also attended the Cabinet, although not as a full member or Cabinet Minister. Letwin was appointed as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 14 July 2014, succeeding Lord Hill of Oareford who became the United Kingdom's next European Commissioner. He also continued in his role as Minister for Policy until the 2015 general election, when the position was abolished. He was returned with a much increased majority of 16,130 votes by his West Dorset constituents at the 2015 general election. Following that election, Letwin remained Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Cameron also appointed him as a full member of the new Conservative government's Cabinet with responsibility for overall charge and oversight of the Cabinet Office. Immediately after the 23 June 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Cameron appointed Letwin "Minister for Brexit". He appeared on 5 July before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and was criticised for Government's lack of planning for a leave vote. Cabinet was accused of "dereliction of duty". When committee chairman Crispin Blunt observed upon the resignation of Cameron that Letwin had been left "holding the baby", Letwin said, "I can only say that the baby is being firmly held, and that my intention is that the baby should prosper – because I care about the baby in question. It is, in fact, our country." Letwin was awarded a knighthood by David Cameron in the 2016 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours List. This gave him the honorific title "Sir" for life. May premiership (2016–2019) The new Prime Minister Theresa May terminated Letwin's tenure as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and split the Minister for Brexit position he had held, creating the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union and handing that job to arch-Leaver David Davis. In 2018, Letwin led an "independent review" into the delivery of housing on large development sites. During the Second May ministry in 2019, Letwin rebelled against leading Eurosceptics within the Conservative Party by tabling a cross-party motion to hold "indicative votes", allowing MPs to vote on several Brexit options in order to establish whether any could command a majority in the House of Commons. Though no option received a positive number of votes, the "People's Vote" proposal from Margaret Beckett was the most popular. Expulsion from the Conservative Party In August 2019, Letwin announced that he would stand down at the next general election.