Principal political officers

The Leader of the House of Commons has a key role in making sure government business passes through Parliament effectively. They therefore have a key overall role in the management of most parliamentary business. Likewise, the Leader of the House of Lords is the most senior member of government in the House of Lords and also performs a crucial role.

Whips are a key part of the way parliamentary groups and business are organised. This library Standard Note explains the role of Whips in detail. This briefing gives access to a list of Government Chief Whips and Deputy Whip since 1945.

Current lists of the members of the Government can be found here and of the shadow government here. These lists and those of spokespersons for other opposition parties can be accessed here.

Parliamentary Parties

The current state of political parties represented in the House of Commons is regularly updated here. Opposition parties are allocated funding to carry out their parliamentary work through the “Short money”. This briefing explains what this entails. The equivalent in the House of Lords is known as “Cranborne Money”.

The House of Commons library keeps a record of the leaders and officials of the main parties. This can be accessed for the following parties: Conservative (including Chairs of the 1922 Committee), Labour (including Chairs of the Parliamentary Labour Party) and Liberal-Democrat (including SDP and the Liberal party).