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 Courts into one High Court of Justice in Ireland, with the Court of Exchequer become its Exchequer Division. This division was abolished in 1897, although the last Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer retained his title until retiring from the High Court of Justice in 1916. The officers of the Inferior Exchequer included the Lord High Treasurer, who in practice rarely acted, and his deputy the Vice-Treasurer, who as a result did most of the work. The Treasurers were in charge of all of The Crown's revenue in Ireland, signing and approving all orders accepting money and paying it out.