GovernedBy UK

GovernedBy UK answers a simple question: who actually leads us? Information about ministers is public, but it is scattered across many sources. This project brings it into one browsable place.

Why I built it

The idea came out of a Friday conversation about the gaps in what we can easily learn about the people in government. By the end of that Saturday there was a working first version. It has grown since, and it now covers every UK government minister since 1979.

What it covers

• Education: the schools and universities each minister attended.
• Before politics: the careers they had before entering Parliament.
• In government: how they moved through ministerial roles over time.
• Voting records: how they voted in Parliament.
• After office: what they went on to do once they left.

Data & Sources

• Institute for Government: the ministers database that gives the project its backbone.
• Wikidata and Wikipedia: biographical and educational details.
• UK Parliament APIs: membership and voting data.
• ACOBA: the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, for post-office roles.

Tech

• Next.js: statically generated pages, so the site stays fast and cheap to serve.
• Cloudflare: hosting and delivery.
• D1 (SQL): Cloudflare’s SQL database, holding the minister data.
• Turnstile: Cloudflare’s bot check, protecting the anonymous feedback and correction forms.

Open to contributions

The site documents its methodology and invites corrections, research requests and anonymous feedback. The approach has nothing UK-specific in it, so it could be adapted for other countries. Questions such as gender parity in advancement, second jobs and honours could all be asked of the same data.