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
Comptroller General of the Exchequer Comptroller General of the Exchequer The Comptroller General of the Exchequer was a position in the Exchequer of HM Treasury between 1834 and 1866. The Comptroller General had responsibility for authorising the issue of public monies from the Treasury to government departments. The post was created in the "Act to Regulate the Office of the Receipt of his Majesty's Exchequer" of 1834, coming into effect on 11 October that year. The position merged several offices of the Exchequer together, including that of Teller of the Receipt of the Exchequer. The Comptroller General was given custody of all the records of