Minister of State for Europe

The Minister of State for Europe is an informal name for a position in the Government of the United Kingdom, in charge of affairs with the European Union. Since May 2010, it has been held by the Rt. Hon. David Lidington MP.

The office is generally, and currently, formally one of a number of Ministers of State within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Despite being a junior ministerial role, the position has sometimes conferred the right to attend meetings of the Cabinet, which is occasionally granted to other such Ministers at the Prime Minister's discretion. This first occurred when Denis MacShane was replaced by Douglas Alexander after the 2005 general election, although Alexander's successor ceased to have this right. The Minister of State is also responsible for the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Sovereign Base Areas

When Chris Bryant MP held the office it was not as a Minister of State but a more junior Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.

List of Ministers for Europe

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	P.M.		F.Sec.
	Douglas Hurd	60px	4 May 1979	9 June 1983	Conservative		Thatcher	Carrington
								Pym
	Malcolm Rifkind		9 June 1983	11 January 1986	Conservative			Howe
	Lynda Chalker		11 January 1986	24 July 1989	Conservative
	Francis Maude		25 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative			Major
								Hurd
	Tristan Garel-Jones		28 November 1990	27 May 1993	Conservative		Major
	David Heathcoat-Amory		27 May 1993	20 July 1994	Conservative
	David Davis	60px	20 July 1994	May 1997	Conservative
								Rifkind
	Doug Henderson		5 May 1997	28 July 1998	Labour		Blair	Cook
	Joyce Quin		28 July 1998	28 July 1999	Labour
	Geoff Hoon		28 July 1999	11 October 1999	Labour
	Keith Vaz		11 October 1999	11 June 2001	Labour
	Peter Hain		11 June 2001	24 October 2002	Labour			Straw
	Denis MacShane		28 October 2002	11 May 2005	Labour
	Douglas Alexander		11 May 2005	8 May 2006	Labour
	Geoff Hoon		8 May 2006	27 June 2007	Labour			Beckett
	Jim Murphy		28 June 2007	3 October 2008	Labour		Brown	Miliband
	Caroline Flint		3 October 2008	5 June 2009	Labour
	Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead		5 June 2009	13 October 2009	Labour
	Chris Bryant (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State)		13 October 2009	12 May 2010	Labour
	David Lidington		12 May 2010	Incumbent	Conservative		Cameron	Hague
								Hammond

See also

• Minister of State for European Affairs: the counterpart in the Republic of Ireland
• Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (France)