Chancellor of the Exchequer of its interest rates. The chancellor also has oversight of public spending across Government departments. The holder of the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer is "ex officio" Second Lord of the Treasury as a member of the commission exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer. As the Second Lord, his official residence is 11 Downing Street in London, next door to the residence of the First Lord of the Treasury (a title that has for many years been held by the prime minister), who resides in 10 Downing Street. While in the past both houses were private residences,
Lords Commissioners of the Treasury in descending order of rank: Historically, the Chancellor of the Exchequer was also the First Lord of the Treasury, and usually by extension Prime Minister as well. However the increasing sophistication of government spending led to the development of the chancellorship into a more refined position of finance minister, and so gradually particularised the office in a way less suitable for headship of the ministry overall. The last Chancellor-Prime Minister was Stanley Baldwin in 1923, and then only very briefly - the last substantive overlap was William Gladstone in 1880-1882. A more immediately significant trend though was the rebalancing of