Chancellor of the Exchequer

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Chancellor of the Exchequer British minister responsible for national finances. The office evolved from the 13th-century clerk of the court of exchequer, assistant to the chancellor. Until the mid-19th century, the office was departmentally inferior to the first lord of the treasury. Since Gladstone's tenure of the office in 1850s, it has become probably the second most high-profile cabinet office (after the prime minister).

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