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The position of Chief of Staff in the United Kingdom is an appointed position, with the post being chosen by the Prime Minister. He is listed as having "direct responsibility for leading and co-ordinating operations across Number 10" and reports directly to the Prime Minister.

This position of Chief of Staff in the UK appears to have been made more prominent with Tony Blair's governments. Analysts may suggest that it could be attributed to his arguably presidential style of governing. According to the BBC, in 1997 Tony Blair gave his Chief of Staff 'unprecedented powers' to issue orders to civil servants. Blair's chief of staff held the status of a special advisor rather than a career civil servant, but the subsequent administration of Gordon Brown initially changed the nature of the post by appointing Tom Scholar as chief of staff while he was a civil servant. However, following criticism of the workings of 10 Downing Street during this time, the structure was again altered upon Scholar's scheduled departure in 2008.

As with the Blair administration, the chief of staff role has been separated from that of a civil servant: Stephen Carter, former boss of the telecommunications watchdog Ofcom, was made a special advisor and given responsibility to act as the prime minister's chief of strategy and principal adviser, overseeing Downing Street's political, strategic and communications operations; while the lead civil servant role in policy matters went to Jeremy Heywood, under the new civil service post of Permanent Secretary at Number 10. As a civil service permanent secretary, Mr Heywood ranks alongside the Cabinet Secretary who is also permanent secretary at the cabinet office, although the cabinet secretary has seniority over the permanent secretary to No.10 due to its occupant being ex-officio Head of the Home Civil Service.

List of Chiefs of Staff

• Jonathan Powell (1997-2007)

• Tom Scholar (2007-2008)

• Stephen Carter (2008-)

References

1. ^ Nick Assinder. Jonathan Powell BBC 14 July, 2004. (Accessed 25 September 2007)
2. Staff. PM's office website of 10 Downing Street, (Accessed 25 September 2007)
3. Staff. Cabinet Office, Organisation Chart Cabinet Office. (Accessed 25 September 2007)

• Chiefs of staff
• Government of the United Kingdom