| Rt Hon John Emerson Harding Davies | October 1970 | November 1972 |
| Rt Hon Peter Edward Walker | 1972 | March 1974 |
| Rt Hon Cecil Edward Parkinson | 13 June 1983 | 14 October 1983 |
| Rt Hon Norman Beresford Tebbit | 16 October 1983 | 2 September 1985 |
| Rt Hon Leon Brittan | 2 September 1985 | 24 January 1986 |
| Rt Hon Henry Paul Guinness Channon | 25 January 1986 | 13 June 1987 |
| Rt Hon David Ivor Young, Baron Young of Graffham | 13 June 1987 | 24 July 1989 |
| Rt Hon Nicholas Ridley | 24 July 1989 | 14 July 1990 |
| Peter Bruce Lilley | 14 July 1990 | 11 April 1992 |
| Rt Hon Ian Bruce Lang | 5 July 1995 | 2 May 1997 |
| Rt Hon Peter Benjamin Mandelson | 27 July 1998 | 23 December 1998 |
| Rt Hon Stephen John Byers | 23 December 1998 | 8 June 2001 |
| Patricia Hope Hewitt | 8 June 2001 | 6 May 2005 |