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Not to be confused with Great Officers of State.

United Kingdom

Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United Kingdom

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The Great Offices of State in the United Kingdom are the four most senior and prestigious posts in the British government.

They are Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary. As of July 2006, these postings are held by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, John Reid and Margaret Beckett respectively.

According to convention, when the Prime Minister names his or her Cabinet, either after a general election or mid-term reshuffle, the first three announced Cabinet ministers will be the Chancellor, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary, and usually in that order.

James Callaghan is the only person to date to have served in all four positions. In the past hundred years, several other people came close to approaching this distinction: Winston Churchill served as Chancellor, Prime Minister and Home Secretary while Harold Macmillan and John Major served as Chancellor, Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary.

As of 2006, only two women, Margaret Thatcher and the aforementioned Margaret Beckett have held any of the Four Great Offices of State.

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