Minister for Magic

Several Ministers in recent times, from left to right: Cornelius Fudge (1990-1996), Rufus Scrimgeour (1996-1997), Pius Thicknesse (1997-1998) and Kingsley Shacklebolt (1998-Present)

The Minister for Magic is the leader of the Wizarding World in the United Kingdom and Ireland and the highest ranking member of the Ministry of Magic, which they control. The position somewhat corresponds to the Prime Minister of British Muggles.

The Minister is advised on wizarding matters by their staff members and by the other Heads of Departments. They also chair the Wizengamot to pass Wizarding Laws, or to hear important trials (such as Harry Potter's case), though the verdict is decided by a panel of jury, including the Minister themselves. Many other wizarding countries also have Ministers and have the similar governmental systems such as the Bulgarian minister.

Despite being the head of the wizarding community of Britain and Ireland, the Minister would nevertheless be pressured by the public and media alike, as the previous two Ministers of the more current times were pressed to maintain a facade of peace and control to satisfy the citizens, even if it means to lie through their teeth. This is a sign of corruption during the times of the Second Wizarding War, as well as only with irrefutable evidence would they reveal as little as they could.

The office has been in existence since 1707, elected at least once every seven years by the Wizarding population of Great Britain and Ireland.

History

Albus Dumbledore was offered, but refused, the position on at least three occasions. This was due to Dumbledore's past, leading him to believe that he was not to be trusted with power.

After Millicent Bagnold was preparing to retire, Barty Crouch Sr. was the next prime candidate, due to his cruel but effective methods of combating the Dark Arts during the First Wizarding War, until he sentenced his son to Azkaban for being a Death Eater. It was after his son's presumed death that the public began to take pity on the boy and thought Crouch was too neglectful as a father, which led to a drop in his popularity, causing him to lose out to Fudge.

Cornelius Fudge was Minister from 1990 to 1996. During his first days in office, he was not very confident and, as a result, constantly bombarded Dumbledore with letters for advice. During the last year of his tenure, Fudge was overcome by self-induced persecution delusions because Dumbledore claimed Voldemort had returned, and abused his own position to prevent that news from spreading, in order to protect both his position of power and the peace that the Ministry had worked so hard to maintain. In the end, when Fudge was forced to accept that Voldemort had indeed returned, the entire wizarding community called for his resignation and, after a fortnight of futile attempts to remain in office, in July 1996 he was replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour.

Scrimgeour's term ran for one year, in which he was little better than Fudge, despite his aura of experience and pro-activity; he created cover-ups and detained incorrect suspects to make it look as though he was accomplishing something. Making the same mistakes as his predecessor, he gave little chance to build up any effective defence as a whole, and it eventually cost him his life when he was overwhelmed and killed in August of 1997, with the official line saying that he had resigned. He was replaced by Voldemort's puppet, Pius Thicknesse.

Thicknesse, under Yaxley's Imperius Curse, was appointed as Minister, though he was really only Voldemort's puppet, with the Dark Lord effectively becoming the true Minister. While Thicknesse was to handle everyday business, which included changing the entire Ministry to suit the Death Eaters' ideology, Voldemort was free to extend his reign beyond the government. Voldemort did not announce himself Minister, but instead kept himself hidden in the shadows, in order to plant uncertainty and doubt within the wizarding community, preventing them from trusting anyone and forming any rebellion that may have overwhelmed the Ministry and the Death Eaters.

By the end of the war, Kingsley Shacklebolt was appointed as temporary Minister, the position later becoming permanent. His term led to the revolutionising of the entire Ministry, removing any and all corruption that had permeated it before and during the takeover.

List of Ministers for Magic

18th century

#	Portrait	Minister for Magic (term of office)	Other Ministerial offices held	Notes
1		Ulick Gamp 1707 to 1718	Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot (Wizards' Council)	First person to use the title of Minister for Magic. Established the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
2		Damocles Rowle 1718 to 1726	—	Established Azkaban Prison in 1718. Forced to step down after his actions as Minister towards Muggles led to him being censured by the International Confederation of Wizards.
3		Perseus Parkinson 1726 to 1733	—	Attempted to pass a bill to prevent wizard-Muggle miscegenation; the public did not approve and voted him out at the first opportunity.
4		Eldritch Diggory 1733 to 1747	—	First established an Auror recruitment programme. Tried (unsucessfully) to close down Azkaban or remove Dementors as guards. Died in office.
5		Albert Boot 1747 to 1752	—	Resigned after mismanaged goblin rebellion.
6		Basil Flack 1752	—	Shortest-serving Minister for Magic. Resigned due to the advancement of goblin rebellions (goblins allied themselves with werewolves).
7		Hesphaestus Gore 1752 to 1770	Auror	One of the earliest Aurors. Successfully put down a number of revolts by magical beings. Renovated and reinforced Azkaban Prison.
8		Maximilian Crowdy 1770 to 1781	—	Routed out several extremist pure-blood groups planning Muggle attacks. Died in office, under mysterious circumstances.
9		Porteus Knatchbull 1781 to 1789	—	Correspondence with Muggle Prime Minister Lord North led to the latter being forced to resign after word leaked out that he believed in wizards.
10		Unctuous Osbert 1789 to 1798	—	Too much influenced by pure-bloods of wealth and status; was little more than a puppet in the hands of Septimus Malfoy.
11		Artemisia Lufkin 1798 to 1811	—	First female Minister for Magic. Established the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and lobbied (sucessfully) to have a Quidditch World Cup held in Britain during her term.

19th century

#	Portrait	Minister for Magic (term of office)	Other Ministerial offices held	Notes
12		Grogan Stump 1811 to 1819	—	Defined "Being" and "Beast", settling a debate that had been going on since the 14th century. Deeply restructured the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and established the Department of Magical Games and Sports.
13		Josephina Flint 1819 to 1827	—	Revealed a severe anti-Muggle bias during her term; specifically attacked new Muggle inventions such as the telegraph, which she claimed interfered with wand function.
14		Ottaline Gambol 1827 to 1835	—	Came up with the idea of having the Hogwarts Express to solve the dilemma of how to transport students to Hogwarts School without attracting Muggle attention. Established committees to investigate Muggle brainpower.
15		Radolphus Lestrange 1835 to 1841	—	Unsuccessfully attempted to close down the Department of Mysteries. Resigned due to ill health (widely rumoured to have been inability to cope with the strains of office).
16		Hortensia Milliphutt 1841 to 1849	—	Introduced more legislation than any other Minister; political downfall came when she began passing regulations on hat pointiness and other wearisome laws.
17		Evangeline Orpington 1849 to 1855	—	Had concealed platforms built at King's Cross Station to house wizarding trains. Believed to have intervened magically (and illegally) in the Crimean War.
18		Priscilla Dupont 1855 to 1858	—	Developed an irrational loathing of the Muggle Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, which led to a series of Muggle-baiting incidents; forced to resign after it became too much.
19		Dugald McPhail 1858 to 1865	—	A period of calm and stability. Established the Knight Bus in 1865.
20		Faris "Spout-Hole" Spavin 1865 to 1903	—	Longest-serving Minister. Left office at age 147, after having showed up at Queen Victoria's funeral wearing an admiral's hat and spats. Survived an assassination attempt by a centaur, who took offence to the punchline of his "a centaur, a ghost and a dwarf walk into a bar" joke.

20th century

#	Portrait	Minister for Magic (term of office)	Other Ministerial offices held	Notes
21		Venusia Crickerly 1903 to 1912	Auror	Competent and likeable Minister; died in 1912 in a Mandrake-related gardening accident.
22		Archer Evermonde 1912 to 1923	—	Passed emergency legislation preventing wizards from taking part in the on-going First World War, lest they incur in a massive breach of the International Statute of Secrecy.
23		Lorcan McLaird 1923 to 1925	—	An exceptionally taciturn man who preferred to communicate in monosyllables and expressive puffs of smoke that he produced with his wand. Forced out of office out of sheer irritation.
24		Hector Fawley 1925 to 1939	—	Term in office coincided with the beginning of Gellert Grindelwald's "For the Greater Good" revolution. Fawley did not take Grindelwald's threat to the world wizarding community sufficiently seriously and was, as a result, forced from his office.
25		Leonard Spencer-Moon 1939 to 1948	Tea-boy in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes	A sound Minister, oversaw a period of great turmoil in both the wizarding (global wizarding war) and the Muggle world (Second World War). Maintained a good working relationship with Winston Churchill.
26		Wilhelmina Tuft 1948 to 1959	—	A period of welcome peace and prosperity. Died in office, after eating Alihotsy-flavoured fudge (which she was allergic to).
27		Ignatius Tuft 1959 to 1962	—	Son of his predecessor, who gained election based on his mother's popularity. Tried to institute a controversial and dangerous Dementor breeding program, and was forced from his office.
28		Nobby Leach 1962 to 1968	—	First Muggle-born Minister for Magic. Has always denied having had anything to do with England's 1966 World Cup win. Left office after contracting a mysterious illness (conspiracy theories abound — Abraxas Malfoy is widely believed to have been part of the shady plot that say him leave his post prematurely).
29		Eugenia Jenkins 1968 to 1975	—	Dealt competently with the pure-blood riots during the Squib Rights marches of the late 1960s. The first rise of Lord Voldemort saw her ousted from office, as the people saw her as innadequate to the challenge.
30		Harold Minchum 1975 to 1980	—	Hard-liner. Placed even more Dementors in Azkaban, but could not contain Voldemort's seemingly unstoppable rise to power.
31		Millicent Bagnold 1980 to 1990	—	Minister during the terminal phase of the First Wizarding War. It was during her term that Lord Voldemort seemingly died following the James and Lily Potter murders in 1981. Responsible for the successful Death Eater trials immediately after the war.
32		Cornelius Fudge 1990 to 1996	Junior Minister at the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes Advisor to the Minister for Magic	Most of the wizarding world supported Albus Dumbledore for Minister when Bagnold retired, but Fudge was appointed when Dumbledore refused the office. Relied heavily on Dumbledore on the first years of his term. When Lord Voldemort returned, Fudge persistently refused to accept it, and launched a smear campaign to discredit those who claimed the Dark Lord had returned. Was ousted from office when Voldemort appeared in the Ministry itself.
33	File:Scrimhallows22.jpg	Rufus Scrimgeour 1996 to 1997	Head of the Auror Office	Replaced Cornelius Fudge in the height of the Second Wizarding War. Tried to keep up the appearance to be doing something about the war by reorganising some Ministry offices, publicising arrests, and trying to set Harry Potter as the Ministry's poster-boy, while actual progress was reduced. Murdered at the hands of Voldemort during a Death Eater coup.
(34)		Pius Thicknesse 1997 to 1998	Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement	Put under the Imperius Curse by the Death Eaters, and appointed Minister following their coup. Thicknesse was effectively a puppet of the Death Eater regime and was unconscious of anything he was doing (the reason why he is ommited from most official records as a Minister).
34 (35)		Kingsley Shacklebolt 1998 to present	Auror	Named caretaker Minister for Magic after the Battle of Hogwarts and the end of the Second Wizarding War, but subsequently elected to the office. Oversaw the capture of Death Eaters and supporters following Voldemort's death. Led a massive reform of the Ministry, in order to rid it of corruption and pro-pure-blood laws. Purged Dementors from Azkaban.

Timeline

Relationship to the Muggle Prime Minister

One of the Minister for Magic's duties is to correspond with the British Prime Minister of Muggles of any ongoing events in the wizarding world that will or may affect the United Kingdom as a whole, e.g. Voldemort's return, or introduce themselves to the Muggle Prime Minister, should there be a change in office on either side.

A small portrait in the corner of the Prime Minister's office serves as an envoy between the two Ministers. It announces the arrival of the Minister for Magic, seeking the Prime Minister's reply (usually aquiescence to the unavoidable). It is believed that a Permanent Sticking Charm must have been placed on the portrait, for neither the Prime Minister nor his experts were able to remove it from its location.

Known correspondences

Sometime between 1990 and 1993, Fudge showed up to introduce himself to the newly elected Muggle Prime Minister. He also informed him of the existence of the magical population living among Muggles in secret, as well as assured him that he would not bother the Prime Minister unless it was something of great importance. He also claimed the previous Prime Minister tried to throw him out of the window, believing Fudge's presence to be a sabotage attempt.

In around July 1993, Fudge showed up in the Prime Minister's office again, to inform him of Sirius Black's breakout from Azkaban, the wizard prison. He also told the story of Voldemort, in order to allow the Prime Minister to have an in depth understanding of what was going on, though as he dared not say the name out loud, he instead scribbled it on a piece of paper.

In August 1994, Fudge turned up to report on the fiasco at the Quidditch World Cup, since its victims included Muggles. He also informed a bewildered Prime Minister that they would be importing dragons and a sphinx into Great Britain for the Triwizard Tournament, as part of the procedure (who possibly had no idea what Fudge was talking about).

Sometime prior to July 1996, a flustered Fudge appeared in the Prime Minister's office briefly to inform him that there had been a mass breakout from Azkaban, the wizard prison.

Around July 1996, Fudge turned up and announced to the Prime Minister that the Second Wizarding War had begun, as well as that the Dark forces in their community were responsible for the various gloomy events occurring in the Muggle world. In addition, Fudge introduced his successor, Rufus Scrimgeour.

When Voldemort took over the Ministry of Magic, it was possible that the the puppet Minister Pius Thicknesse was not sent to meet the Muggle Minister, as was the tradition in the past, due to the Death Eaters' attitudes towards Muggles and Muggle-borns. However, once Kingsley Shacklebolt was appointed Minister in 1998, it is possible, if not likely, that he did meet with the Prime Minister to not only introduce himself (indeed, he had been put in as secretary to the Prime Minister in 1996 to watch over his security) but to assure the Muggle Minister that the war had ended.

Behind the scenes

• In the American editions, the Minister is called the Minister of Magic. In the films, both Minister of Magic and Minister for Magic seem to be acceptable, as different characters call it different names. For example, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, when Scrimgeour arrives at The Burrow, George wonders what the "Minister of Magic" is doing there; likewise, when Kingsley's Patronus interrupts the Bill and Fleur's wedding, he calls the Minister the same thing. However, when Pius Thicknesse gives his speech later in the film, he calls himself the "Minister for Magic". The reason behind this is unknown.
• Basil Flack has the distinction of being the Minister for Magic with the shortest known term in office: 2 months, in 1752. The longest term was that of Faris Spavin, lasting 38 years, from 1865 to 1903. There has been at least one foreign Minister for Magic with a shorter term then Flack's, though: Joshua Sankara, Minister for Magic of Burkina Faso for two days in 2006.
• Apparently, the Minister must get the approval of a Wizengamot majority for any legislation.
• Since Kingsley's appointment as the next Minister for Magic is omitted from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, there is no mention of who is appointed to that position after the final battle.
• Supposing that the liaison between the Minister for Magic and the Muggle Prime Minister has been the way we know since the Ministry's inception, as well as supposing that the Muggle Prime Ministers in the Harry Potter universe are all the same as their real-life counterparts, then the following table illustrates the Ministers for Magic that would have introduced themselves to the respective Prime Ministers:

Minister for Magic (term of office)	Prime Minister (term of office)
Artemisia Lufkin 1798 to 1811	William Pitt the Younger 1783 to 1801
	Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth 1801 to 1804
	William Pitt the Younger 1804 to 1806
	William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville 1806 to 1807
	William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland 1807 to 1809
	Spencer Perceval 1809 to 1812
Grogan Stump 1811 to 1819
	Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool 1812 to 1827
Hortensia Milliphutt 1841 to 1849	William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne 1835 to 1841 (possibly)
	Robert Peel 1841 to 1846
	John Russell, 1st Earl Russell 1846 to 1852
Evangeline Orpington 1849 to 1855
	Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby 1852
	George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen 1852 to 1855
Faris "Spout-Hole" Spavin 1865 to 1903	John Russell, 1st Earl Russell 1865 to 1866
	Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby 1866 to 1868
	Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield 1868
	William Ewart Gladstone 1868 to 1874
	Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield 1874 to 1880
	William Ewart Gladstone 1880 to 1885
	Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury 1885 to 1886
	William Ewart Gladstone 1886
	Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury 1886 to 1892
	William Ewart Gladstone 1892 to 1894
	Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery 1894 to 1895
	Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury 1895 to 1902
	Arthur James Balfour 1902 to 1905
Nobby Leach 1962 to 1968	Maurice Harold Macmillan 1957 to 1963
	Sir Alec Douglas-Home 1963 to 1964
	James Harold Wilson 1964 to 1970
Millicent Bagnold 1980 to 1990	Margaret Thatcher 1979 to 1990
Cornelius Fudge 1990 to 1996	John Major 1990 to 1997
Rufus Scrimgeour 1996 to 1997	John Major 1990 to 1997
	Tony Blair 1997 to 2007
Pius Thicknesse 1997 to 1998	Tony Blair 1997 to 2007
Kingsley Shacklebolt 1998 to present	Tony Blair 1997 to 2007
	James Gordon Brown 2007 to 2010
	David Cameron 2010 to present

Notes and references

Minister for Magic of Great Britain
Ministers for Magic
Ulick Gamp (1707–1718) Damocles Rowle (1718–1726) Perseus Parkinson (1726–1733) Eldritch Diggory (1733–1747) Albert Boot (1747–1752) Basil Flack (1752–1752) Hesphaestus Gore (1752–1770) Maximilian Crowdy (1770–1781) Porteus Knatchbull (1781–1789) Unctuous Osbert (1789–1798) Artemisia Lufkin (1798–1811) Grogan Stump (1811–1819) Josephina Flint (1819–1827) Ottaline Gambol (1827–1835) Radolphus Lestrange (1835–1841) Hortensia Milliphutt (1841–1849) Evangeline Orpington (1849–1855) Priscilla Dupont (1855–1858) Dugald McPhail (1858–1865) Faris Spavin (1865–1903) Venusia Crickerly (1903–1912) Archer Evermonde (1912–1923) Lorcan McLaird (1923–1925) Hector Fawley (1925–1939) Leonard Spencer-Moon (1939–1948) Wilhelmina Tuft (1948–1959) Ignatius Tuft (1959–1962) Nobby Leach (1962–1968) Eugenia Jenkins (1968–1975) Harold Minchum (1975–1980) Millicent Bagnold (1980–1990) Cornelius Fudge (1990–1996) Rufus Scrimgeour (1996–1997) Pius Thicknesse (1997–1998) Kingsley Shacklebolt (1998–c. 2019) Hermione Granger (c. 2019–?)