The role of Financial Secretary to the Treasury was created in 1711 and was known as the Junior
Secretary to the Treasury to help deal with the increasing workload of the
Senior Secretary to the Treasury. The first Junior Secretary to the Treasury is recorded as
Thomas Harley who was appointed on 11 June 1711. The position has continued without any major interruption to the present day. Initially when the position of Senior Secretary to the Treasury became vacant not as the result of an election of change of government the Junior Secretary was usually automatically promoted to the senior role. Over time however, the roles of the Senior and Junior Secretaries began to diverge with the Senior Secretary post being used as a
sinecure post for the
Chief Whip, with no formal responsibilities to the Treasury. The Junior Secretary, however, remained a substantive position working in the Treasury. As such, the Senior Secretary became known as the '
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury' while the Junior Secretary became known as the 'Financial Secretary to the Treasury' and the 'automatic' promotion from Junior to Senior ceased. The exact date when this change occurred is disputed, but it is agreed that by 1830 the distinction was complete. In 1923,
Sir William Joynson-Hicks became – to date – the only financial secretary to concurrently serve in the Cabinet; this was owing to the then Prime Minister,
Stanley Baldwin, simultaneously holding the office of
Chancellor of the Exchequer. In May 2010, as part of the ministerial reorganisation by the
First Cameron ministry, the financial secretary was given the additional semi-official title of
City Minister. This position was retained until April 2014, when – following the promotion of
Sajid Javid to
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport – the portfolio of City Minister was moved from the financial secretary to the Treasury to the
economic secretary of the Treasury. Appointment to the position of Financial Secretary to the Treasury is often considered an important stepping stone in a politician's career; six of the ten most recent holders of the office have gone on to hold Cabinet-level positions. Notable former financial secretaries to the Treasury include
Lord Frederick Cavendish,
Austen Chamberlain, Stanley Baldwin,
Enoch Powell,
Nigel Lawson and
Norman Lamont. ==Current role==