft of attention-seekers - Peter Mandelson, Alan Milburn and Tony Blair himself. There's not even a comic turn to replace John Prescott.'
Iain MacWhirter in the Sunday Herald, 1 st July 2007.		Lion Rampant

The Cabinet

Brown in School
Gordon Brown in school

The Cabinet

Gordon Brown was appointed Prime Minister on the 27 th June 2007 and started to appoint his new ministerial team on the 28 th June. A reshuffle was held on the 25 th January 2008 following the resignation of the Rt Hon Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Work & Pensions and Wales following a donations scandal. In the reshuffle, Paul Murphy was appointed as Secretary of State for Wales, leaving Scotland as the only country with a part time Secretary of State.

Position Name Total Salary
Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury & Minister for the Civil Service Rt Hon Dr Gordon Brown, MP £189,994
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rt Hon Alistair Darling, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Home Affairs Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs Rt Hon David Miliband, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Justice (Constitutional Affairs until June 2007) Rt Hon Jack Straw, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Defence & Scotland Rt Hon Des Browne, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Health Rt Alan Johnson, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Work & Pensions & Wales Rt Hon James Purnell, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Children, Schools & Families Rt Hon Ed Balls, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities & Skills Rt Hon John Denham, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (previously Trade & Industry) Rt Hon John Hutton, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Transport Rt Hon Ruth KellyMP £138,724
Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Rt Hon Hilary Benn, MP £138,724
Minister of Communities & Local Government Rt Hon Hazel Blears, MP 3 £138,724
Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport Rt Hon Andy Burnham, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Rt Hon Shaun Woodward, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for Wales Rt Hon Paul Murphy, MP £138,724
Secretary of State for International Development Rt Hon Douglas Alexander, MP £138,724
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rt Hon Yvette Cooper, MP £138,724
Leader of the House of Commons, Lord Privy Seal and Minister for Women & Equalities Rt Hon Harriet Harman, QC, MP £138,724
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip) Rt Hon Geoff Hoon, MP £138,724
Minister for the Cabinet Office & for Social Exclusion & Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Rt Hon Ed Miliband, MP £138,724
Leader of the House of Lords & Lord President of the Council Rt Hon Baroness Ashton of Upholland£104,386

Also attend Cabinet

The following people are not Cabinet Minister but also attend cabinet meetings.

Position Name Total Salary
Minister for the Olympics & London and Paymaster General Rt Hon Tessa Jowell, MP £101,713
Minister for Housing Caroline Flint, MP £101,713
Minister for Africa, Asia & the UN Sir Mark Malloch Brown KCMG, Lord Malloch Brown £104,386
Captain of the Gentlemen-At-Arms (Government Chief Whip, House of Lords) Lord Grocott £104,386
Attorney General Rt Hon Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC £109,201
Parliamentary Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister Ian Austin MP
Angela E. Smith MP		 £61,820
Minister for Children, Schools & Families and Minister for the North West Rt Hon Beverley Hughes, MP1 £101,713
1 Attends Cabinet when social policy issues are being discussed

Those highlighted in blue represent Scottish constituencies, those highlighted in red are Scots born. The ministerial entitlement includes the MP's parliamentary salary which is £61,820 as of 1 st November 2007.

The Secretary of State for Justice includes previous Home Office responsibilities with the office of Constitutional Affairs which itself replaced the posts of Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, Secretary of State for Scotland, and Secretary of State for Wales.
The post of Secretary of State for Education has been divided into Children, Schools & Families and Innovation, Universities & Skills.
The office of Deputy Prime Minister has been abolished.

In Gordon Brown's cabinet, four of the 22 members (18 %) are Scots MPs. In 2001, five of the 20 members the cabinet (25 %) represented Scottish constituencies compared to 55 MPs out of 416 (13 %) in the parliamentary party. This over-representation was partly explained by the fact that Ministers are generally recruited from senior MPs. In 1983, Scottish MPs accounted for 50/229 (21.8 %) of the parliamentary party.

By 2003, only three of the 21 members of the cabinet (14 %) represented Scottish constituencies. However, Dr John Reid, an MP sitting for a Scottish constituency, had responsability for Health in England and Wales. Responsability for Health in Scotland has been devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
After the 2005 election, four of the 22 ministers in the cabinet (18 %) represented Scottish constituencies with a futher Scottish MP, Douglas Alexander attending cabinet meetings. He was later promoted to become a full cabinet member.

In the previous Conservative government, 3 of the 11 (27 %) of Scottish MPs were cabinet ministers (Michael Forsyth, Scottish Secretary; Malcolm Rifkind, Defence and Ian Lang, President of the Board of Trade). This compares to the 5 out of 55 (9 %) of Scottish Labour MPs who were cabinet ministers in 2001.

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