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
Baron of the Exchequer merely appointed as 'one of the Barons of the Exchequer'. However, he and his successors held the office of Cursitor Baron. An additional Baron was appointed in 1604. The number of puisnes generally remained at three until the 19th century, but there was a fourth from 1708 to 1725 due to John Smith having leave of absence to attend to the office of a Baron of the Scottish Exchequer. A fourth puisne Baron was appointed in 1830 and a fifth in 1868. Baron of the Exchequer The Barons of the Exchequer, or "barones scaccarii", were the judges of the English