PROFILBARU.COM

Shadow Leader
of the House of Commons
Shadow Leader; of the House of Commons
	Incumbent; Jesse Norman; since 5 November 2024
Appointer	Leader of the Opposition
Website	The Shadow Cabinet

The Shadow Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet responsible for working with the Leader of the House in arranging Commons business and holding the Government to account in its overall management of the House. The Shadow Leader also responds to the Business Statement of Leader of House each Thursday, though the Leader of the Opposition exercised this role until the late 1980s. The office is roughly equivalent to the Shadow Leader of the House of Lords.

Shadow Leaders

	Took office	Left office	Political party	Leader of the Opposition
Herbert Morrison^[1]	1951	c. 1955	Labour	Clement Attlee
Unknown			Labour	Hugh Gaitskell
				George Brown
				Harold Wilson
Selwyn Lloyd	16 October 1964^{[n 1]}	4 August 1965^[5]	Conservative	Alec Douglas-Home
Unknown/Vacant^{[n 2]}	4 August 1965	19 June 1970	Conservative	Edward Heath
Fred Peart	19 June 1970^{[n 3]}	16 December 1971	Labour	Harold Wilson
Michael Foot	16 December 1971^[7]	6 December 1972	Labour
Edward Short	6 December 1972^[8]	4 March 1974	Labour
James Prior	4 March 1974^[9]	29 October 1974	Conservative	Edward Heath
John Peyton	29 October 1974^[10]	19 November 1976	Conservative	Edward Heath
John Peyton	29 October 1974^[10]	19 November 1976	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher
Francis Pym	19 November 1976^[11]	Approx. 20 November 1978^{[n 4]}	Conservative
Norman St John-Stevas	Approx. 20 November 1978^{[n 4]}	5 May 1979	Conservative
Michael Foot	4 May 1979^[15]	8 December 1980	Labour	James Callaghan
John Silkin	8 December 1980^[16]	30 October 1983	Labour	Michael Foot
Peter Shore	30 October 1983^[17]	13 July 1987	Labour	Neil Kinnock
Frank Dobson	13 July 1987^[18]	2 November 1989	Labour
John Cunningham	2 November 1989^[19]	24 July 1992	Labour
Margaret Beckett	24 July 1992^[20]	13 May 1994	Labour	John Smith
Nick Brown (Acting)	13 May 1994^[21]	21 July 1994	Labour	Margaret Beckett
Margaret Beckett	21 July 1994	20 October 1994	Labour	Tony Blair
Ann Taylor	20 October 1994^[22]	2 May 1997	Labour	Tony Blair
Alastair Goodlad	May 1997^[23]	30 June 1997	Conservative	John Major
Gillian Shephard	30 June 1997^[24]	2 June 1998	Conservative	William Hague
Sir George Young	1 June 1998^[25]	22 September 2000^[26]	Conservative
Angela Browning	26 September 2000 ^[27]	18 September 2001	Conservative
Eric Forth	18 September 2001^[28]	10 November 2003	Conservative	Iain Duncan Smith
Oliver Heald	10 November 2003^[29]	10 May 2005	Conservative	Michael Howard
Chris Grayling	10 May 2005^[30]	8 December 2005	Conservative	Michael Howard
Theresa May	8 December 2005^[31]	19 January 2009	Conservative	David Cameron
Alan Duncan	19 January 2009^[32]	7 September 2009^[33]	Conservative
Sir George Young	8 September 2009^[34]	11 May 2010	Conservative
Rosie Winterton	12 May 2010	8 October 2010	Labour	Harriet Harman
Hilary Benn	8 October 2010	7 October 2011^[35]	Labour	Ed Miliband
Angela Eagle	7 October 2011^[35]	13 September 2015	Labour	Ed Miliband
Angela Eagle	7 October 2011^[35]	13 September 2015	Labour	Harriet Harman
Chris Bryant	13 September 2015	26 June 2016	Labour	Jeremy Corbyn
Paul Flynn	4 July 2016	6 October 2016	Labour
Valerie Vaz	6 October 2016	9 May 2021	Labour
Valerie Vaz	6 October 2016	9 May 2021	Labour	Sir Keir Starmer
Thangam Debbonaire	9 May 2021	4 September 2023	Labour
Lucy Powell	4 September 2023	5 July 2024	Labour
Chris Philp	8 July 2024	5 November 2024	Conservative	Rishi Sunak
Jesse Norman	5 November 2024	Incumbent	Conservative	Kemi Badenoch

Notes

^ Lloyd was Leader of the House before the Conservatives lost the 1964 election and was "retained" in the portfolio of "co-ordination of the Opposition in the Commons.^[2] It is not clear whether the Conservative party at this point used the term "Shadow Leader" to describe the job,^[3] but the term was used.^[4]
^ Edward Heath reshuffled the Conservative front bench after being elected leader in the summer of 1964, though he rejected the term "Shadow Cabinet" and instituted a "federal system", three Shadow ministers being in charge of a general area (foreign, economic, and home affairs). For example, Alec Douglas-Home headed foreign affairs, sitting above the Shadow Foreign and Defence Secretaries. The former members of the Shadow Cabinet remained, but three members had no specific responsibilities.^[6] It is unclear whether Heath himself was in effect Shadow Leader of the House, as would have been common before the Second World War, or the responsibilities were assigned to one or more shadow ministers.
^ Peart was Leader of the House going into Labour's election loss on 18 June 1970 and left the role of Shadow Leader of the House on 16 December 1971.^[7] There is no evidence that anyone else served as Shadow Leader between those dates.
^ ^a ^b In October 1978, Pym was made Shadow Foreign Secretary,^[12] and St John-Stevas succeeded him.^[13]^[14]

References

^ William Rees-Mogg (13 July 2009). "This Bill is a panic measure in a tarnished age". The Times.^{[dead link‍]}
^ "The Team Change". The Glasgow Herald. 17 February 1965.
^ 31 March 1969 c 128.
^ 21 May 1968 c 455.
^ "Mr Heath's Team". The Glasgow Herald. 5 August 1965. p. 8.
^ "Unity seen factor in Heath "cabinet" choices". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. Associated Press. 5 August 1965.
^ ^a ^b Warden, John (17 December 1971). "Wilson Gives Foot Key Market Role". The Glasgow Herald. p. 22. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
^ Russell, William (7 December 1972). "Wilson Gives Shore Key Prices Post". The Glasgow Herald. p. 16. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
^ "Higher Allowances for MPs". The Glasgow Herald. 22 May 1974. p. 2. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ "New Tory Post for Whitelaw". The Age. 30 October 1974. p. 6. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ Grigg, Joseph W (20 November 1976). "British Opposition Names New Spokesmen". St Petersburg Times. p. 8A. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
^ Geoffrey Parkhouse (7 November 1978). "Pym favourite for top Thatcher post". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1.
^ House of Commons Debates 21 November 1979 c 1092. (The Prime Minister, James Callaghan, welcoming St John-Stevas to "his new post").
^ House of Commons Debates 7 December 1979 c 1698. (St John-Stevas referring to his appointment as Shadow Leader).
^ Pankhouse, Geoffrey (15 June 1979). "Shore Steps Up as Owen Is Demoted". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
^ Russell, William (9 December 1980). "Foot's Soft Shoe Reshuffle". The Glasgow Herald. p. 6. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
^ Pankhouse, Geoffrey (1 November 1983). "Protest by Nationalists as Dewar Takes Over". The Glasgow Herald. p. 7. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
^ Hernon, Ian (13 July 1987). "Kinnock Cashes in on the Scots". Evening Times. p. 7. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
^ Pankhouse, Geoffrey (2 November 1989). "Kinnock Splits his Top Treasury Team". The Glasgow Herald. p. 7. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
^ Timms, Nicholas (25 July 1992). "Smith Revamps Shadow Cabinet". The Independent. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ MacIntyre, Donald (13 July 1994). "Commons inquiry to cover all MPs' fees". The Independent. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ Timms, Nicholas (21 October 1994). "Blair uses reshuffle to put own stamp on Shadow Cabinet: Brown stays as shadow Chancellor—Cook takes foreign affairs—Straw is shadow Home Secretary—Beckett moves to health". The Independent. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ "BBC Election 97: The Shadow Cabinet". BBC News. Archived from the original on 3 February 1999.
^ "Opposition Front Bench". Weekly Information Bulletin. House of Commons Information Office. 5 July 1997.
^ "Hague Reshuffles Shadow Cabinet". BBC News. 1 June 1998. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ Grice, Andrew (23 September 2000). "George Young to stand for Speaker". The Independent. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ Woolf, Marie (27 September 2000). "Hague Puts Thatcher Adviser on Front Bench". The Independent. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ Jones, George (19 September 2001). "I'll Never Scrap the Pound, Says Duncan Smith". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ "Shadow Roles for Region's MPs". Cambridge City News. 11 November 2003. Archived from the original on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ "Howard Reshuffles Top Tory Team". BBC News. 10 May 2005. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ Assinder, Nick (8 December 2005). "Cameron Forges Fresh Team". BBC News. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ "Clarke Returns to Shadow Cabinet". The Scotsman. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ "Tory 'Rations' MP Demoted". BBC News. 7 September 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ "George Young replaces Alan Duncan as shadow leader of Commons". The Telegraph. London. 8 September 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Alan Johnson Leads Shadow Cabinet Appointments". Channel 4. 8 October 2010. Retrieved 18 July 2011.