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First Secretary of State
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== Responsibilities == The office is currently listed on the [[gov.uk]] website as bringing no additional responsibilities.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=First Secretary of State|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/first-secretary-of-state--2|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=3 June 2021|website=[[gov.uk]]}}</ref> However, [[Philip Norton, Baron Norton of Louth|Lord Norton]] says that there are two benefits to a prime minister in appointing a first secretary: firstly, it leaves a senior minister free to perform correlation and co-ordination and to chair [[United Kingdom cabinet committee|committees]] and, secondly, it enables the prime minister to send a signal as to the status of the holder.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Norton|first=Philip|title=Governing Britain: Parliament, Ministers and Our Ambiguous Constitution|publisher=[[Manchester University Press]]|year=2020|isbn=9-781526-145451|pages=149β50}}</ref> Stephen Thornton and Jonathan Kirkup have said that "the Office of First Secretary of State is only as important as the person holding that office is perceived to be important",<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Thornton|first=Stephen|title=From Rab to Raab: The Construction of the Office of First Secretary of State|journal=[[Parliamentary Affairs]]|year=2023 |volume=2021|pages=186β210|doi=10.1093/pa/gsab038 |doi-access=free}}</ref> but in certain circumstances the office "can assume acute importance and real power" and it may yet become an office of substance.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Thornton|first1=Stephen|last2=Kirkup|first2=Jonathan|title=From Rab to Raab: The Construction of the Office of First Secretary of State|journal=[[Parliamentary Affairs]]|year=2023 |volume=2021|pages=186β210|doi=10.1093/pa/gsab038 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
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