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Aminister without portfolio is agovernment minister without specific responsibility as head of agovernment department. Thesinecure is particularly common in countries ruled bycoalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authority wherein ministers without portfolio, while they may not head any particular offices or ministries, may still receive a ministerial salary and have the right to cast a vote incabinet decisions. The office may also exist to be given to party leaders whose offices (such as aparliamentary leader) would not otherwise enable them to sit in Cabinet.
In Albania,"Minister without portfolio" are considered members of the government who generally are not in charge of a special department, do not have headquarters or offices and usually do not have administration or staff. This post was first introduced in 1918 during thePërmeti II government, otherwise known as theGovernment of Durrës. The members of this cabinet were referred to asDelegatë pa portofol (delegate without portfolio). The name "minister" was used two years later, during thegovernment ofSulejman Delvina.[1] In the 1990s it was common the usage of the nameSekretar Shteti (Secretary of State) to refer to such a position. Mostly these roles were given to smaller allies by the leading parties. Nowadays the nameMinistër i Shtetit (State Minister or Minister of State) is used.
Willie Kelly was given the title in theCook Ministry from June 1913 to September 1914.
Stanley Bruce was given the title of minister without portfolio when he took up his position in 1932 as the Commonwealth Minister in London. He was given the title by Lyons' Cabinet so that he could better represent the PM and his colleagues free from the limitations of a portfolio. In this case the title was a promotion and carried considerable responsibilities.[2]
Bangladesh appoints ministers without portfolio during cabinet reshuffles or fresh appointments. Ministers are not usually appointed without portfolio as a coalition negotiation – all long run ministers end up with a portfolio.Suranjit Sengupta was a minister without portfolio in Sheikh Hasina's second government.[3] The most recent minister without portfolio is from theInterim government of Bangladesh,Mahfuz Alam who is also anadviser to thechief adviser
TheConstitution determines that theMinistries (and also other bodies headed by aMinister of State) are provided for by law, so theFederal Government has less freedom to create and reformulate portfolios as it happens in other cabinets.
During thebrief parliamentary experience, the position of "Extraordinary Minister" was instituted to provide for political and administrative affairs[4] within thePresidency of the Council of Ministers, it was equivalent in prerogatives, advantages and salaries to a Minister of State. There were no nominations after the return to presidentialism, but a 1964 law created an "Extraordinary Ministry" to coordinate some related bodies that would be equivalent to aministry of the interior. The reorganization of federal public administration in 1967[5] provided for the appointment of up to four Extraordinary Ministers to perform temporary duties of a relevant nature.
Currently, the legislation requires that the Coordinator of the Government Transition Cabinet (the team of the candidate elected to the office ofPresident of the Republic) be appointed as an Extraordinary Minister if the nominee is aSenator or aFederal Deputy. In 2018, then PresidentMichel Temer issued aprovisional measure creating an "Extraordinary Ministry of Public Security", it became a commonministry afterNational Congress converted the provisional measure into law.[6]
While the minister without portfolio is seen by some as a meresinecure appointment, it has been a role that numerous political notables have played over time, including future Prime MinisterJean Chrétien, who filled the role in aPearson cabinet in the 1960s;John Turner also "kept a seat warm" in a Pearson cabinet. Notable Conservatives who filled the role includeR. B. Bennett, andArthur Meighen; however, Meighen served this role after he had been prime minister.
The title of minister without portfolio has been used off and on; in recent times, though, the title has fallen out of favour, and the penultimate minister without portfolio,Gilles Lamontagne, was promoted topostmaster general in 1978. The practice has continued primarily under the guise ofministers of state without responsibilities in the ministers' titles.
The position has also been filled on the federal or provincial level by experienced politicians near the end of their careers as a way of allowing them to counsel the government and take on projects without the burdens associated with administering a government department.
In January 2021, Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau appointedJim Carr as a minister without portfolio, in addition to his role as special representative to the Prairies. Carr had previously served as a cabinet minister until November 2019, leaving as a consequence of his diagnosis withmultiple myeloma.[7]
Astate councillor (Chinese:国务委员) is similar to ministers without portfolio. The 14th state councillors from 2023 are:
Three "control ministers" served as ministers without portfolio duringWorld War I.
After theLiberation of Denmark in May 1945, the first Danishcabinet included four ministers without portfolio. Among these were Danish ambassador to the U.S.Henrik Kauffmann, who had conducted his own foreign policy throughout the war and refused to follow orders from Copenhagen as long as Denmark remained occupied by a foreign power. Kauffmann served in this capacity from 12 May to 7 November 1945. The three other holders of this title had joined the cabinet a few days before –Aksel Larsen (Communist Party of Denmark),Kr. Juul Christensen (Danish Unity) andFrode Jakobsen (Social Democrats).
Lise Østergaard held a position as minister without portfolio with special attention to foreign policy issues inAnker Jørgensen's cabinet from 26 February 1977 to 28 February 1980.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen appointedBertel Haarder as minister without portfolio, but effectivelyMinister for European Affairs. Haarder served in this capacity from 27 November 2001 to 18 February 2005. The reason for appointing a minister without a ministry was the DanishEuropean Union Presidency of 2002. Haarder was considered the most experienced Danish politician on European affairs.
Minister without portfolio is not a common type of cabinet position, and the last minister without portfolio served in 1949. The most famous one wasJuho Kusti Paasikivi, who was a part of the "Triumvirate" of Prime MinisterRisto Ryti, Minister of Foreign AffairsVäinö Tanner and Paasikivi during theWinter War and the year 1940.[8]
Since 1949, aFederal Minister for Special Affairs (Bundesminister für besondere Aufgaben) is a member of theFederal Government that does not have charge of a Federal Ministry, although the ministry is now commonly assigned to theHeads of the German Chancellery to give this important government functionarycabinet-rank. The ministry was first created in October 1953 to give a ministry level position toFranz Josef Strauss, but has been used almost exclusively for the Head of the Federal Chancellery since the 1960s. A notable exception occurred in the course ofGerman reunification when four members ofEast Germany's last government were made "Minister for Special Affairs" from October 3, 1990, to January 1991.
The position of a Minister without portfolio was first created in 1918, withEmmanouil Repoulis being the first Minister without portfolio. Previously, the term had been used to describe Prime Ministers who had not undertaken any secondary Ministerial position (e.g.Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Prominent politicians likeGeorgios Papandreou,Panagiotis Kanellopoulos,Napoleon Zervas andSpyros Markezinis served as Ministers without portfolio during their career, while novelistNikos Kazantzakis had a brief, 46-day-long tenure as Minister without portfolio inSofoulis' 1945 cabinet.
In 1991, the position was renamed toMinister of State; the last person to be designated Minister without portfolio and simultaneously the first Minister of State, isMikis Theodorakis.
Since the inception of the state, Indonesia had ministers without portfolio, usually given the titleMenteri Negara ('State Minister'). The number was not fixed, entirely depended on the behest of the President. Although not explicitly forbidden, Law No. 39/2008 on State Ministries mandated that a ministry must have specific function and responsibilities and also must have minimum number of directorates and other ministerial apparatuses, thus formation of minister without portfolio is currently unlikely in post-Reformation Indonesia.
Below is the list of ministers without portfolio that ever existed in Indonesian history.
The cabinet was unique, with PresidentSuharto moved the Minister of InformationHarmoko to the office of State Minister of Special Affairs (Indonesian:Menteri Negara Urusan Khusus) on 6 June 1997. The Ministry of Special Affairs was dissolved on 1 October 1997, following the inauguration of next-term'sparliament and the appointment of Harmoko as its speaker.
TheMinisters and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1939 allows a Minister to be a member of theGovernment of Ireland who does not have charge of aDepartment of State, such a person to be known as a "Minister without portfolio".[12] Such a minister may be given a specific style or title. The only substantive minister without portfolio has beenFrank Aiken, theMinister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures duringWorld War II.[13] By theEmergency Powers Act 1939 then in force, theMinister for Defence was able to delegate some competences to him.[14][15]
On a number of occasions a minister has been appointed to an incoming government with the title of a newDepartment of State. Between the date of appointment and the date of creation of the department, such a minister is formally a minister without portfolio.[16]
| Title | Govt | Minister | Appt to govt | Dept created | Dept |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minister for Economic Planning and Development | 15th | Martin O'Donoghue | 8 July 1977[17] | 13 December 1977[18][19] | Department of Economic Planning and Development |
| Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform | 29th | Brendan Howlin | 9 March 2011[20] | 6 July 2011[21][22] | Department of Public Expenditure and Reform |
| Minister for Rural and Community Development | 31st | Michael Ring | 14 June 2017[23] | 19 July 2017[24] | Department of Rural and Community Development |
| Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science | 32nd | Simon Harris | 27 June 2020[25] | 2 August 2020[26] | Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science |
WhenHelen McEntee took six months'maternity leave on 28 April 2021, her portfolio asMinister for Justice was reassigned toHeather Humphreys, in addition to Humphreys's existing portfolio asMinister for Social Protection andMinister for Rural and Community Development. McEntee remained a member ofthe coalition government as minister without portfolio,[27] and was reassigned to the Department of Justice on 1 November 2021.[28] On 25 November 2022, Heather Humphreys was again appointed as Minister for Justice to facilitate a second period of six months' maternity leave from December.[29][30]
It is common practice in Israel to appoint ministers without portfolio as part of the coalition negotiations, as it allows small coalition partners a seat at the cabinet table. All cabinets in recent years have had at least some such appointment. The Governance Law passed in 2013 forbade ministers without portfolio effectively ending the practice, however in spite of some objections, after the 2015 elections this issue was revisited in the Knesset and it was allowed for the practice to resume. The full alphabetical list of ministers without portfolio since 1949 is:
In Japan, minister without portfolio (無任所大臣,Muninnsyo-Daijinn) is not defined by law. The Cabinet Act of Japan (内閣法,Naikakuhou) does not forbid ministers who do not serve any ministries, establishing the existence of minister without portfolio.[31]
There are two meanings of minister without portfolio in Japan: The broader sense is a minister who is neitherPrime Minister of Japan or ministers ofCabinet of Japan, while the narrower sense is further from the broader sense - which specifically refers to ministers without ministries and certain titles such asChair of the National Public Safety Commission,Chief Cabinet Secretary, orMinister of State for Special Missions (ja). In Japan, a minister without portfolio usually refers to the narrower sense.[31][32]
There has not been minister without portfolio sinceTakashi Sasagawa of theMori Cabinet in 2001. Most ministers without serving ministries in a cabinet will be Ministers of State for Special Missions in practice.[33]
InKenya, ministers without portfolio are not common. However three individuals have held the position in the country's history. They are:
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A minister without portfolio in the Netherlands is a minister that does not head a specificministry, but assumes the same power and responsibilities as a minister that does. The minister is responsible for a specific part of another minister's policy field. In that sense, a minister without portfolio is comparable to astaatssecretaris (state secretary or junior minister) in Dutch politics, who also falls under another ministry and is responsible for a specific part of that minister's policy field. However, one distinct difference is that a minister without portfolio is a member of thecouncil of ministers and can vote in it, whereas a state secretary is not. The minister for development cooperation has always been a minister without portfolio.
In thesecond Balkenende cabinet there were three ministers without portfolio:Agnes van Ardenne (Development Cooperation),Rita Verdonk (Integration and Immigration) andAlexander Pechtold (Government Reform and Kingdom Relations).
In thefourth Balkenende cabinet there were three ministers without portfolio:Eberhard van der Laan (Housing, Neighbourhoods and Integration),Bert Koenders (Development Cooperation) andAndré Rouvoet, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Youth and Family.
Thesecond Rutte cabinet had two ministers without portfolio:Stef Blok (Housing and the Central Government Sector) andLilianne Ploumen (Development Cooperation).
Thethird Rutte cabinet had four ministers without portfolio:Sigrid Kaag (Development Cooperation),Sander Dekker (Legal Protection),Martin van Rijn (Medical Care), andArie Slob (Primary and Secondary Education and Media).
Thefourth Rutte cabinet has eight ministers without portfolio:Carola Schouten (Poverty, Participation and Pensions),Liesje Schreinemacher (Development Cooperation),Rob Jetten (Climate and Energy),Conny Helder (Long-Term healthcare and Sport),Christianne van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen reduction),Franc Weerwind (Legal Protection),Hugo de Jonge (Housing and Urban Development), andDennis Wiersma (Primary and Secondary Education and Media).
In theFirst Labour Government from 1935Mark Fagan was a "minister without portfolio" from 1935 to 1939, as wasDavid Wilson from 1939 to 1949. They were appointed to theupper house and made a "minister without portfolio" to add them to the cabinet although neither were elected to a seat in Parliament.
In theThird National Government,Keith Holyoake was made a Minister of State 1975–77 after he had retired as party leader, and in theFourth National GovernmentRobin Gray was made a Minister of State 1993–96 after he was replaced as Speaker (though he was also Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs). Both appointments were considered sinecures to avoid their return as 'backbenchers'.
The following were appointed to the Executive Council as ministers without portfolio.[38]
Liberal Reform United Labour National
†: Died in office
| Name | Portrait | Term of office | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Carroll |  | 16 March 1892 | 20 February 1896 | Ballance | ||
| Seddon | ||||||
| Alfred Cadman | .jpg) | 21 December 1899 | 9 May 1901 | |||
| William Montgomery |  | 19 July 1893 | 7 November 1895 | |||
| Mahuta Tāwhiao | .jpg) | 22 May 1903 | 6 August 1906 | |||
| Hall-Jones | ||||||
| Āpirana Ngata |  | 7 January 1909 | 28 March 1912 | Ward | ||
| Peter Buck |  | 28 March 1912 | 10 July 1912 | Mackenzie | ||
| Thomas Buxton |  | 28 March 1912 | 10 July 1912 | |||
| Māui Pōmare |  | 10 July 1912 | 3 May 1916 | Massey | ||
| William Fraser |  | 27 July 1920 | 16 July 1923† | |||
| David Guthrie |  | 25 June 1924 | 31 March 1927† | |||
| Bell | ||||||
| Coates | ||||||
| Heaton Rhodes | .jpg) | 18 January 1926 | 10 December 1928 | |||
| Francis Bell |  | 24 May 1926 | 25 August 1928 | |||
| SirJoseph Ward |  | 28 May 1930 | 8 July 1930† | Forbes | ||
| Robert Masters |  | 20 August 1930 | 22 September 1931 | |||
| Mark Fagan |  | 6 December 1935 | 18 July 1939 | Savage | ||
| David Wilson |  | 18 November 1939 | 30 May 1940 | |||
| Fraser | ||||||
| Paraire Karaka Paikea |  | 21 January 1941 | 6 May 1943† | |||
| Eruera Tirikatene |  | 26 May 1943 | 13 December 1949 | |||
| Adam Hamilton | .jpg) | 16 July 1940 | 5 October 1942 | |||
| Gordon Coates |  | 16 July 1940 | 5 October 1942 | |||
| William Polson |  | 15 March 1950 | 12 December 1950 | Holland | ||
| Sidney Holland | _2.png) | 20 September 1957 | 12 December 1957 | Holyoake | ||
| David Seath |  | 24 January 1962 | 20 December 1963 | |||
| Hugh Watt | .jpg) | 13 March 1975 | 12 December 1975 | Rowling | ||
As of 2017, ministers without portfolio (министер без ресор) are:
From 2009 to 2013 Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen (Labour) was a Minister without Portfolio and Chief of Staff in the Prime Ministers Office, where his job was to co-ordinate within government.
During theJapanese Occupation of the Philippines, then-Senate PresidentManuel Roxas was appointed minister without portfolio by the Japanese Government.[citation needed]
In Poland, the term is used for a minister who is a member of theCouncil of Ministers but does not head a government department and is not supported by a ministry. A minister without portfolio performs tasks determined by theprime minister. Since the enactment of the1997 Constitution, this option has been provided for in Article 149(1).[39]
Following theCarnation Revolution, several politicians were made ministers without portfolio:
After the1st Constitutional Government (1976–1978), there haven't been any appointments of ministers without portfolio.
A similar but not sinecural cabinet position, that ofMinister Adjunct (ministro adjunto), who does not head a particular ministry but is instead tasked with the general interministerial measures found in the government programme, has been created in some Portuguese governments.
From 2007 to 2008,Dragan Đilas was a "minister without portfolio" in charge of theNational Investment Plan.
In Singapore, the appointment holder is known as a 'Minister in thePrime Minister's Office'.
In Spain, in addition to the Ministers in charge of aDepartment, there may be Ministers without a portfolio, who will be responsible for certain government functions. In the event that there are Ministers without a portfolio, the scope of their powers, the administrative structure, as well as the material and personal resources attached to it will be determined byRoyal Decree.[40]
Article 5 of the Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan (Chinese:行政院組織法) allows theExecutive Yuan of theRepublic of China to appoint seven to nine Ministers without Portfolio (Chinese:政務委員). According to the article, they can also serve ministers ofcouncils or commissions in the Executive Yuan. As of 2024[update], they are:[42]
PresidentJakaya Kikwete appointed ProfessorMark Mwandosya as a minister without portfolio in 2012.
Since 2015, the cabinet list has included a minister without portfolio:
The Vice President of the United States is a member of theCabinet but heads no department. As such, the Vice President may be assigned to policy areas of the President's choosing such as foreign diplomacy (Richard Nixon), space programs (Lyndon B. Johnson) or public health (Mike Pence). Prior to the mid-19th century, the Vice President's position asPresident of the Senate caused the office to be seen as primarily legislative in nature, and as such they were not assigned to deal with public policy.
Cabinet-level officials are president-designated additional members of the Cabinet, which can vary under each president. Most of them head no department, and some of them are notofficers of the United States. For example, theDirector of the Office of Management and Budget is the head of theOffice of Management and Budget, which is an office within a department, namely theExecutive Office of the President of the United States headed by theWhite House Chief of Staff. Similar situations apply (or applied) for theChair of the Council of Economic Advisers, theTrade Representative,Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy,National Security Advisor,Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
An individual who has great influence on government affairs without holding formal office might be described as a "minister without portfolio". Such an appellation is completely unofficial (possibly intended jokingly or disparagingly) and merely serves to underscore the extent of the individual's already-existing influence; it does not grant any new influence or power. Examples includeBernard Baruch,[43]Arthur Burns,[44] andIvanka Trump.[45]
Herbert Hoover, theSecretary of Commerce under presidentsHarding andCoolidge, took the position on the understanding that he would have input on all matters pertaining to the economy. He used this concession so eagerly that Treasury officialS. Parker Gilbert dubbed him "Under-Secretary of all other departments."[46]
In the firstgovernment of theDemocratic Republic of Vietnam founded byHồ Chí Minh after theAugust Revolution in September 1945,Cù Huy Cận andNguyễn Văn Xuân were assigned the "Minister without Portfolio" positions.[47] In January 1946, the "Provisional Coalition Government" was installed, and Nguyen Van Xuan retained the post of Minister without Portfolio while Cu Huy Can was elevated to the Ministry of Agriculture.[48] From November 1946 to early 1955, theViet Minh (and later theWorker's Party)-led "New Government" fought against thereturn of France to Indochina and the post Ministers without Portfolio was held by Nguyễn Văn Tố, Đặng Văn Hướng and Bồ Xuân Luật.[49] Since the1954 Geneva Convention, the position has been vacant, except briefly during the 1960–1964 cabinet elected by the2nd National Assembly, where Lê Văn Hiến occupied the post "Minister without Portfolio and Deputy Chair of theState Planning Commission."[50]
In 2014, Prime MinisterNguyễn Tấn Dũng tasked the Cabinet Office to examine the possibility of re-introducing the post "Minister without Portfolio."[51] There have been no further developments since.
The Minister for Economic Planning and Development is a member of the Government not having charge of a Department of State, who is therefore, under section 4 (2) of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1939 a Minister without portfolio. His title is not derived from the title of a Department of which he is head, because it does not exist, but it is a title that has been assigned to him by the Government pursuant to section 4 (3) of the 1939 Act.
また、行政事務を分担管理しない国務大臣の存在を妨げるものではないとされています（同法第3条第2項）。「無任所大臣」という用語が使われることがありますが、これは、広義では、この行政事務を分担管理しない国務大臣のことを指します（狭義では、いずれの行政機関にも属しない国務大臣のことを指します。）。
「無任所大臣」という用語は、法令上のものではなく、広義では、国務大臣のうち「主任の大臣」以外の国務大臣、つまり内閣総理大臣及び各省大臣以外の国務大臣を指し、狭義では、これから更に国家公安委員長など特定の行政機関の長や内閣官房長官を除き、いずれの行政機関にも属さない国務大臣をいう。
he was a minister without portfolio from 1963 to 1965
