Seals fate of a short-lived Whitehall department
The new Communities and Local Government Secretary, John Denham, tells me that when he went to see the Queen last night to collect the seals of his new office, he also had to hand in his old seals as the outgoing Secretary of State for Universities, Innovation and Skills.
And having presided over a government department which lasted less than two years, Mr Denham was sorely tempted to ask the Queen if he could keep his old seals on the grounds that he had been the only ever Secretary of State for Universities, Innovation and Skills - a bit like sports teams being allowed to keep a trophy once they have won it several times.
Mr Denham is also curious as to whether there has ever been a government department which has only ever had one secretary of state in its entire life.
Harold Wilson's famous Department of Economic Affairs, largely created to keep George Brown happy, is often cited as an example of a short-lived Whitehall department.
But in fact the old DEA also had two subsequent secretaries of state after George Brown - Michael Stewart and Peter Shore.
I'm Michael Crick, and I'm Newsnight's political editor. My guiding rule is that in any story there's usually something the politicians would prefer the world not to know. My job is to find that out. Follow me on
Comment number 1.
At 11th Jun 2009, David Boothroyd wrote:There are several examples of Departments of State which only had two holders, including Education and Employment (Gillian Shephard and David Blunkett) amd Commonwealth Affairs (Herbert Bowden and George Thomson). However there is one which had only one holder: Constitutional Affairs (Lord Falconer). Almost at the end of the Blair era, it was converted into the Department of Justice with substantially different responsibilities.
There are lots of Ministries which had only one holder, mostly temporary wartime appointments like Lord Woolton as Minister of Reconstruction.
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Comment number 2.
At 11th Jun 2009, leftieoddbod wrote:from the 'white heat of technology' to the expenses scandal......or was it going on then? We will never know....
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Comment number 3.
At 11th Jun 2009, threnodio wrote:Has this blog really degerated into a source for trivia fans?
Well, in that case, refering back to an earlier post, I wonder how long "Lord President of the Council, First Secretary of State, and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills" is going to last?
Please - something of substance.
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Comment number 4.
At 14th Jun 2009, JunkkMale wrote:3. At 4:27pm on 11 Jun 2009, threnodio
Please - something of substance.
/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2009/06/hazel_blears_childhood_acting.html
It's sort of combo of 'Your wish is my command' and 'Careful what you wish for'
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