Secretary of State for Transport

The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors. The office used to be called the Minister of Transport, and has been merged with the Department for the Environment at various times.

The current Secretary of State for Transport is Ruth Kelly, who was appointed on 28 June 2007.

The Secretary of State is supported by a small team of junior Ministers. Each Minister is a Member of Parliament from either the House of Commons or the House of Lords. The number of Ministers supporting the Secretary of State for Transport vary from time to time, but is usually about 3. The titles given to these Ministers also vary. Currently the positions are held by one Minister of State for Transport and two Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State for Transport.

Unfortunately, as far as clarity is concerned, during the tenure of different governments the title of Minister of/for Transport has been used to refer to the Secretary of State for Transport, one or more of the junior Ministers or even both the Secretary of State and the junior Ministers at the same time.

From 2003 until June 2007 the role of Secretary of State for Transport was combined with the role of Secretary of State for Scotland. This arrangement changed on 28 June 2007, when in the appointment of his first Cabinet, Prime Minister Gordon Brown assigned the responsibilities of Secretary of State for Scotland to Des Browne, his Secretary of State for Defence.

The names provided in the sections below are those who have served in a position equivalent to the Secretary of State for Transport.

Minister of Transport

• Eric Geddes (19 May 1919 - 7 November 1921)
• William Peel, 2nd Viscount Peel (7 November 1921 - 12 April 1922)
• David Alexander Edward Lindsay, 27th Earl of Crawford, 10th Earl of Balcarres (12 April 1922 - 31 October 1922)
• Sir John Baird (31 October 1922 - 22 January 1924)
• Harry Gosling (24 January 1924 - 3 November 1924)
• Wilfrid Ashley (11 November 1924 - 4 June 1929)
• Herbert Morrison (7 June 1929 - 24 August 1931)
• James Pybus (3 September 1931 - 22 February 1933)
• Oliver Stanley (22 February 1933 - 29 June 1934)
• Leslie Hore-Belisha (29 June 1934 - 28 May 1937)
• Leslie Burgin (28 May 1937 - 21 April 1939)
• Euan Wallace (21 April 1939 - 14 May 1940)
• John Reith (14 May 1940 - 3 October 1940)
• John Moore-Brabazon (3 October 1940 - 1 May 1941)

Minister of War Transport

The Ministry of Transport absorbed the Ministry of Shipping and was renamed the Ministry of War Transport in 1941, but resumed its previous name at the end of the war.

• Frederick Leathers, 1st Baron Leathers (1 May 1941 - 26 July 1945)

Minister of Civil Aviation

The Ministry of Civil Aviation was created by Winston Churchill in 1944 to look at peaceful ways of using aircraft and to find something for the aircraft factories to do after the war. The new Conservative Government in 1951 appointed the same Minister to Transport and Civil Aviation, finally amalgamating the Ministries on 1 October 1953.

• Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Viscount Swinton (8 October 1944 - 26 July 1945)
• Reginald Fletcher, 1st Baron Winster (4 August 1945 - 4 October 1946)
• Harry Nathan, 1st Baron Nathan (4 October 1946 - 31 May 1948)
• Francis Aungier Pakenham, 1st Baron Pakenham (31 May 1948 - 1 June 1951)
• David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore (1 June 1951 - 26 October 1951)
• John Maclay (31 October 1951 - 7 May 1952)
• Alan Lennox-Boyd (7 May 1952 - 1 October 1953)

Minister of Transport

• Alfred Barnes (3 August 1945 - 26 October 1951)
• John Maclay (31 October 1951 - 7 May 1952)
• Alan Lennox-Boyd (7 May 1952 - 1 October 1953)

Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation

• Alan Lennox-Boyd (1 October 1953 - 28 July 1954)
• John Boyd-Carpenter (28 July 1954 - 20 December 1955)
• Harold Watkinson (20 December 1955 - 14 October 1959)

Minister of Transport

The Ministry was renamed back to the Ministry of Transport on October 14, 1959.

• Ernest Marples (14 October 1959 - 16 October 1964)
• Thomas Fraser (16 October 1964 - 23 December 1965)
• Barbara Castle (23 December 1965 - 6 April 1968)
• Richard Marsh (6 April 1968 - 19 June 1970)
• John Peyton (23 June 1970 - 15 October 1970)

Transport responsibilities were subsumed by the Department of the Environment from 15 October 1970 to 10 September 1976. This shows the junior minister responsible for transport within that department.

Minister for Transport Industries

• John Peyton (15 October 1970 - 4 March 1974)

Minister for Transport

• Fred Mulley (7 March 1974 - 12 June 1975)
• John Gilbert (12 June 1975 - 10 September 1976)

Secretary of State for Transport

• Bill Rodgers (10 September 1976 - 4 May 1979)

Minister of Transport

• Norman Fowler (11 May 1979 - 5 January 1981)

Secretary of State for Transport

• Norman Fowler (5 January 1981 - 14 September 1981)
• David Howell (14 September 1981 - 11 June 1983)
• Tom King (11 June 1983 - 16 October 1983)
• Nicholas Ridley (16 October 1983 - 21 May 1986)
• John Moore (21 May 1986 - 13 June 1987)
• Paul Channon (13 June 1987 - 24 July 1989)
• Cecil Parkinson (24 July 1989 - 28 November 1990)
• Malcolm Rifkind (28 November 1990 - 10 April 1992)
• John MacGregor (10 April 1992 - 20 July 1994)
• Brian Mawhinney (20 July 1994 - 5 July 1995)
• Sir George Young, Bt. (5 July 1995 - 2 May 1997)

Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions

• John Prescott (2 May 1997 - 8 June 2001)

From 1997 to 2001, the Ministers of State with responsibility for Transport were:

• Gavin Strang (3 May 1997 - 27 July 1998)
• John Reid (27 July 1998 - 17 May 1999)
• Helen Liddell (17 May 1999 - 29 July 1999)
• Lord Macdonald of Tradeston (29 July 1999 - 8 June 2001)

John Reid attended cabinet meetings, but was not formally a member of the cabinet whereas Gavin Strang was given a seat in the cabinet when he held the position.

Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions

The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was widely considered unwieldy and so was broken up, with the Transport functions now combined with Local Government and the Regions. Critics argued from the outset that this was a mistake and that a post of Secretary of State for Transport was needed in its own right.

• Stephen Byers (8 June 2001 - 29 May 2002)

After Byers' resignation, such a division was made, with the portfolios of Local Government and the Regions transferred to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Secretary of State for Transport

• Alistair Darling (29 May 2002 - 5 May 2006)
• Douglas Alexander (5 May 2006 - 27 June 2007)
• Ruth Kelly (28 June 2007 - present)