Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs


The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, also referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior Minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Foreign Secretary is a senior member of the British Cabinet.
The current Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is Dominic Raab, MP. since his appointment by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in July 2019.

Responsibilities

Corresponding to what is generally known as a foreign minister in many other countries, the Foreign Secretary's remit includes:
The official residence of the Foreign Secretary is 1 Carlton Gardens, in London. They also have the use of Chevening House, a country house in Kent, South East England. The Foreign Secretary works out of the Foreign Office in Whitehall.

History

The position of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was created in the British governmental reorganisation of 1782, in which the Northern and Southern Departments became the Foreign Office and Home Office respectively. 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 Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs into a single Department of State. The India Office was a constituent predecessor department of the Foreign Office, as were the Colonial Office and the Dominions Office. Margaret Beckett, appointed in 2006 by Tony Blair, is the only woman to have held the post.

List of Foreign Secretaries

Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs (1782–1968)

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

Post created through the merger of the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.