Ministers in the Conservative Governments: 2015, 2017 and 2019 Parliaments

Current lists of ministers, shadow ministers and opposition spokespeople can be found on the Parliament website.

David Cameron’s Administration

David Cameron announced senior government appointments on 8 May 2015 with junior ministerial appointments over the following days. Some ministers carried on in post from the 2010 Coalition Government therefore their start dates pre-date the 2015 General Election.

Theresa May’s Administration

Following David Cameron’s resignation on 25 June 2016, Theresa May became Leader of the Conservative Party after two ballots and the withdrawal of the remaining candidate. See the Commons briefing on Leadership Elections: Conservative Party for details. Following her appointment on 13 July 2016, Theresa May announced a series of ministerial changes.

Boris Johnson’s administration

Theresa May announced her intention to stand down as leader of the Conservative Party on 24 May 2019. Following ballots among MPs, Conservative party members voted on two candidates. Boris Johnson was elected as the leader of the Conservative Party on 23 July 2019. The following day Mrs May went to Buckingham Palace to resign and shortly afterwards Mr Johnson also went to the Palace and was asked to form a government.

Liz Truss’s administration

Boris Johnson announced he would resign as Conservative Party leader on 7 July 2022. Liz Truss was elected as the new leader on 5 September 2022. On 6 September Boris Johnson travelled to Balmoral to resign and shortly afterwards the Queen invited Liz Truss to form a government.

Rishi Sunak’s administration

Liz Truss’ announced her resignation as leader of the Conservative Party on 20 October 2022. By close of nominations at 2PM on Monday 24 October 2022, Rishi Sunak remained and was elected as leader of the Conservative Party. Sunak was appointed Prime Minister by the King the following day.

The Library briefing Leadership elections: Conservative Party sets out the party’s rules for each election and results since 2001.

Further information

The Commons briefing paper on limitations on the number of Ministers and the size of the payroll vote sets out the statutory limits that apply to ministerial appointments and the number of ministers sitting in the House of Commons. It includes statistics on the number of ministers in each Parliament since 1979.

Previous posts held by ministers in the 2010 coalition Government can be found in: Ministers in the Coalition Government: 2010–2015.

The Commons Library Briefing Paper on Prime Ministers lists Prime Ministers since 1721. It also provides information on changes of Prime Ministers between elections since 1900.

The Government publishes a list of government ministers and their responsibilities, last updated 15 December 2022.

Parliament: facts and figures

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This series of publications contains data on various subjects relating to Parliament and Government. Topics include legislation, MPs, select committees, debates, divisions and Parliamentary procedure.

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