| United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs | |
|---|---|
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| Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | |
| Style |
|
| Type | Minister of the Crown |
| Status | |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | The Prime Minister |
| Residence |
|
| Seat | King Charles Street |
| Nominator | The Prime Minister |
| Appointer | The Monarch (on the advice of thePrime Minister) |
| Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure |
| Formation |
|
| First holder | Charles James Fox (as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) |
| Deputy | Minister of State for Development |
| Salary | £106,363 per annum (2022)[1] |
| Website | www |
Thesecretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs, commonly known as theforeign secretary, is asecretary of state in theGovernment of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for theForeign, Commonwealth and Development Office.[2] The role is one of the most senior ministers in the UK Government and is aGreat Office of State. The incumbent is a member of theCabinet of the United Kingdom andNational Security Council, and reports directly to theprime minister.
The officeholder works alongside the otherForeign Office ministers. The correspondingshadow minister is theshadow foreign secretary. TheForeign Affairs Select Committee also evaluates the secretary of state's performance.[3]
The current foreign secretary isYvette Cooper. She was appointed by Prime MinisterKeir Starmer on 5 September 2025.
In contrast to what is generally known as aforeign minister in many other countries, the foreign secretary's remit includes:
Theofficial residence of the foreign secretary is1 Carlton Gardens, inLondon.[7] The foreign secretary also has the use ofChevening House, acountry house inKent,South East England,[8] and works from the Foreign Office inWhitehall.[9]
The title ofsecretary 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 theBritish governmental reorganisation of 1782, in which theNorthern Department andSouthern Department became theForeign Office andHome Office respectively.[10] TheIndia Office was closed down in 1947. It had been a constituent predecessor department of the Foreign Office, like theColonial Office and theDominions Office.[11]
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 thesecretary of state for Commonwealth affairs into a singledepartment of state.Margaret Beckett,appointed in 2006 byTony Blair, was the first woman to hold the post.[12]
The post of secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs was created in 2020 when position holderDominic Raab absorbed the responsibilities of thesecretary of state for international development.[13]
Post created through the merger of theForeign Office and theCommonwealth Office.
Post created through the merger of theForeign and Commonwealth Office and theDepartment for International Development.
| Portrait | Name[16] (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Party | Ministry | Sovereign (Reign) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Dominic Raab MP forEsher and Walton (born 1974) | 2 September 2020 | 15 September 2021 | Conservative | Johnson II | Elizabeth II.svg) (1952–2022) | |
.jpg) | Liz Truss MP forSouth West Norfolk (born 1975) | 15 September 2021 | 6 September 2022 | Conservative | |||
.jpg) | James Cleverly MP forBraintree (born 1969) | 6 September 2022 | 13 November 2023 | Conservative | Truss | ||
Charles III.svg) (2022–present) | |||||||
| Sunak | |||||||
.jpg) | David Cameron Sits in the House of Lords (born 1966) | 13 November 2023 | 5 July 2024 | Conservative | |||
.jpg) | David Lammy MP forTottenham (born 1972) | 5 July 2024 | 5 September 2025 | Labour | Starmer | ||
.jpg) | Yvette Cooper MP forPontefract, Castleford and Knottingley (born 1969) | 5 September 2025 | Incumbent | Labour | |||
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will be grilled by the Foreign Affairs Committee over his handling of the UK's withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Day-to-day ministerial responsibility for GCHQ lies with the foreign secretary.
At the Restoration [in 1660] the practice of appointing two Secretaries of State, which was well established before the Civil War, was resumed. Apart from the modifications which were made necessary by the occasional existence of a third secretaryship, the organisation of the secretariat underwent no fundamental change from that time until the reforms of 1782 which resulted in the emergence of the Home and Foreign departments. ... English domestic affairs remained the responsibility of both Secretaries throughout the period. In the field of foreign affairs there was a division into a Northern and a Southern Department, each of which was the responsibility of one Secretary. The distinction between the two departments emerged only gradually. It was not until after 1689 that their names passed into general currency. Nevertheless the division of foreign business itself can, in its broad outlines, be detected in the early years of the reign of Charles II.
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