Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

"Foreign Secretary" redirects here. For equivalent positions in other countries, see Foreign minister.

United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Flag of the United Kingdom
Incumbent The Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP since 14 July 2014
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Style	The Right Honourable (Formal) Foreign Secretary or Name (Informal)
Member of	British Cabinet Privy Council National Security Council Council of the European Union
Reports to	The Prime Minister
Seat	Westminster, London
Appointer	The British Monarch on advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	No fixed term
Inaugural holder	Charles James Fox
Formation	27 March 1782
Website	www.gov.uk

Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Foreign Secretary) is a senior official as one of the Great Offices of State within Her Majesty's Government and head of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The office is a British Cabinet level position.

The Secretary of State's remit includes: relations with foreign countries, matters pertaining to the Commonwealth of Nations and the overseas territories in addition to the promotion of British interests abroad.

The Foreign Secretary also has responsibility for the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), which are directly accountable to this person.

Position

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 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 reshuffle, Margaret Beckett became the first (and only) woman to hold the post.

The current Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is The Right Honourable Philip Hammond MP.

List of Foreign Secretaries

Colour key (for political parties)
Whig   Tory   Conservative   Liberal   Labour   National Labour   National Liberal

Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs, 1782–1968

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Charles James Fox		27 March 1782	5 July 1782 (resigned)	Whig		The Marquess of Rockingham
	The Lord Grantham		13 July 1782	2 April 1783	Whig		The Earl of Shelburne
	Charles James Fox		2 April 1783	19 December 1783	Whig		The Duke of Portland (Fox-North Coalition)
	The Earl Temple		19 December 1783	23 December 1783	Tory		William Pitt the Younger
	Marquess of Carmarthen (The Duke of Leeds from 1789)		23 December 1783	May 1791 (resigned)	Tory
	The Lord Grenville		8 June 1791	20 February 1801	Tory
	Lord Hawkesbury (subsequently The Lord Hawkesbury from 1803 and subsequently The Earl of Liverpool from 1808)		20 February 1801	14 May 1804	Tory		Henry Addington
	The Lord Harrowby		14 May 1804	11 January 1805	Tory		William Pitt the Younger
	The Lord Mulgrave		11 January 1805	7 February 1806	Tory
	Charles James Fox		7 February 1806	13 September 1806 (died)	Whig		The Lord Grenville (Ministry of All the Talents)
	Viscount Howick (subsequently The Earl Grey from 1807)		24 September 1806	25 March 1807	Whig
	George Canning		25 March 1807	11 October 1809 (resigned)	Tory		The Duke of Portland
	The Earl Bathurst		11 October 1809	6 December 1809	Tory
	The Marquess Wellesley		6 December 1809	4 March 1812			Spencer Perceval
	Viscount Castlereagh		4 March 1812	12 August 1822 (died)	Tory		The Earl of Liverpool
	George Canning		16 September 1822	30 April 1827	Tory
	The Earl of Dudley		30 April 1827	2 June 1828	Tory		George Canning
							The Viscount Goderich
	The Earl of Aberdeen		2 June 1828	22 November 1830	Tory		The Duke of Wellington
	The Viscount Palmerston		22 November 1830	14 November 1834	Whig		The Earl Grey
							The Viscount Melbourne
	The Duke of Wellington		14 November 1834	18 April 1835	Tory		The Duke of Wellington
							Sir Robert Peel
	The Viscount Palmerston		18 April 1835	2 September 1841	Whig		The Viscount Melbourne
	The Earl of Aberdeen		2 September 1841	6 July 1846	Conservative		Sir Robert Peel
	The Viscount Palmerston		6 July 1846	26 December 1851	Whig		Lord John Russell
	The Earl Granville		26 December 1851	27 February 1852	Whig
	The Earl of Malmesbury	75px	27 February 1852	28 December 1852	Conservative		The 14th Earl of Derby
	Lord John Russell		28 December 1852	21 February 1853	Whig		The Earl of Aberdeen (Coalition)
	The Earl of Clarendon		21 February 1853	26 February 1858	Whig
							The Viscount Palmerston
	The Earl of Malmesbury	75px	26 February 1858	18 June 1859	Conservative		The 14th Earl of Derby
	Lord John Russell (The Earl Russell from 1861)		18 June 1859	3 November 1865	Liberal		The Viscount Palmerston
	The Earl of Clarendon		3 November 1865	6 July 1866	Liberal		The Earl Russell
	Lord Stanley (subsequently The (15th) Earl of Derby from 1869)		6 July 1866	9 December 1868	Conservative		The 14th Earl of Derby
							Benjamin Disraeli
	The Earl of Clarendon		9 December 1868	6 July 1870	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
	The Earl Granville		6 July 1870	21 February 1874	Liberal
	The 15th Earl of Derby		21 February 1874	2 April 1878	Conservative		Benjamin Disraeli
	The Marquess of Salisbury		2 April 1878	28 April 1880	Conservative
	The Earl Granville		28 April 1880	24 June 1885	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
	The Marquess of Salisbury		24 June 1885	6 February 1886	Conservative		The Marquess of Salisbury
	The Earl of Rosebery		6 February 1886	3 August 1886	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
	The Earl of Iddesleigh		3 August 1886	12 January 1887 (died)	Conservative		The Marquess of Salisbury
	The Marquess of Salisbury		14 January 1887	11 August 1892	Conservative
	The Earl of Rosebery		18 August 1892	11 March 1894	Liberal		William Ewart Gladstone
	The Earl of Kimberley		11 March 1894	21 June 1895	Liberal		The Earl of Rosebery
	The Marquess of Salisbury		29 June 1895	12 November 1900	Conservative		The Marquess of Salisbury (Unionist Coalition)
	The Marquess of Lansdowne		12 November 1900	4 December 1905	Liberal Unionist		The Marquess of Salisbury (Unionist Coalition)
							Arthur Balfour (Unionist Coalition)
	Sir Edward Grey, Bt		10 December 1905	10 December 1916	Liberal		Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
							H. H. Asquith (Coalition from 1915)
	Arthur Balfour		10 December 1916	23 October 1919	Conservative		David Lloyd George (Coalition)
	The Earl Curzon of Kedleston (The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston from 1921)		23 October 1919	22 January 1924	Conservative
							Andrew Bonar Law
							Stanley Baldwin
	Ramsay MacDonald		22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	Sir Austen Chamberlain		6 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin
	Arthur Henderson		7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	The Marquess of Reading		25 August 1931	5 November 1931	Liberal		Ramsay MacDonald (1st National Min.)
	Sir John Simon	75px	5 November 1931	7 June 1935	Liberal National		Ramsay MacDonald (2nd National Min.)
	Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt		7 June 1935	18 December 1935 (resigned)	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin (3rd National Min.)
	Anthony Eden	75px	22 December 1935	20 February 1938 (resigned)	Conservative
							Neville Chamberlain (4th National Min.; War Coalition)
	The Viscount Halifax		21 February 1938	22 December 1940	Conservative
	Anthony Eden	75px	22 December 1940	26 July 1945	Conservative		Winston Churchill (War Coalition)
	Ernest Bevin	75px	27 July 1945	9 March 1951	Labour		Clement Attlee
	Herbert Morrison	75px	9 March 1951	26 October 1951	Labour
	Anthony Eden	75px	28 October 1951	7 April 1955	Conservative		Sir Winston Churchill
	Harold Macmillan		7 April 1955	20 December 1955	Conservative		Sir Anthony Eden
	Selwyn Lloyd	75px	20 December 1955	27 July 1960	Conservative
							Harold Macmillan
	The Earl of Home (later Sir Alec Douglas-Home)		27 July 1960	20 October 1963	Conservative
	R. A. Butler	75px	20 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative		Sir Alec Douglas-Home
	Patrick Gordon Walker	75px	16 October 1964	22 January 1965 (lost seat 1964)	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Michael Stewart	75px	22 January 1965	11 August 1966	Labour
	George Brown	75px	11 August 1966	16 March 1968 (resigned)	Labour
	Michael Stewart	75px	16 March 1968	17 October 1968	Labour

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

Post created through the merger of the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Michael Stewart	75px	17 October 1968	19 June 1970	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Sir Alec Douglas-Home		20 June 1970	4 March 1974	Conservative		Edward Heath
	James Callaghan		5 March 1974	5 April 1976	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Anthony Crosland		8 April 1976	19 February 1977 (died)	Labour		James Callaghan
	David Owen	75px	22 February 1977	4 May 1979	Labour
	The Lord Carrington	75px	5 May 1979	5 April 1982 (resigned)	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
	Francis Pym	75px	6 April 1982	11 June 1983	Conservative
	Sir Geoffrey Howe	75px	11 June 1983	24 July 1989	Conservative
	John Major		24 July 1989	26 October 1989	Conservative
	Douglas Hurd	75px	26 October 1989	5 July 1995	Conservative
							John Major
	Malcolm Rifkind		5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative
	Robin Cook	75px	2 May 1997	8 June 2001	Labour		Tony Blair
	Jack Straw	75px	8 June 2001	5 May 2006	Labour
	Margaret Beckett	75px	5 May 2006	28 June 2007	Labour
	David Miliband		28 June 2007	11 May 2010	Labour		Gordon Brown
	William Hague	75px	11 May 2010	14 July 2014	Conservative		David Cameron (Coalition)
	Philip Hammond		14 July 2014	Incumbent	Conservative
							David Cameron (II)

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