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
John Smith (Chancellor of the Exchequer) daughters, including Mary Smith and Anne Smith, Lady Grant. John Smith (Chancellor of the Exchequer) John Smith (1656–1723) of Tedworth House, Hampshire, was an English politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1678 and 1723. He served as Speaker and twice as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Smith was the fourth, but only surviving son of John Smith of Tedworth House South Tidworth, Hampshire and his wife Mary Wright, daughter of Sir Edmund Wright, alderman, of London. His sister Anne married Sir Samuel Dashwood, MP and Lord Mayor of London. He matriculated at St John's College,