Shadow Foreign Secretary

The shadow secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, commonly called the shadow foreign secretary, is a position within the UK official opposition shadow cabinet that deals mainly with issues surrounding the Foreign Office. If elected, the person serving as shadow foreign secretary may be designated to serve as the new foreign secretary.

Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Incumbent Dame Priti Patel since 4 November 2024
Shadow Cabinet
Appointer	Leader of the Opposition
Inaugural holder	Alfred Robens
Formation	14 December 1955

The current Shadow Secretary of State of foreign, commonwealth and development affairs is Priti Patel. The shadow secretary (usually with one or more junior shadow ministers) holds the secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs and other FCDO ministers to account in Parliament.

Although DFID and the role of international development secretary were abolished by the second Johnson government in 2020, the shadow secretary of state did not have responsibility for development until Lammy was appointed in November 2021. His predecessor, Lisa Nandy, served alongside the shadow secretary of state for international development, Preet Gill. This however is no longer the case after the November 2021 British shadow cabinet reshuffle.

List of shadow foreign secretaries

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Shadow Cabinet
	Alfred Robens		14 December 1955	6 November 1956	Labour	Gaitskell
	Aneurin Bevan		6 November 1956	11 October 1959	Labour
	Denis Healey		11 October 1959	2 November 1961	Labour
	Harold Wilson		2 November 1961	14 February 1963	Labour
	Patrick Gordon Walker		14 February 1963	15 October 1964	Labour	Wilson I
	R. A. Butler		15 October 1964	16 February 1965[1]	Conservative	Douglas-Home
	Reginald Maudling		16 February 1965[1]	11 November 1965	Conservative	Heath I
	Christopher Soames		11 November 1965	13 April 1966	Conservative
	Alec Douglas-Home		13 April 1966	18 June 1970	Conservative
	Denis Healey		20 June 1970	19 April 1972	Labour	Wilson II
	James Callaghan		19 April 1972	4 March 1974	Labour
	Geoffrey Rippon		4 March 1974	11 February 1975	Conservative	Heath II
	Reginald Maudling		11 February 1975	11 April 1976	Conservative	Thatcher
	John Davies		11 April 1976	6 November 1978	Conservative
	Francis Pym[a]		6 November 1978	4 May 1979	Conservative
	David Owen		4 May 1979	14 July 1979	Labour	Callaghan
	Peter Shore		14 July 1979	8 December 1980	Labour
	Denis Healey		8 December 1980	13 June 1987	Labour	Foot
						Kinnock
	Gerald Kaufman		13 June 1987	24 July 1992	Labour
	Jack Cunningham		24 July 1992	20 October 1994	Labour	Smith
						Beckett
	Robin Cook		20 October 1994	2 May 1997	Labour	Blair
	John Major		7 May 1997	11 June 1997	Conservative	Major
	Michael Howard		11 June 1997	15 June 1999	Conservative	Hague
	John Maples		15 June 1999	2 February 2000	Conservative
	Francis Maude		2 February 2000	18 September 2001	Conservative
	Michael Ancram		18 September 2001	10 May 2005	Conservative	Duncan Smith
						Howard
	Liam Fox		10 May 2005	6 December 2005	Conservative
	William Hague		6 December 2005	11 May 2010	Conservative	Cameron
	David Miliband		11 May 2010	8 October 2010	Labour	Harman I
	Yvette Cooper		8 October 2010	20 January 2011	Labour	Miliband
	Douglas Alexander		20 January 2011	11 May 2015	Labour
	Hilary Benn		11 May 2015	26 June 2016	Labour	Harman II
						Corbyn
	Emily Thornberry		27 June 2016	5 April 2020	Labour
	Lisa Nandy		5 April 2020	29 November 2021	Labour	Starmer
	David Lammy		29 November 2021	5 July 2024	Labour
	Andrew Mitchell		8 July 2024	4 November 2024	Conservative	Sunak
	Dame Priti Patel		4 November 2024	Incumbent	Conservative	Badenoch

Notes

1. Following Davies' resignation, it was announced that Pym would lead the two-day debate on Rhodesia for the Conservatives.^[2] By approximately 20 November, Norman St John-Stevas had replaced him as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, and Pym continued as Shadow Foreign Secretary through the end of the Parliament in 1979.

References

1. Baston, Lewis (2004). Reggie: The Life of Reginald Maudling. Sutton Publishing. p. 246. ISBN 0-7509-2924-3.
2. Geoffrey Parkhouse (7 November 1978). "Pym favourite for top Thatcher post". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1.