Secretary of State for Transport: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

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.

Minister of Transport

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

The Ministry of Transport 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 (May 1, 1941 - July 26, 1945)

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 incoming Conservative Government in 1951 appointed the same Minister to Transport and Civil Aviation, finally amalgamating the Ministries on October 1, 1953.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Alistair Darling (May 29, 2002 -)

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

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