First Secretary of State

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First Secretary of State is an occasionally-used title within the British government, principally regarded as purely honorific. The title, which implies seniority over all other Secretaries of State, has no specific powers or authority attached to it beyond that of any other Secretary of State. It originated as an alternative to the use of the title Deputy Prime Minister, which was opposed by some for constitutional reasons. The principle of one of these objections was that the title implied some degree of expectation that there would be a right of succession to the Prime Minister's position in the event of the death or resignation of the incumbent.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Current Position

There is currently no Deputy Prime Minister or First Secretary of State. [1] Reports that Jack Straw had been given the position in June 2007 seem to have been a mistake.

[edit] First Secretaries of State

	Entered office	Left office	Political party	Other ministerial offices held whilst in post
Rab Butler	13 July 1962	18 October 1963	Conservative	Deputy Prime Minister (July 13, 1962 – October 18, 1963)
George Brown	16 October 1964	11 August 1966	Labour	Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (October 16, 1964 – August 11, 1966)
Michael Stewart	11 August 1966	6 April 1968	Labour	Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (August 11, 1966 – August 29, 1967), none (August 29, 1967 – March 16, 1968), Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (March 16, 1968 – October 17, 1968)
Barbara Castle	6 April 1968	19 June 1970	Labour	Secretary of State for Employment (April 6, 1968 – June 19, 1970)
Michael Heseltine	20 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative	Deputy Prime Minister (July 20, 1995 – May 2, 1997)
John Prescott	8 June 2001	27 June 2007	Labour	Deputy Prime Minister (May 2, 1997 – June 27, 2007)