Principal Private Secretary
to the Prime Minister
Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government
Incumbent
Elizabeth Perelman
since 25 October 2022
Prime Minister's Office
Reports toPrime Minister
NominatorPrime Minister
AppointerPrime Minister
Formation1757
Website10 Downing Street

The Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is a senior official in the United Kingdom Civil Service who acts as principal private secretary to the prime minister of the United Kingdom. The holder of this office is traditionally the head of the Prime Minister's Office in 10 Downing Street. In the Civil Service, the role is currently graded as director general.

The current principal private secretary is Elizabeth Perelman, who assumed the position following the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister on 25 October 2022.

Recent history

During Tony Blair's administration, the prime minister (as Minister for the Civil Service) modified the law under which the Civil Service operated (through an Order in Council) which gave power to the newly created role of Downing Street Chief of Staff (a politically appointed special adviser) to give instructions to civil servants and outranked the principal private secretary in the Downing Street power structure. When Gordon Brown entered 10 Downing Street, he reversed the change to the Civil Service law.

When David Cameron became prime minister, he promoted his then principal private secretary to a new post of "permanent secretary, Downing Street"; a position which took over as the top civil servant in the Prime Minister's Office and for the first time the head of the office held the highest rank in the UK's civil service.[1] In 2012, when the post-holder, Jeremy Heywood, was appointed Cabinet Secretary; this new post ceased to exist, and the chief Civil Service official in 10 Downing Street reverted to being the Principal Private Secretary, which remains to this day.

The principal secretary runs the private office of the prime minister, which includes the Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs to the Prime Minister.

List of principal private secretaries to the prime minister (from 1757, incomplete)

Principal Private Secretary Years Prime Minister
Montagu Corry 1868 Benjamin Disraeli
Algernon West 1868–1872 William Gladstone
Montagu Corry 1874–1880 Benjamin Disraeli
Arthur Godley 1880–1882 William Gladstone
Edward Walter Hamilton CB 1882–1885
The Marquess of Granby 1885–1886 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
post vacant 1886 William Gladstone
The Marquess of Granby 1886–1888 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
Capt the Hon Schomberg Kerr McDonnell CB 1888–1892
Sir Algernon West KCB 1892–1894 William Gladstone
George Herbert Murray CB[2][3][4] 1894–1895 Archibald Primrose
Capt the Hon Sir Schomberg Kerr McDonnell KCB CVO 1895–1902 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
John Satterfield Sandars CVO 1902–1905 Arthur Balfour
Arthur Ponsonby[5] 1905–1908 Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Vaughan Nash CB CVO 1908–1911 H. H. Asquith
Maurice Bonham-Carter 1911–1916
Sir John T Davies KCB CVO 1916–1922 David Lloyd George
Lt Col Sir Edward Grigg KCVO CMG DSO MC [dubious – discuss] 1921–1922
Sir Patrick Gower KBE CB CVO
Lt Col Sir Ronald Waterhouse KCB CMG CVO		 1922–1923 Bonar Law
1923–1924 Stanley Baldwin
1924 Ramsay MacDonald
1924–1928 Stanley Baldwin
Robert Vansittart[5] 1928–1929
1929–1930 Ramsay MacDonald
Sir Patrick Duff 1930–1933
Alan Barlow CB CBE 1933–1934
Harold Vincent KCMG CB CVO 1934–1935
1935–1936 Stanley Baldwin
Osmund Cleverly CB CVO 1935–1937
1937–1939 Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Rucker CB CBE 1939–1940
Eric Seal CB 1940–1941 Winston Churchill
John Martin CB CVO 1941–1945
Leslie Rowan CB CVO 1945
1945–1947 Clement Attlee
Laurence Helsby CB 1947–1950
Denis Rickett CB CMG 1950–1951
David Pitblado 1951
Jock Colville CB CVO (PPS: defence and external affairs)

David Pitblado CB CVO (PPS: home and internal affairs)

 1951–1955 Winston Churchill
David Pitblado CB CVO 1955–1956 Anthony Eden
Frederick Bishop CVO 1956–1957
1957–1959 Harold Macmillan
Timothy Bligh 1959–1963
1963–1964 Alec Douglas-Home
Derek Mitchell CVO 1964–1966 Harold Wilson
Lt Col Arthur Norman (Michael) Halls MBE TD[6][7][8] 1966–1970
Alexander Isserlis 1970
1970 Edward Heath
Robert Armstrong GCB CVO 1970–1974
1974–1975 Harold Wilson
Sir Kenneth Stowe GCB CVO[9] 1975–1976
1976–1979 James Callaghan
1979 Margaret Thatcher
Sir Clive Whitmore GCB CVO 1979–1982
Robin Butler KG GCB CVO PC 1982–1985
Sir Nigel Wicks GCB CVO CBE 1985–1988
Andrew Turnbull KCB CVO 1988–1990
1990–1992 John Major
Sir Alex Allan KCB 1992–1997
1997 Tony Blair
Sir John Holmes GCVO KBE CMG 1997–1999
Sir Jeremy Heywood KCB CVO 1999–2003
Sir Ivan Rogers KCMG 2003–2006
Sir Oliver Robbins KCMG CB 2006–2007
2007 Gordon Brown
Sir Tom Scholar KCB 2007–2008
Jeremy Heywood KCB CVO 2008–2010
James Bowler CB 2010–2011 David Cameron
Chris Martin CB CVO 2011–2015
Simon Case CVO 2016
2016–2017 Theresa May
Peter Hill CB 2017–2019
2019 Boris Johnson
Martin Reynolds CMG[10] 2019–2022
Peter Wilson CMG[11] 2022
Nick Catsaras 2022 Liz Truss
Elizabeth Perelman 2022– Rishi Sunak

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ "Cabinet Office Structure Charts, May 2010" (PDF). Cabinet Office, HM Government. May 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  2. ↑ "THE CABINET CRISIS.|1894-03-06|The South Wales Daily Post – Welsh Newspapers". newspapers.library.wales. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  3. ↑ "TO-DAY'S INCIDENTS.___I|1894-03-06|South Wales Echo – Welsh Newspapers". newspapers.library.wales. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  4. ↑ "Premier and ex-Premier.|1894-03-06|Evening Express – Welsh Newspapers". newspapers.library.wales. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  5. 1 2 British Political Facts 1900–1994, Butler & Butler, 1994, p. 284
  6. ↑ "The secret 'that could have toppled Wilson'". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  7. ↑ "WHEN I WAS RUDE TO CIVIL SERVANTS » 16 Dec 1995 » The Spectator Archive". The Spectator Archive. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  8. ↑ Colman, Jonathan (2018-07-30). Dissociation, January–July 1966. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-1-5261-3720-3.
  9. ↑ "Stowe, Sir Kenneth Ronald (Ken) (1927–2015), civil servant". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-110742. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  10. ↑ "Martin Reynolds Government Profile". Gov.uk. UK Government. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  11. ↑ "Peter Wilson appointed Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
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