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Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

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The shadow chancellor of the exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the chancellor of the exchequer. The title is given at the gift of the leader of the Opposition and has no formal constitutional role, but is generally considered the second-most senior position, unless a shadow deputy prime minister is chosen, on the opposition frontbench, after the leader. Past shadow chancellors include Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Edward Heath, Geoffrey Howe, Kenneth Clarke, Gordon Brown, John McDonnell and Rachel Reeves.

The name for the position has a mixed history. It is used to designate the lead economic spokesman for the Opposition. The name 'Shadow Chancellor' has also been used for the corresponding position for the Liberal Democrats, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson.^[1] This was a source of humour for Chancellor Gordon Brown, who in 2005 played the two off against one another in Parliament, saying, "I, too, have a great deal of time for the shadow chancellor who resides in Twickenham [Liberal Democrat Vince Cable], rather than the shadow chancellor for the Conservative Party."^[2]

List of shadow chancellors[edit]

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Party	Shadow Cabinet
	Rab Butler		10 December 1950	26 October 1951	Conservative
	Hugh Gaitskell		26 October 1951	14 December 1955	Labour	Attlee
	Harold Wilson		14 December 1955	2 November 1961		Gaitskell
	James Callaghan		2 November 1961	15 October 1964
						Wilson I
	Reginald Maudling		15 October 1964	16 February 1965[3]	Conservative	Douglas-Home
	Edward Heath		16 February 1965[4]	11 November 1965		Heath I
	Iain Macleod		11 November 1965	20 June 1970
	Roy Jenkins		20 June 1970	19 April 1972	Labour	Wilson II
	Denis Healey		19 April 1972	4 March 1974
	Robert Carr		4 March 1974	11 February 1975	Conservative	Heath II
	Sir Geoffrey Howe		11 February 1975	4 May 1979		Thatcher
	Denis Healey		4 May 1979	8 December 1980	Labour	Callaghan
	Peter Shore		8 December 1980	31 October 1983		Foot
	Roy Hattersley		31 October 1983	13 July 1987		Kinnock
	John Smith		13 July 1987	24 July 1992
	Gordon Brown		24 July 1992	2 May 1997		Smith
						Beckett
						Blair
	Ken Clarke		2 May 1997	11 June 1997	Conservative	Major
	Peter Lilley		11 June 1997	2 June 1998		Hague
	Francis Maude		2 June 1998	1 February 2000
	Michael Portillo		1 February 2000	18 September 2001
	Michael Howard		18 September 2001	6 November 2003		Duncan Smith
	Oliver Letwin		6 November 2003	10 May 2005		Howard
	George Osborne		10 May 2005	11 May 2010
						Cameron
	Alistair Darling		11 May 2010	8 October 2010	Labour	Harman I
	Alan Johnson		8 October 2010	20 January 2011		Miliband
	Ed Balls		20 January 2011	11 May 2015
	Chris Leslie		11 May 2015	12 September 2015		Harman II
	John McDonnell		13 September 2015	5 April 2020		Corbyn
	Anneliese Dodds		5 April 2020	9 May 2021		Starmer
	Rachel Reeves		9 May 2021	5 July 2024
	Jeremy Hunt		8 July 2024	Incumbent	Conservative	Sunak

References[edit]

Book[edit]

• Lewis Baston (2004) Reggie: The Life of Reginald Maudling. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-2924-3