Minister for Magic

This page provides a more specific look at Absit Omen's interpretation of the Ministry for Magic, the head of the magical government in the United Kingdom. For canon information about the Minister, please visit the Harry Potter Wiki.

Traditional Function

1. The Minister for Magic has authority over all Departments and Offices and appoints their Heads.
2. He or she is selected by the Wizengamot. (More below)
3. He or she may hold the post as long as necessary.

Selecting a New Minister

1. Members of the Wizengamot voice their nominations for Minister for Magic. Each nominee must have 7 Wizengamot supporters for the nomination to 'hold water'.
2. The Wizarding public does not vote by ballot for the Minister, but rather, the public opinion of the Wizarding public is measured by ancient acclamation magic. Large glass vessels filled with a clear potion to represent the nominees (who've gotten the #Wizengamot support to 'hold water'. As he tides of public opinion flow, these waters of acclamation roil and boil and bubble.
3. The Wizengamot appoints the new Minister, by deliberating over the public opinion and other factors.
4. The Minister may step down voluntarily.
5. If the Minister does not step down, but the Wizengamot sees fit to put forth new nominees, the incumbent Minister will also have a Vial of Acclamation. Should the public's support of the old Minister stand up to the other nominees, then the Minister keeps his/her seat.

Ministers For Magic

Minister	Term of Office	Notes
Ulick Gamp	1707 - 1718	Previously head of the Wizengamot, Gamp had the onerous job of policing a fractious and frightened community adjusting to the imposition of the International Statute of Secrecy. His greatest legacy was to found the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Damocles Rowle	1718 - 1726	Rowle was elected on a platform of being 'tough on Muggles'. Established Azkaban Prison in 1718. Censured by the International Confederation of Wizards, he was eventually forced to step down.
Perseus Parkinson	1726 - 1733	Attempted to pass a bill making it illegal to marry a Muggle. Misread the public mood; the wizarding community, tired of anti-Muggle sentiment and wanting peace, voted him out at the first opportunity.
Eldritch Diggory	1733 - 1747	Popular Minister who first established an Auror recruitment programme. Tried (unsucessfully) to close down Azkaban or remove Dementors as guards. Died in office (dragon pox).
Albert Boot	1747 - 1752	Likeable, but inept. Resigned after a mismanaged goblin rebellion.
Basil Flack	1752 - 1752	Shortest serving Minister. Lasted two months; resigned after the goblins joined forces with werewolves.
Hesphaestus Gore	1752 - 1770	Gore was one of the earliest Aurors. Successfully put down a number of revolts by magical beings, although historians feel his refusal to contemplate rehabilitation programmes for werewolves ultimately led to more attacks. Renovated and reinforced the prison of Azkaban.
Maximilian Crowdy	1770 - 1781	Father of nine Crowdy was a charismatic leader who routed out several extremist pure-blood groups planning Muggle attacks. His mysterious death in office has been the subject of numerous books and conspiracy theories.
Porteus Knatchbull	1781 - 1789	Was called in confidentially in 1782 by the Muggle Prime Minister of the day, Lord North, to see whether he could help with King George III's emerging mental instability. Word leaked out that Lord North believed in wizards, and he was forced to resign after a motion of no confidence.
Unctuous Osbert	1789 - 1798	Widely seen as too much influenced by pure-bloods of wealth and status.
Artemisia Lufkin	1798 - 1811	First female Minister for Magic. Established Department of International Magical Cooperation and lobbied hard and successfully to have a Quidditch World Cup tournament held in Britain during her term.
Grogan Stump	1811 - 1819	Very popular Minister for Magic, a passionate Quidditch fan (Tutshill Tornados), established Department of Magical Games and Sports and managed to steer through legislation on magical beasts and beings that had long been a source of contention, finally defining Being and Beast
Josephina Flint	1819 - 1827	Revealed an unhealthy anti-Muggle bias in office; disliked new Muggle technology such as the telegraph, which she claimed interfered with proper wand function.
Ottaline Gambol	1827 - 1835	A much more forward-looking Minister, Gambol established committees to investigate Muggle brainpower which seemed, during this period of the British Empire, to be greater than some wizards had credited. 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.
Radolphus Lestrange	1835 - 1841	Reactionary who attempted to close down the Department of Mysteries, which ignored him. Eventually resigned due to ill health, which was widely rumoured to be inability to cope with the strains of office.
Hortensia Milliphutt	1841 - 1849	Introduced more legislation than any other sitting Minister, much of it useful, but some wearisome (hat pointiness and so on), which ultimately resulted in her political downfall.
Evangeline Orpington	1849 - 1855	A good friend of Queen Victoria's, who never realised she was a witch, let alone Minister for Magic. Orpington is believed to have intervened magically (and illegally) in the Crimean War.
Priscilla Dupont	1855 - 1858	Conceived an irrational loathing of the Muggle Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, to an extent that caused such trouble (coins turning to frogspawn in his coat pockets, etc.) that she was forced to step down. Ironically, Palmerston was forced to resign by the Muggles two days later.
Dugald McPhail	1858 - 1865	A safe pair of hands. While the Muggle parliament underwent a period of marked upheaval, the Ministry of Magic knew a period of welcome calm. Established the Knight Bus in 1865.
Faris "Spout-hole" Spavin	1865 - 1903	Longest-ever serving Minister for Magic, and also the most long-winded, he survived an 'assassination attempt' (kicking) from a centaur who resented the punchline of Spavin's infamous 'a centaur, a ghost and a dwarf walk into a bar' joke. Attended Queen Victoria's funeral in an admiral's hat and spats, at which point the Wizengamot suggested gently that it was time he move aside (Spavin was 147 when he left office).
Venusia Crickerly	1903 - 1912	Second ex-Auror to take office and considered both competent and likeable, Crickerly died in a freak gardening accident (mandrake related).
Archer Evermonde	1912 - 1923	In post during the Muggle First World War, Evermonde passed emergency legislation forbidding witches and wizards to get involved, lest they risk mass infractions of the International Statute of Secrecy. Thousands defied him, aiding Muggles where they could.
Lorcan McLaird	1923 - 1925	A gifted wizard, but an unlikely politician, McLaird was an exceptionally taciturn man who preferred to communicate in monosyllables and expressive puffs of smoke that he produced through the end of his wand. Forced from office out of sheer irritation at his eccentricities.
Hector Fawley	1925 - 1939	Undoubtedly voted in because of his marked difference to McLaird, the ebullient and flamboyant Fawley did not take sufficiently seriously the threat presented to the world wizarding community by Gellert Grindelwald . He paid with his job.
Leonard Spencer-Moon	1939 - 1948	A sound Minister who rose through the ranks from being tea-boy in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Oversaw a great period of international wizarding and Muggle conflict. Enjoyed a good working relationship with Winston Churchill.
Wilhelmina Tuft	1948 - 1959	Cheery witch who presided over a period of welcome peace and prosperity. Died in office after discovering, too late, her allergy to Alihotsy-flavoured fudge.
Ignatius Tuft	1959 - 1962	Son of the above. A hard-liner who capitalised on his mother's popularity to gain election. Promised to institute a controversial and dangerous Dementor breeding program and was forced from office.
Nobby Leach	1962 - 1968	First Muggle-born Minister for Magic, his appointment caused consternation among the old (pure-blood) guard, many of whom resigned government posts in protest. Has always denied having anything to do with England's 1966 World Cup Win. Left office after contracting mysterious illness (conspiracy theories abound).
Eugenia Jenkins	1968 - 1975	Jenkins dealt competently with pure-blood riots during Squib Rights marches in the late sixties, but was soon confronted with the first rise of Lord Voldemort . Jenkins was soon ousted from office as inadequate to the challenge.
Harold Minchum	1975 - 1980	Seen as a hard-liner, he placed even more Dementors around Azkaban, but was unable to contain what looked like Voldemort's unstoppable rise to power.
Millicent Bagnold	1980 - 1990	A highly able Minister. Had to answer to the International Confederation of Wizards for the number of breaches of the International Statute of Secrecy on the day and night following Harry Potter's survival of Lord Voldemort's attack. Acquitted herself magnificently with the now infamous words: 'I assert our inalienable right to party', which drew cheers from all present.
Cornelius Fudge	1990 - 1996	A career politician overly-fond of the old guard. Persistent denial of the continuing threat of Lord Voldemort ultimately cost him his job.
Rufus Scrimgeour	1996 - 1997	The third ex-Auror to gain office, Scrimgeour died in office at the hands of Lord Voldemort.
Pius Thicknesse	1997 - 1998	Omitted from most official records, as he was under the Imperius Curse for his entire term of office, and unconscious of anything that he was doing.
Kingsley Shacklebolt	1998 - 2004	Oversaw the capture of Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters following the death of Lord Voldemort. Initially named as ‘caretaker Minister’, Shacklebolt was subsequently elected to the office.
Marcus Annwyl	2004 - 2009
Persepolis Zephyr	2009 - 2011	Introduced I.D.R.E.A.D and hid the Goblet of Fire from the goblins.
Edwin Glass	2011 - 2012	Resolved the dementor situation, began the legalisation of flying cars but was ultimately convicted of crimes
Solomon Carstairs	2012 - Current