Working to make government more effective

Working to make government more effective

Keir Starmer holds his first cabinet meeting after the general election.

IfG Ministers Database

Search our database of all government ministers since 1979.

The IfG Ministers Database holds information about all government ministers since 1979 – who served as a minister, in which roles, between which dates.

The database compiles a variety of sources to create an ongoing authoritative record – available to the public and easy to use – of all ministerial appointments since Margaret Thatcher became prime minister.

The IfG Ministers Database can be used to look up an individual minister’s career history, or those who have done a specific role. It can also be used to see which ministers were in government on a specific date, or which entered or left their roles between two points in time. 

Advanced users can access the underlying data in order to run more advanced queries – see our 'how to use the database' page for more information.

Explore the IfG Ministers Database

Look up a minister

Find out details of all ministerial roles held by an individual.

Look up a ministerial role

Find out which ministers have done a specific role in government since 1979.

View entire government

Find out which ministers were in government on a specific date between 1979 and the current day.

View ministerial appointments and exits

Find out which ministers entered or left government, or changed role, between two dates.

Find out more about the database

What can we learn from the IfG’s Ministers Database?

Who has served as a minister? Which roles have they held? What dates were they in office? Watch our webinar exploring the IfG's new public database of ever government minister since 1979.

Watch the event
Keir Starmer holds his first cabinet meeting after the general election.