The secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs, commonly known as the foreign secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The role is one of the most senior ministers in the UK Government and is a Great Office of State. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom and National Security Council, and reports directly to the prime minister.

The officeholder works alongside the other Foreign Office ministers. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow foreign secretary. The Foreign Affairs Select Committee also evaluates the secretary of state's performance.

The current foreign secretary is Ed Miliband. He was appointed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham on 20 July 2026.

Responsibilities The foreign secretary is responsible for overseeing the United Kingdom's foreign policy and international relations. The role broadly corresponds to that of a foreign minister in many other countries, while also encompassing additional responsibilities.

The foreign secretary's remit includes: Conducting relations with foreign states and international organisations Promoting British interests abroad Overseeing matters pertaining to the Commonwealth of Nations and the British Overseas Territories Responsibility for the activities of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), including ministerial authorisation of certain intelligence operations

Residence The official residence of the foreign secretary is 1 Carlton Gardens in London. The foreign secretary also has the use of Chevening House, a country house in Kent.

History

The title of secretary of state in the government of England dates back to the early 17th century. The position of secretary of state for foreign affairs was created in the British governmental reorganisation of 1782, in which the Northern Department and Southern Department became the Foreign Office and Home Office respectively. The India Office was closed down in 1947. It had been a constituent predecessor department of the Foreign Office, like the Colonial Office and the Dominions Office.

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 the secretary of state for commonwealth affairs into a single department of state. Margaret Beckett, appointed in 2006 by Tony Blair, was the first woman to hold 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. The position was incorporated as a corporation sole later that year.

The deputy secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs, also known as the deputy foreign secretary, was a minister of state position from 2023 to 2024, with responsibility to represent the foreign secretary in the House of Commons. It was created due to prime minister Rishi Sunak appointing former prime minister David Cameron a life peer in November 2023 to serve as foreign secretary from the House of Lords. Andrew Mitchell was the only holder of the office.

List of foreign secretaries

Secretaries of state for foreign affairs (1782–1968) + Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Portrait Name Term of office Party Ministry Monarch Charles James Fox 27 March 1782 5 July 1782 Whig Rockingham II George III Thomas Robinson2nd Baron Grantham 13 July 1782 2 April 1783 Whig Shelburne Charles James Fox 2 April 1783 19 December 1783 Whig Fox–North George Nugent-Temple-Grenville3rd Earl Temple 19 December 1783 23 December 1783 Tory Pitt I Francis Osborne5th Duke of Leeds 23 December 1783 May 1791 Tory William Grenville1st Baron Grenville 8 June 1791 20 February 1801 Tory Robert Jenkinson2nd Baron HawkesburyMP for Rye 20 February 1801 14 May 1804 Tory Addington Dudley Ryder2nd Baron Harrowby 14 May 1804 11 January 1805 Tory Pitt II Henry Phipps3rd Baron Mulgrave 11 January 1805 7 February 1806 Tory Charles James Fox 7 February 1806 13 September 1806 Whig All the Talents Charles GreyViscount Howick 24 September 1806 25 March 1807 Whig George Canning 25 March 1807 11 October 1809 Tory Portland II Henry Bathurst3rd Earl Bathurst 11 October 1809 6 December 1809 Tory Perceval Richard Wellesley1st Marquess Wellesley 6 December 1809 4 March 1812 Independent Robert Stewart2nd Marquess of Londonderry MP for 3 constituencies respectively 4 March 1812 12 August 1822 Tory Liverpool George IV George Canning 16 September 1822 30 April 1827 Tory John Ward1st Earl of Dudley 30 April 1827 2 June 1828 Tory Canning Goderich Wellington–Peel George Hamilton-Gordon4th Earl of Aberdeen 2 June 1828 22 November 1830 Tory William IV Henry John Temple3rd Viscount PalmerstonMP for 3 constituencies respectively 22 November 1830 14 November 1834 Whig Grey Melbourne I Arthur Wellesley1st Duke of Wellington 14 November 1834 18 April 1835 Tory Wellington Caretaker Conservative Peel I Henry John Temple3rd Viscount PalmerstonMP for Tiverton 18 April 1835 2 September 1841 Whig Melbourne II Victoria George Hamilton-Gordon4th Earl of Aberdeen 2 September 1841 6 July 1846 Conservative Peel II Henry John Temple3rd Viscount PalmerstonMP for Tiverton 6 July 1846 26 December 1851 Whig Russell I Granville Leveson-Gower2nd Earl Granville 26 December 1851 27 February 1852 Whig James Howard Harris3rd Earl of Malmesbury 27 February 1852 28 December 1852 Conservative Who? Who? Lord John Russell 28 December 1852 21 February 1853 Whig Aberdeen George Villiers4th Earl of Clarendon 21 February 1853 26 February 1858 Whig Palmerston I James Howard Harris3rd Earl of Malmesbury 26 February 1858 18 June 1859 Conservative Derby–Disraeli II John Russell1st Earl Russell 18 June 1859 3 November 1865 Liberal Palmerston II George Villiers4th Earl of Clarendon 3 November 1865 6 July 1866 Liberal Russell II Edward StanleyLord StanleyMP for King's Lynn 6 July 1866 9 December 1868 Conservative Derby–Disraeli III George Villiers4th Earl of Clarendon 9 December 1868 6 July 1870 Liberal Gladstone I Granville Leveson-Gower2nd Earl Granville 6 July 1870 21 February 1874 Liberal Edward Stanley15th Earl of Derby 21 February 1874 2 April 1878 Conservative Disraeli II Robert Gascoyne-Cecil3rd Marquess of Salisbury 2 April 1878 28 April 1880 Conservative Granville Leveson-Gower2nd Earl Granville 28 April 1880 24 June 1885 Liberal Gladstone II Robert Gascoyne-Cecil3rd Marquess of Salisbury 24 June 1885 6 February 1886 Conservative Salisbury I Archibald Primrose5th Earl of Rosebery 6 February 1886 3 August 1886 Liberal Gladstone III Stafford Northcote1st Earl of Iddesleigh 3 August 1886 12 January 1887 Conservative Salisbury II Robert Gascoyne-Cecil3rd Marquess of Salisbury 14 January 1887 11 August 1892 Conservative Archibald Primrose5th Earl of Rosebery 18 August 1892 11 March 1894 Liberal Gladstone IV John Wodehouse1st Earl of Kimberley 11 March 1894 21 June 1895 Liberal Rosebery Robert Gascoyne-Cecil3rd Marquess of Salisbury 29 June 1895 12 November 1900 Conservative Salisbury Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice5th Marquess of Lansdowne 12 November 1900 4 December 1905 Liberal Unionist Edward VII Balfour Sir Edward Grey, 3rd Bt.MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed 10 December 1905 10 December 1916 Liberal Campbell-Bannerman Asquith George V Asquith Coalition Arthur BalfourMP for the City of London 10 December 1916 23 October 1919 Conservative Lloyd George George Curzon1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston 23 October 1919 22 January 1924 Conservative Law Baldwin I Ramsay MacDonald 22 January 1924 3 November 1924 Labour MacDonald I Austen Chamberlain 6 November 1924 4 June 1929 Conservative Baldwin II Arthur Henderson 7 June 1929 24 August 1931 Labour MacDonald II Rufus Isaacs1st Marquess of Reading 25 August 1931 5 November 1931 Liberal National I Sir John SimonMP for Spen Valley 5 November 1931 7 June 1935 Liberal National National II Sir Samuel Hoare, 2nd Bt.MP for Chelsea 7 June 1935 18 December 1935 Conservative National III Anthony Eden 22 December 1935 20 February 1938 Conservative Edward VIII George VI National IV Edward Wood3rd Viscount Halifax 21 February 1938 22 December 1940 Conservative Chamberlain War Churchill War Anthony Eden 22 December 1940 26 July 1945 Conservative Churchill Caretaker Ernest Bevin 27 July 1945 9 March 1951 Labour Attlee Herbert Morrison 9 March 1951 26 October 1951 Labour Anthony Eden 28 October 1951 7 April 1955 Conservative Churchill III Elizabeth II Harold Macmillan 7 April 1955 20 December 1955 Conservative Eden Selwyn Lloyd 20 December 1955 27 July 1960 Conservative Macmillan Alec Douglas-Home14th Earl of Home 27 July 1960 18 October 1963 Conservative Richard Austen Butler 20 October 1963 16 October 1964 Conservative Douglas-Home Patrick Gordon Walker 16 October 1964 22 January 1965 Labour Wilson Michael Stewart 22 January 1965 11 August 1966 Labour George Brown 11 August 1966 16 March 1968 Labour Michael Stewart 16 March 1968 17 October 1968 Labour

Died in office.

Secretaries of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs (1968–2020) Post created through the merger of the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.

+ Secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs Portrait NameTerm of office Party Ministry Sovereign Michael Stewart 17 October 1968 19 June 1970 Labour Wilson Elizabeth II Alec Douglas-Home 20 June 1970 4 March 1974 Conservative Heath James Callaghan 5 March 1974 5 April 1976 Labour Wilson Anthony Crosland 8 April 1976 19 February 1977 Labour Callaghan David Owen 22 February 1977 4 May 1979 Labour Peter Carington6th Baron Carrington 4 May 1979 5 April 1982 Conservative Thatcher I Francis Pym 6 April 1982 11 June 1983 Conservative Geoffrey Howe 11 June 1983 24 July 1989 Conservative Thatcher II Thatcher III John Major 24 July 1989 26 October 1989 Conservative Douglas Hurd 26 October 1989 5 July 1995 Conservative Major I Major II Malcolm Rifkind 5 July 1995 2 May 1997 Conservative Robin Cook 2 May 1997 8 June 2001 Labour Blair I Jack Straw 8 June 2001 5 May 2006 Labour Blair II Blair III Margaret Beckett 5 May 2006 28 June 2007 Labour David Miliband 28 June 2007 11 May 2010 Labour Brown William Hague 12 May 2010 14 July 2014 Conservative Cameron–Clegg Philip Hammond 14 July 2014 13 July 2016 Conservative Cameron II Boris Johnson 13 July 2016 9 July 2018 Conservative May I May II Jeremy Hunt 9 July 2018 24 July 2019 Conservative Dominic Raab 24 July 2019 2 September 2020 Conservative Johnson I Johnson II

Secretaries of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs (2020–present) Post created through the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.

+ Portrait NameTerm of office Party Ministry Sovereign Dominic Raab 2 September 2020 15 September 2021 Conservative Johnson II Elizabeth II Liz Truss 15 September 2021 6 September 2022 Conservative James Cleverly 6 September 2022 13 November 2023 Conservative Truss Charles III(2022–present) Sunak David Cameron 13 November 2023 5 July 2024 Conservative David Lammy 5 July 2024 5 September 2025 Labour Starmer Yvette Cooper 5 September 2025 20 July 2026 LabourEd Miliband MP for Doncaster North(born 1969)20 July 2026IncumbentLabour Burnham

Timeline

See also Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations Secretary of State for the Colonies Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs Ministry of foreign affairs Great Offices of State

References

Further reading Cecil, Algernon. British Foreign Secretaries, 1807–1916: Studies in Personality and Policy (1927). pp. 89–130. online