Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Incumbent: David Miliband Took office: 28 June 2007
Style:	The Right Honourable
Appointed by:	Gordon Brown as Prime Minister
First :	Charles James Fox
Formation:	27 March 1782

United Kingdom

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United Kingdom

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The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a member of the Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and responsible for relations with foreign countries, matters pertaining to the Commonwealth of Nations and the UK's overseas territories and the promotion of British interests abroad.

Position

The position of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was created in the United Kingdom's governmental reorganization of 1782, in which the Northern and Southern Departments became the Home and Foreign Offices respectively. The position of Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs came into existence in 1968 with the merger of the functions of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs into a single Department of State. The India Office was a predecessor department of the Foreign Office.

The Foreign Secretary is a member of the Cabinet, and the post is considered one of the Great Offices of State. The Foreign Secretary works out of the Foreign Office in Whitehall. The post's official residences are 1 Carlton Gardens in London and Chevening in Kent. In the 2006 United Kingdom Cabinet reshuffle, Margaret Beckett became the first woman to hold the post.

The current Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is the Right Honourable David Miliband MP.

Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs, 1782-1801

Name		Portrait	Entered office	Left office	Political party
	Rt. Hon. Charles James Fox1		27 March 1782	5 July 1782	Whig
	The Lord Grantham		13 July 1782	2 April 1783	Whig
	Rt. Hon. Charles James Fox		2 April 1783	19 December 1783	Whig
	The Earl Temple		19 December 1783	23 December 1783	Tory
	The Duke of Leeds1		23 December 1783	May 1791	Tory
	The Lord Grenville		8 June 1791	20 February 1801

Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs, 1801-1900

Name		Portrait	Entered office	Left office	Political party
	The Lord Hawkesbury		20 February 1801	14 May 1804
	The Lord Harrowby		14 May 1804	11 January 1805	Tory
	The Lord Mulgrave		11 January 1805	7 February 1806	Tory
	Rt. Hon. Charles James Fox2		7 February 1806	13 September 1806	Whig
	Viscount Howick		24 September 1806	25 March 1807	Whig
	George Canning1		25 March 1807	11 October 1809	Tory
	The Earl Bathurst		11 October 1809	6 December 1809	Tory
	The Marquess Wellesley		6 December 1809	4 March 1812
	Viscount Castlereagh2		4 March 1812	12 August 1822	Tory
	George Canning		16 September 1822	30 April 1827	Tory
	The Earl of Dudley		30 April 1827	2 June 1828
	The Earl of Aberdeen		2 June 1828	22 November 1830	Tory
	The Viscount Palmerston		22 November 1830	15 November 1834	Whig
	The Duke of Wellington		15 November 1834	18 April 1835	Tory
	The Viscount Palmerston		18 April 1835	2 September 1841	Whig
	The Earl of Aberdeen		2 September 1841	6 July 1846	Tory
	The Viscount Palmerston		6 July 1846	26 December 1851	Whig
	The Earl Granville		26 December 1851	27 February 1852	Whig
	The Earl of Malmesbury		27 February 1852	28 December 1852	Tory
	Lord John Russell		28 December 1852	21 February 1853	Whig
	The Earl of Clarendon		21 February 1853	26 February 1858	Whig
	The Earl of Malmesbury		26 February 1858	18 June 1859	Conservative
	Lord John Russell (Earl Russell from 1861)		18 June 1859	3 November 1865	Liberal
	The Earl of Clarendon		3 November 1865	6 July 1866	Liberal
	Lord Stanley3		6 July 1866	9 December 1868	Conservative
	The Earl of Clarendon		9 December 1868	6 July 1870	Liberal
	The Earl Granville		6 July 1870	21 February 1874	Liberal
	The Earl of Derby		21 February 1874	2 April 1878	Conservative
	The Marquess of Salisbury		2 April 1878	28 April 1880	Conservative
	The Earl Granville		28 April 1880	24 June 1885	Liberal
	The Marquess of Salisbury		24 June 1885	6 February 1886	Conservative
	The Earl of Rosebery		6 February 1886	3 August 1886	Liberal
	The Earl of Iddesleigh2		3 August 1886	12 January 1887	Conservative
	The Marquess of Salisbury		14 January 1887	11 August 1892	Conservative
	The Earl of Rosebery		18 August 1892	11 March 1894	Liberal
	The Earl of Kimberley		11 March 1894	21 June 1895	Liberal
	The Marquess of Salisbury		29 June 1895	12 November 1900	Conservative

Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs, 1900-1968

Name		Portrait	Entered office	Left office	Political party
	The Marquess of Lansdowne		12 November 1900	4 December 1905	Liberal Unionist
	Sir Edward Grey, Bt		10 December 1905	10 December 1916	Liberal
	Arthur Balfour		10 December 1916	23 October 1919	Conservative
	The Earl Curzon of Kedleston (Marquess Curzon of Kedleston from 1921)		23 October 1919	22 January 1924	Conservative
	Ramsay MacDonald		22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour
	Sir Austen Chamberlain		6 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative
	Arthur Henderson		7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour
	The Marquess of Reading		25 August 1931	5 November 1931	Liberal National
	Sir John Simon		5 November 1931	7 June 1935	Liberal National
	Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt1		7 June 1935	18 December 1935	Conservative
	Anthony Eden1		22 December 1935	20 February 1938	Conservative
	The Viscount Halifax		21 February 1938	22 December 1940	Conservative
	Anthony Eden		22 December 1940	26 July 1945	Conservative
	Ernest Bevin		27 July 1945	9 March 1951	Labour Party
	Herbert Morrison		9 March 1951	26 October 1951	Labour Party
	Anthony Eden		28 October 1951	7 April 1955	Conservative
	Harold Macmillan		7 April 1955	20 December 1955	Conservative
	Selwyn Lloyd		20 December 1955	27 July 1960	Conservative
	The Earl of Home		27 July 1960	20 October 1963	Conservative
	R. A. Butler		20 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative
	Patrick Gordon Walker4		16 October 1964	22 January 1965	Labour
	Michael Stewart		22 January 1965	11 August 1966	Labour
	George Brown1		11 August 1966	16 March 1968	Labour
	Michael Stewart		16 March 1968	17 October 1968	Labour

Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1968-present

Name		Portrait	Entered office	Left office	Political party
	Michael Stewart		17 October 1968	19 June 1970	Labour
	Sir Alec Douglas-Home		20 June 1970	28 February 1974	Conservative
	James Callaghan		5 March 1974	5 April 1976 1	Labour
	Anthony Crosland2		8 April 1976	19 February 1977	Labour
	David Owen		22 February 1977	4 May 1979	Labour
	The Lord Carrington1		5 May 1979	5 April 1982	Conservative
	Francis Pym		6 April 1982	11 June 1983	Conservative
	Sir Geoffrey Howe		11 June 1983	24 July 1989	Conservative
	John Major		24 July 1989	26 October 1989	Conservative
	Douglas Hurd		26 October 1989	5 July 1995	Conservative
	Malcolm Rifkind		5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative
	Robin Cook		2 May 1997	8 June 2001	Labour
	Jack Straw		8 June 2001	5 May 2006	Labour
	Margaret Beckett		5 May 2006	28 June 2007	Labour
	David Miliband		28 June 2007	present	Labour

Notes

¹Resigned
²Died in office
³Succeeded as Earl of Derby in 1869
⁴Defeated for election to the House of Commons

See also

• Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
• Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office
• Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs
• Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
• Secretary of State for the Colonies
• Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
• Foreign minister
• Great Offices of State

External links

• FCO website
• David Miliband's blog

v • d • e Great Offices of State of the United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling Foreign Secretary David Miliband Home Secretary Alan Johnson