William Harcourt (politician) Attribution William Harcourt (politician) Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon Harcourt, KC (14 October 1827 – 1 October 1904) was a British lawyer, journalist and Liberal statesman. He served as Member of Parliament for various constituencies and held the offices of Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer under William Ewart Gladstone before becoming Leader of the Opposition. A talented speaker in parliament, he was sometimes regarded as aloof and possessing only an intellectual involvement in his causes. He failed to engender much emotional response in the public and became only a reluctant and disillusioned leader of his party. Harcourt
Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister appointed by Theresa May on 10 May 2017. During Tony Blair's administration, he modified the law under which the Civil Service operated to create the role of Downing Street Chief of Staff, which though held by a political advisor outranked the Principal Private Secretary. When Gordon Brown ascended to office, he reversed the change to the Civil Service law. When David Cameron became Prime Minister, he promoted the then-PPS to a new post of "Permanent Secretary, Downing Street", a position which took over heading the Prime Minister's Office. In 2012, the postholder, Jeremy Heywood, was appointed as Cabinet Secretary, this