Chancellor of the Exchequer his duty to distribute as fairly as he can." The chancellor has considerable control over other departments as it is the Treasury which sets Departmental Expenditure Limits. The amount of power this gives to an individual chancellor depends on his personal forcefulness, his status within his party and his relationship with the prime minister. Gordon Brown, who became chancellor when Labour came into Government in 1997, had a large personal power base in the party. Perhaps as a result, Tony Blair chose to keep him in the same position throughout his ten years as prime minister; making Brown an unusually
Exchequer of Ireland hearings were held before the Barons of the Exchequer of Ireland, along with the Chancellor and Treasurer; in practice, only the Barons attended. The Court's jurisdiction was over matters pertaining to The Crown's revenues, although the Writ of Quominus was used as a work of legal fiction to widen its remit. The procedure used was similar to that in the Court of Chancery, and as such the officials of the court could only be sued through the Exchequer, not through any other body, particularly if the case was about their professional actions. As a result of the Writ of Quominus,