What exactly does the Chancellor of the Exchequer do?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is one of the so-called "four great offices of state" in the UK and is effectively head of the UK Treasury. Historically the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer had been one and the same person until 1882 with WE Gladstone the last Prime Minister to serve as Chancellor of the Exchequer at the same time as Prime Minister. It is the third oldest major state office in British history and one which brings significant exposure and significant power for those lucky enough to be appointed.
However, until 1997 the Chancellor of the Exchequer was in control of both monetary policy and fiscal policy of the day until the Labour Party granted the Bank of England independence from the government and total control of UK interest rates. The main role of the Chancellor of the Exchequer today is to oversee public spending across the whole range of government departments and bring in as much income as possible.
Some of the more recent Chancellors of the Exchequer include Sir Geoffrey Howe, Nigel Lawson, John Major, Norman Lamont, Kenneth Clarke, Gordon Brown and the current chance of Exchequer Alistair Darling. Each Chancellor had a very different economic environment to operate under and their past records vary enormously.
Share this..
Related stories
UK unemployment to hit 3.2 million
In a bitter blow for the UK government the British Chamber of Commerce has issued a prediction that UK unemployment will hit 3.2 million before the end of this recession. This is a significant increase from the current 2 million and indicates further difficulties over the next few years. The forecast is a lot higher than many had predicted but the fall in the UK economy has also been significantly...
Read MoreLondon named world city of commerce
London has been named as the world's leading commercial hub, overtaking New York as the premier financial centre.
New research from MasterCard Worldwide places the UK capital at the top of a list of the world's 50 most influential cities on the global economy.
The panel of leading economists that compiled today's index praised London's flexibility as an operating environment for...
UK manufacturing slows in November
The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), a prominent indicator of the manufacturing industry, fell from 53.4 in October to 51.8 in November amid signs of a slowdown in the UK manufacturing sector. When you add this together with the slowdown in the services sector, expected slowdown in the property sector and a lack of overall liquidity in the money markets the signs are there for a further slowdown i...
Read MoreCelebrities and businesses voice anger at Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal Bank of Scotland, which has effectively been bailed out by the UK government and UK taxpayers, is this weekend under significant pressure from celebrities and businesses up and down the UK. There are concerns that the Royal Bank of Scotland has taken billions upon billions of pounds of taxpayer's money and nothing has been given back to the UK economy or the UK taxpayer as yet. Indeed...
Read MoreInflation Rate Being Squeezed Higher
While officially the general rate of inflation may be just under 5% at the moment this is nowhere near the figure which is emerging from the food sector. It has today been announced that in general the cost of food in the UK is increasing by over 10% per annum - over twice the general rate of inflation. While must of the recent rise was attributed to an 11.9% rise in the cost of fresh produce, t...
Read More