- Paymaster General
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Her Majesty's Paymaster General
Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Office of HM Paymaster GeneralStyle The Right Honourable Appointer David Cameron Inaugural holder Henry Parnell Formation 27 April 1836 Website HM Paymaster General [archived version] United Kingdom
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HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom. The Paymaster General is in charge of the Office of HM Paymaster General (OPG), which held accounts at the Bank of England on behalf of Government departments and selected other public bodies. Funds which are made available from the Consolidated Fund were then channelled into OPG accounts, from where they were used by the relevant body. OPG operated a full range of accounts and banking transaction services, including cheque and credit, BACS and CHAPS services for its customers via an electronic banking system. Integration of OPG accounts held with commercial banks was provided by the private company Xafinity Paymaster.
In 2008, the government announced that the Office of the Paymaster General would be incorporated into a new body, the Government Banking Service,[1] which also provides banking operations for HM Revenue & Customs and National Savings and Investments. Following the Bank of England's decision to withdraw from providing retail banking services[2], retail banking services for the GBS are provided exclusively by the Royal Bank of Scotland and Citibank[3], although the Bank of England still plays a role in managing the government's higher level accounts.[4]
When the post is held by a minister in HM Treasury it ranks third in the Treasury, after the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the positions of Paymaster of the Forces, Treasurer of the Navy, Paymaster and Treasurer of Chelsea Hospital and Treasurer of the Ordnance. From 1848 to 1868, the post was held concurrently with that of Vice-President of the Board of Trade.
The longest holder of the post was Dawn Primarolo, whose portfolio consisted of the workings of HM Revenue and Customs, formerly Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise, bureaucratically separate from the Treasury. The former Labour Paymaster General was Tessa Jowell, who was also previously responsible for the 2012 Olympics. The incumbent Paymaster General is Francis Maude, who is also the Minister for the Cabinet Office.
List of Paymasters General
- Sir Henry Parnell, Bt 1836-1841
- Edward John Stanley 1841
- Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bt 1841-1845
- William Bingham Baring 1845-1846
- Thomas Babington Macaulay 1846-1848
- The Earl Granville 1848-1852
- The Lord Stanley of Alderley 1852
- The Lord Colchester 1852
- The Lord Stanley of Alderley 1853-1855
- Edward Pleydell Bouverie 1855
- Robert Lowe 1855-1858
- The Earl of Donoughmore 1858-1859
- Lord Lovaine 1859
- James Wilson 1859
- William Francis Cowper 1859-1860
- Sir William Hutt 1860-1865
- George Joachim Goschen 1865-1866
- William Monsell 1866
- Sir Stephen Cave 1866-1868
- The Earl of Dufferin 1868-1872
- Hugh Childers 1872-1873
- William Adam 1873-1874
- Sir Stephen Cave 1874-1880
- David Plunket 1880
- The Lord Wolverton 1880-1885
- The Earl Beauchamp 1885-1886
- The Lord Thurlow 1886
- The Earl Beauchamp 1886-1887
- The Earl Brownlow 1887-1889
- The Earl of Jersey 1889-1890
- The Lord Windsor 1890-1892
- Charles Seale-Hayne 1892-1895
- The Earl of Hopetoun 1895-1899
- The Duke of Marlborough 1899-1902
- Sir Savile Crossley, Bt 1902-1905
- Richard Causton (1st Baron Southwark after 13 July 1910) 1905-1910
- The Lord Ashby St. Ledgers 1910-1912
- The Lord Strachie 1912-1915
- The Lord Newton 1915-1916
- Arthur Henderson 1916
- Sir Joseph Compton-Rickett 1916-1919
- Sir Tudor Walters 1919-1922
- Office vacant 1922-1923
- Neville Chamberlain 1923
- Sir William Joynson-Hicks, Bt 1923
- Archibald Boyd-Carpenter 1923-1924
- Harry Gosling 1924
- Office vacant 1924-1925
- The Duke of Sutherland 1925-1928
- The Earl of Onslow 1928-1929
- The Lord Arnold 1929-1931
- Office vacant 1931
- Sir Tudor Walters 1931
- The Lord Rochester 1931-1935
- The Lord Hutchison 1935-1938
- The Earl of Munster 1938-1939
- The Earl Winterton 1939
- Office vacant 1939-1940
- Viscount Cranborne 1940
- Office vacant 1940-1941
- The Lord Hankey 1941-1942
- Sir William Jowitt 1942
- The Lord Cherwell 1942-1945
- Professor F. A. Lindemann 1945-1946
- Arthur Greenwood 1946-1947
- Hilary Marquand 1947-1948
- The Viscount Addison 1948-1949
- The Lord Macdonald of Gwaenysgor 1949-1951
- The Lord Cherwell 1951-1953
- The Earl of Selkirk 1953-1955
- Office vacant 1955-1956
- Sir Walter Monckton 1956-1957
- Reginald Maudling 1957-1959
- The Lord Mills 1959-1961
- Henry Brooke 1961-1962
- John Boyd-Carpenter 1962-1964
- George Wigg 1964-1967
- Office vacant 1967-1968
- The Lord Shackleton 1968
- Judith Hart 1968-1969
- Harold Lever 1969-1970
- The Viscount Eccles 1970-1973
- Maurice Macmillan 1973-1974
- Edmund Dell 1974-1976
- Shirley Williams 1976-1979
- Angus Maude 1979-1981
- Francis Pym 1981
- Cecil Parkinson 1981-1983
- Office vacant 1983-1984
- John Selwyn Gummer 1984-1985
- Kenneth Clarke 1985-1987
- Peter Brooke 1987-1989
- The Earl of Caithness 1989-1990
- Richard Andrew Ryder 1990
- The Lord Belstead 1990-1992
- Sir John Cope 1992-1994
- David Heathcoat-Amory 1994-1996
- David Willetts 1996
- Michael Bates 1996-1997
- Geoffrey Robinson 1997-1999
- Dawn Primarolo 1999-2007
- Tessa Jowell 2007-2010
- Francis Maude 2010-present
References
- ^ Angela Eagle launches the Government Banking Service - HM Treasury Press Release, 22 May 2008
- ^ Important changes to banking arrangements for the Insolvency Services Account - insolvency.gov.uk
- ^ Introduction to Government Banking Service - HMRC
- ^ Government Banking Service - Department of Works and Pensions
External links
- Office of the Paymaster General - archived version, as of June 2008. Since then the OPG website redirects to the new GBS site:
- Government Banking Service
Her Majesty's Treasury Headquarters: 1, Horse Guards RoadMinisters Executive agencies Asset Protection Agency · National Savings and Investments · Office of Tax Simplification · Royal Mint · UK Debt Management OfficeCategories:- HM Treasury
- United Kingdom Paymasters General
- Sovereign
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