The Cabinet Office in Whitehall © Crown Copyright
December 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the first official record of a Cabinet meeting.
The Cabinet is the team of senior ministers chosen by the Prime Minister to lead on policy areas such as Foreign Affairs, Defence and Transport.
From the First World War and General Strike to the Suez crisis and development of Concorde, explore historical moments through our Cabinet records.
The birth of modern UK Government
Before David Lloyd George became Prime Minister in December 1916, the Cabinet had met without an agenda and without a secretary to take minutes.
First World War
Memoranda for the First World War include reports concerning the military, but also diplomatic reports.
General Strike
The most significant event to occur in Britain in the 1920s was the General Strike of 1926, a watershed for labour relations.
Abdication of Edward VIII
In 1936 a constitutional crisis arose when King Edward VIII proposed to marry Wallis Simpson, a divorced American citizen.
Crisis over Czechoslovakia, 1938
In 1938 the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler to discuss the growing crisis surrounding Czechoslovakia.
Second World War
Winston Churchill faced a divided War Cabinet as the battle for France raged and the British evacuation from Dunkirk got underway.
The nuclear age
On 16 July 1945 the first test of an atomic bomb, codenamed ‘Trinity’, was carried out in New Mexico by the US.
Suez crisis
The Suez crisis was a defining moment for post-war Britain, which signalled the end of Britain’s role as a world power.
The supersonic airliner
Concorde’s origins dated from the early 1950s. By the 1960s the British and French governments were exploring a partnership to develop the airliner.
Harold Macmillan’s ‘new approach’
In 1962 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan began to develop new strategies for governing and handling the economy.
The 1967 devaluation of the pound
When Labour took office in October 1964 it faced a deficit of £800 million and a series of sterling crises.
State of emergency
The government proclaimed a state of emergency in November 1973 after the National Union of Mineworkers introduced a ban on overtime.
The IMF crisis
In 1976 the Labour Government, led by James Callaghan, was grappling with a new and significant crisis in the economy.
The Thatcher era
Margaret Thatcher faced key tests between 1981-1982, including a global recession and the Falklands conflict.
Blog
Sir Maurice Hankey and the birth of modern government
On 9 December 1916 a revolution in government occurred when the first systematic and official record of a Cabinet meeting was created. One man was instrumental in shaping the new streamlined processes of modern government—Sir Maurice Hankey.
