Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development

The shadow cabinet minister for international development is the lead spokesperson for the United Kingdom's Official Opposition on issues related to international aid, most notably to the Third World. The shadow cabinet minister holds the minister of state for development and Africa to account in Parliament. The role previously had no counterpart in the Government between 2020 and 2022 after the Department for International Development (DFID) and the role of international development secretary was abolished by the second Johnson government in 2020. The position was renamed from shadow secretary of state for international development in November 2021 and placed under the shadow foreign secretary.

Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development
Incumbent Harriet Baldwin since 19th July 2024
Appointer	Leader of the Opposition
Website	The Shadow Cabinet

The shadow minister also holds the foreign secretary and other FCDO ministers to account in Parliament. DFID was abolished in 2020 but Keir Starmer retained the role in his Shadow Cabinet.

Before Tony Blair established DfID in his first government after coming to power in 1997, there was a minister for overseas development ("minister of" before 1970) who was a part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Since 1989, the shadow minister or shadow secretary has usually been a member of the shadow cabinet.

Shadow ministers and secretaries

Shadow Minister for Overseas Development
Name			Took office	Left office	Political party	Leader
	Robert Carr		October 1964	October 1965	Conservative	Alec Douglas-Home
	Christopher Chataway		October 1965	31 March 1966	Conservative	Edward Heath
	Richard Wood		April 1966	c. October 1967	Conservative
	Bernard Braine		c. October 1967	15 June 1970	Conservative
	Judith Hart		19 June 1970	4 March 1974	Labour	Harold Wilson
	Richard Wood		4 March 1974	18 February 1975	Conservative	Edward Heath
	Unclear; possibly none[n 1]		18 February 1975	15 January 1976	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher
	Richard Luce		15 January 1976	4 May 1979	Conservative
	Judith Hart		4 May 1979	8 December 1980	Labour	James Callaghan
	Frank McElhone		8 December 1980	22 September 1982	Labour	Michael Foot
	Guy Barnett		24 November 1982	31 October 1983	Labour
	Stuart Holland		31 October 1983	13 July 1987	Labour	Neil Kinnock
	Unclear		13 July 1987	2 November 1989	Labour
	Ann Clwyd		2 November 1989[1]	18 July 1992	Labour
	Michael Meacher		18 July 1992[2]	21 October 1993	Labour	John Smith
	Tom Clarke		21 October 1993[3]	20 October 1994	Labour
						Margaret Beckett
	Joan Lestor		20 October 1994[4]	October 1996	Labour	Tony Blair
	Clare Short		25 July 1996[5]	2 May 1997	Labour
Shadow Secretary of State for International Development
Name			Took office	Left office	Political party	Leader
	The Baroness Chalker of Wallasey[n 2]		2 May 1997	30 June 1997	Conservative	John Major
	Alastair Goodlad		30 June 1997[7]	1 June 1998	Conservative	William Hague
	Gary Streeter		1 June 1998[8]	14 September 2001	Conservative
	Caroline Spelman		14 September 2001[9]	10 November 2003	Conservative	Iain Duncan Smith
	John Bercow		10 November 2003[10]	8 September 2004	Conservative	Michael Howard
	Alan Duncan		8 September 2004[11]	10 May 2005	Conservative
	Andrew Mitchell		10 May 2005[12][13]	11 May 2010	Conservative
	Douglas Alexander		11 May 2010[n 3]	8 October 2010	Labour	Harriet Harman
	Harriet Harman		8 October 2010[16]	7 October 2011	Labour	Ed Miliband
	Ivan Lewis		7 October 2011[17]	7 October 2013	Labour
	Jim Murphy		7 October 2013[18]	2 November 2014	Labour
	Mary Creagh		5 November 2014[19]	12 September 2015	Labour
						Harriet Harman
	Diane Abbott		13 September 2015[20]	27 June 2016	Labour	Jeremy Corbyn
	Kate Osamor		27 June 2016[21]	1 December 2018	Labour & Co-op
	Dan Carden		1 December 2018	6 April 2020	Labour
	Preet Gill		6 April 2020	29 November 2021	Labour & Co-op	Keir Starmer
Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development
Name			Took office	Left office	Political party	Leader
	Preet Gill		29 November 2021	4 September 2023	Labour & Co-op	Keir Starmer
	Lisa Nandy		4 September 2023	5 July 2024	Labour

Notes

1. Richard Wood replied for the Opposition in a debate on 24 February, six days after Margaret Thatcher named her Shadow Cabinet. Various other Conservatives, including the Reginald Maudling (as Shadow Foreign Secretary), Peter Tapsell, and John Davies (as Shadow Foreign Secretary) replied in debates on overseas development thereafter.
2. John Major's interim Shadow Cabinet consisted of those members of his Cabinet who retained their seats at the 1997 general election, but there had been no International Development Secretary, and the Overseas Development Minister was not in Cabinet. According to the Shadow Cabinet list, Major himself was responsible for Foreign Affairs (the department responsible for development in his government), but ministers could "call on the services of Members who served under them in Government".^[6] It is unknown whether Major called on the service of Baroness Chalker of Wallasey, the last Minister for Overseas Development, during the approximately two months before William Hague was elected leader. Therefore it is unclear whether the office was vacant or non-existent, or whether Major or Chalker should be considered to have held it.
3. Under Labour Party rules, ministers shadow their former roles when the party enters opposition.^[14] Alexander was International Development Secretary when Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister.^[15]

References

1. "Kinnock splits his top Treasury team". The Glasgow Herald. 2 November 1989. p. 1.
2. Timmins, Nicholas (25 July 1992). "Smith revamps Shadow Cabinet: Nicholas Timmins analyses the Labour line-up and looks at the backgrounds of the newcomers". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
3. Linton, Martin (22 October 1993). "Women's lists 'not illegal': The New Shadow Cabinet". The Guardian. Manchester. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
4. Timms, Nicholas (21 October 1994). "Blair uses reshuffle to put own sta on Shadow Cabinet: Brown stays as shadow Chancellor—Cook takes foreign affairs—Straw is shadow Home Secretary—Beckett moves to health". The Independent. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
5. Rentoul, John (26 July 1996). "A rare national treasure in peril". The Independent.
6. "Opposition Front Bench Spokespersons as at 13 May 1997 (Interim List)". Weekly Information Bulletin. House of Commons Information Office. 17 May 1997.
7. "Hague Makes Final Appointments". Politics 97. BBC News. 24 June 1997. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
8. "Hague reshuffles shadow cabinet". 1 June 1998. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
9. "Eurosceptics prosper under Duncan Smith". BBC News. 14 September 2001. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
10. "Howard unveils his top team". BBC News. 10 November 2003. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
11. "Howard expands shadow cabinet in reshuffle". The Telegraph. 8 September 2005. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
12. "Reshuffle deals Tories mixed hand". The Scotsman. 11 May 2005. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
13. "Cameron's frontlilne team unveiled". BBC News. 8 December 2005.
14. Prince, Rosa (21 May 2010). "Mandelson and Adonis step down". The Telegraph.
15. "Douglas Alexander MP". House of Commons Information Office. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
16. Prince, Rosa (8 October 2010). "Ed Miliband unveils shocks in shadow cabinet selections". The Telegraph.
17. "Labour's Shadow Cabinet". Labour.org.uk. 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011.
18. "Goodbye to Defence. Hello to International Development". Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
19. "Labour reshuffle: Dugher and Powell promoted by ed Miliband". BBC News. 5 November 2014.
20. "Shadow Cabinet: Who's In And Who's Out?". Sky News. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
21. Jamie Grierson; Anushka Asthana (27 June 2016). "Jeremy Corbyn unveils new shadow cabinet after raft of resignations". The Guardian.