What is 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 United Kingdom 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 Foreign Secretary is a member of the Cabinet, and the post is considered one of the Great Offices of State. It 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 works out of the Foreign Office in Whitehall. The post's official residences are 1 Carlton Gardens in London and Chevening House in Kent.

In the Cabinet reshuffle on 5 May 2006 Margaret Beckett became the first woman to hold the post.

David Miliband was appointed to the post on 28 June 2007 by the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1782-1968)

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

¹Resigned
²Died in office
³Lord John Russell was later elevated to the Peerage as the Earl Russell
⁴Lord Stanley later succeeded to the Peerage as the Earl of Derby
⁵Defeated for election to the House of Commons

Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1968 - present)

Name		Portrait	Entered office	Left office	Political party
	Michael Stewart		17 October 1968 3	19 June 1970	Labour
	Sir Alec Douglas-Home		20 June 1970	28 February 1974	Conservative
	James Callaghan		29 February 1974	8 April 1976 1	Labour
	Anthony Crosland		9 April 1976	19 February 1977 4	Labour
	David Owen		22 February 1977 3	4 May 1979	Labour
	The Lord Carrington		5 May 1979	5 April 1982 2	Conservative
	Francis Pym		6 April 1982 5	11 June 1983 3	Conservative
	Sir Geoffrey Howe		11 June 1983 3	24 July 1989 5	Conservative
	John Major		24 July 1989 3	26 October 1989 5	Conservative
	Douglas Hurd		26 October 1989 5	5 July 1995 2	Conservative
	Malcolm Rifkind		5 July 1995 5	2 May 1997	Conservative
	Robin Cook		2 May 1997	8 June 2001 3	Labour
	Jack Straw		8 June 2001 3	5 May 2006	Labour
	Margaret Beckett		5 May 2006 5	28 June 2007	Labour
	David Miliband		28 June 2007 3	present	Labour

1 Became Prime Minister
2 Resigned
3 Cabinet Reshuffled
4 Died in Office
5 Change of Ministry

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

Great Offices of State of the United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling Foreign Secretary David Miliband Home Secretary Jacqui Smith