![]() Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | |
Style | Foreign Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (UK and Commonwealth) His Excellency (international)[1] |
Status | Great Office of State |
Member of | Cabinet Privy Council National Security Council (NSC) |
Reports to | The Prime Minister |
Residence | No. 1 Carlton Gardens |
Seat | Westminster |
Appointer | The Crown on advice of the Prime Minister |
Term length | At Her Majesty's pleasure |
Formation | 27 March 1782 |
First holder | Charles James Fox |
Website | www.gov.uk |
The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, also referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior Minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Foreign Secretary is a senior member of the British Cabinet.
The current Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs is Dominic Raab, MP, since his appointment by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in July 2019.[2]
Corresponding to what is generally known as a foreign minister in many other countries, the Foreign Secretary's remit includes:
The official residence of the Foreign Secretary is 1 Carlton Gardens, in London. They also have the use of Chevening House, a country house in Kent, South East England. The Foreign Secretary works out of the Foreign Office in Whitehall.
The position of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was created in the British governmental reorganisation of 1782, in which the Northern and Southern Departments became the Foreign Office and Home Office respectively. Eventually, 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 constituent predecessor department of the Foreign Office, as were the Colonial Office and the Dominions Office. Margaret Beckett, appointed in 2006 by Tony Blair, is the only woman to have held the post. The post of Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs was created in 2020 when position holder Dominic Raab absorbed the responsibilities of the Secretary of State for International Development.
Post created through the merger of the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.
Post created through the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.
Portrait | Name[8] (Birth-Death) |
Term of office | Party | Ministry | Sovereign (Reign) |
Ref. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
The Right Honourable Dominic Raab MP for Esher and Walton (born 1974) |
Conservative | Johnson II | Elizabeth II![]() (1952-present) |
Day-to-day ministerial responsibility for GCHQ lies with the Foreign Secretary.