The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is a British government cabinet position currently held by Chris Huhne. The government department was created on 3 October 2008 when former Prime Minister Gordon Brown reshuffled his cabinet. The Energy and Climate Change Secretary revives the earlier post of the Secretary of State for Energy as head of the Department of Energy, existing from 1974 to 1992. After which, the Department of Energy was merged into the Department of Trade and Industry under the Conservative government of Sir John Major in 1992.