ABSTRACT
Thatcher's first Cabinet had 22 members, compared with 24 in the outgoing Labour Cabinet. She re-organized some of the ministries. Prices and Consumer Protection (set up in 1974) was merged with Trade. The minister in charge of transport lost Cabinet status and Social Security was to be represented by one Cabinet minister instead of two. Finally, the separate post of Paymaster-General was re-established and went to Angus Maude, a kind of pre-Thatcher Thatcherite. The key appointments were: Whitelaw (Home Secretary), Hailsham (Lord Chancellor), Carrington (Foreign and Commonwealth), Howe (Exchequer), Joseph (Industry), Pym (Defence), Prior (Employment), Gilmour (Lord Privy Seal with special responsibility for foreign affairs), Walker (Agriculture, Fisheries and Food), Heseltine (Environment), Patrick Jenkin (Social Services), Norman St John-Stevas (Leader of the Commons and Minister for the Arts), John Nott (Trade), Humphrey Atkins (Northern Ireland) and Mark Carlisle (Education).
