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
Stop of the Exchequer Stop of the Exchequer The Great Stop of the Exchequer or Stop of the Exchequer was a repudiation of state debt that occurred in England in 1672 under the reign of Charles II of England. Under Charles II the state finances were in such a grievous condition that the crown found itself no longer able to honour its debts. The stop occurred on Tuesday 2 January 1672. Payments were suspended upon: The period of the stop was to be one year, ending on 31 December 1672. In the interim the King intended that interest would be paid to all those