Home Secretary.html



Secretary of State for the Home Department
Incumbent: Jacqui Smith Took office: 28 June 2007
Style:	The Right Honourable
Appointed by:	Gordon Brown as Prime Minister
First :	William Petty
Formation:	27 March 1782

United Kingdom

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United Kingdom

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The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is one of the Great Offices of State. The Home Secretary is responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the whole of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland).

The remit of the UK ministry includes policing, national security, immigration, and matters of citizenship.

The current Home Secretary is Jacqui Smith.

Responsibilities

The Home Secretary is currently responsible for:

• Police
• Crime-fighting
• Terrorism
• Citizenship
• Identity cards and passports

Constitutional & Legal Affairs

The Home Secretary has no responsibility for the Courts of England and Wales. Unlike many other governments issues usually dealt with by a Department of Justice, the British government has three separate departments: The Home Office (as specified above), the Attorney General's Office and the Ministry of Justice, headed by the Secretary of State for Justice, for legal, judicial and civil rights issues.

Development of other government departments

Because the Home Office was initially the primary government department with responsibility for domestic affairs, all subsequent domestic departments have effectively been created by taking responsibilities from the Home Office. Until 2001 this left a variety of miscellaneous tasks that sat apart from the law and order functions of the department, such as British Summer Time or wild birds in Scotland.¹ However, on the appointment of David Blunkett as Home Secretary, these functions - and others such as responsibility for the Fire Brigade - have been reallocated to other departments to give the position a focus solely on law and order.

Home Secretaries since 1782

Name		Portrait	Entered office	Left office	Political party	Subsequent post
	The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Shelburne		27 March 1782	10 July 1782	Whig	Prime Minister of Great Britain
	The Rt. Hon. Thomas Townsend MP		10 July 1782	2 April 1783	Whig	Leader of the House of Commons
	The Rt. Hon. Lord North KG MP		2 April 1783	19 December 1783	Tory	None
	The Rt. Hon. The Earl Temple		19 December 1783	23 December 1783	Whig	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
	The Rt. Hon. The Lord Sydney		23 December 1783	5 June 1789	Whig	None
	The Rt. Hon. The Lord Grenville		5 June 1789	8 June 1791	Whig	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
	The Rt. Hon. Henry Dundas MP		8 June 1791	11 July 1794	Tory	President of the Board of Control (1793–) and Secretary of State for War
	His Grace The Duke of Portland		11 July 1794	30 July 1801	Tory	Lord President of the Council
	The Rt. Hon. Lord Pelham		30 July 1801	17 August 1803	Whig	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
	The Rt. Hon. Charles Yorke MP		17 August 1803	12 May 1804	Tory	First Lord of the Admiralty (1810–)
	The Rt. Hon. The Lord Hawkesbury		12 May 1804	5 February 1806	Tory	Secretary of State for the Home Department (1807–)
	The Rt. Hon. The Earl Spencer		5 February 1806	25 March 1807	Whig	None
	The Rt. Hon. The Lord Hawkesbury (inherited his father's peerage in 1808, becoming The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Liverpool)		25 March 1807	1 November 1809	Tory	Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
	The Rt. Hon. Richard Ryder MP		1 November 1809	8 June 1812	Tory	None
	The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Sidmouth		11 June 1812	17 January 1822	Tory	None
	The Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bt. MP		17 January 1822	10 April 1827	Tory	Secretary of State for the Home Department (1828–)
	The Rt. Hon. William Bourne MP		30 April 1827	16 July 1827	Tory	First Commissioner of Woods and Forests
	The Most Hon. The Marquess of Lansdowne		16 July 1827	22 January 1828	Whig	Lord President of the Council (1830–)
	The Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bt. MP		26 January 1828	22 November 1830	Tory	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–)
	The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Melbourne		22 November 1830	16 July 1834	Whig	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
	The Rt. Hon. Viscount Duncannon		19 July 1834	15 November 1834	Whig	Lord Privy Seal and First Commissioner of Woods and Forests
	His Grace The Duke of Wellington KG KP GCB GCH		15 November 1834	15 December 1834	Tory	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of Lords
	The Rt. Hon. Henry Goulburn MP		15 December 1834	18 April 1835	Conservative	Chancellor of the Exchequer (1841–)
	The Rt. Hon. Lord John Russell		18 April 1835	30 August 1839	Whig	Leader of the House of Commons and Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
	The Most Hon. The Marquess of Normanby		30 August 1839	30 August 1841	Whig	None
	Sir James Graham, 2nd Baronet		6 September 1841	30 June 1846	Conservative
	Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet		8 July 1846	23 February 1852	Whig
	Spencer Horatio Walpole		27 February 1852	19 December 1852	Conservative
	The Viscount Palmerstone		28 December 1852	6 February 1855	Whig
	Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet		8 February 1855	26 February 1858	Whig
	Spencer Horatio Walpole		26 February 1858	3 March 1859	Conservative
	Thomas H. Sotheron-Estcourt		3 March 1859	18 June 1859	Conservative
	Sir George Cornewall Lewis, 2nd Baronet		18 June 1859	25 July 1861	Liberal
	Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet		25 July 1861	28 June 1866	Liberal
	Spencer Horatio Walpole		6 July 1866	17 May 1867	Conservative
	Gathorne Hardy		17 May 1867	3 December 1868	Conservative
	Henry Bruce		9 December 1868	9 August 1873	Liberal
	Robert Lowe		9 August 1873	20 February 1874	Liberal
	Richard Cross		21 February 1874	23 April 1880	Conservative
	Sir William Harcourt		28 April 1880	23 June 1885	Liberal
	Richard Cross		24 June 1885	1 February 1886	Conservative
	Hugh Childers		6 February 1886	25 July 1886	Liberal
	Henry Matthews		3 August 1886	15 August 1892	Conservative
	H. H. Asquith		18 August 1892	25 June 1895	Liberal
	Sir Matthew Ridley		29 June 1895	12 November 1900	Conservative
	Charles Ritchie		12 November 1900	12 July 1902	Conservative
	Aretas Akers-Douglas		12 July 1902	5 December 1905	Conservative
	Herbert Gladstone		11 December 1905	19 February 1910	Liberal
	Winston Churchill		19 February 1910	24 October 1911	Liberal
	Reginald McKenna		24 October 1911	27 May 1915	Liberal
	Sir John Simon		27 May 1915	12 January 1916	Liberal
	Herbert Samuel		12 January 1916	7 December 1916	Liberal
	George Cave, 1st Viscount Cave		11 December 1916	14 January 1919	Conservative
	Edward Shortt		14 January 1919	23 October 1922	Liberal
	William Bridgeman		25 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative
	Arthur Henderson		23 January 1924	4 November 1924	Labour
	Sir William Joynson-Hicks		7 November 1924	5 June 1929	Conservative
	J. R. Clynes		8 June 1929	26 August 1931	Labour
	Sir Herbert Samuel		26 August 1931	1 October 1932	Liberal
	Sir John Gilmour		1 October 1932	7 June 1935	Unionist
	The Rt. Hon. Sir John Simon MP		7 June 1935	28 May 1937	National Liberal
	The Rt. Hon. Sir Samuel Hoare MP		28 May 1937	3 September 1939	Conservative
	The Rt. Hon. Sir John Anderson MP		4 September 1939	4 October 1940	Conservative
	Herbert Morrison		4 October 1940	23 May 1945	Labour
	The Rt. Hon. Sir Donald Somervell MP		25 May 1945	26 July 1945	Conservative
	James Chuter Ede		3 August 1945	26 October 1951	Labour
	Sir David Maxwell Fyfe		27 October 1951	19 October 1954	Conservative
	Gwilym Lloyd George		19 October 1954	14 January 1957	Conservative
	The Rt. Hon. Rab Butler MP		14 January 1957	13 July 1962	Conservative
	Henry Brooke		14 July 1962	16 October 1964	Conservative
	The Rt. Hon Frank Soskice MP		18 October 1964	23 December 1965	Labour
	The Rt. Hon. Roy Jenkins MP		23 December 1965	30 November 1967	Labour
	The Rt. Hon. James Callaghan MP		30 November 1967	19 June 1970	Labour
	The Rt. Hon. Reginauld Maudling MP		20 June 1970	18 July 1972	Conservative
	Robert Carr		18 July 1972	4 March 1974	Conservative
	Roy Jenkins		5 March 1974	10 September 1976	Labour
	Merlyn Rees		10 September 1976	4 May 1979	Labour
	William Whitelaw		4 May 1979	11 June 1983	Conservative
	Leon Brittan		11 June 1983	2 September 1985	Conservative
	Douglas Hurd		2 September 1985	26 October 1989	Conservative
	David Waddington		24 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative
	Kenneth Baker		28 November 1990	11 April 1992	Conservative
	Kenneth Clarke		10 April 1992	27 May 1993	Conservative
	Michael Howard		27 May 1993	2 May 1997	Conservative
	Jack Straw		2 May 1997	8 June 2001	Labour
	David Blunkett		8 June 2001	15 December 2004	Labour
	Charles Clarke		15 December 2004	5 May 2006	Labour
	John Reid		5 May 2006	27 June 2007	Labour
	Jacqui Smith		28 June 2007	present	Labour

References

1. ^ Roy Jenkins Churchill (Macmillan, 2001), page 170 ISBN 0-333-78290-9

Related pages

Related postings in other countries:

General terms

• Attorney General
• Interior minister

European positions

• Attorney General for England and Wales
• Ireland
  • Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
  • Attorney General of Ireland

North and Central American positions

• Minister of Justice (Canada)
• Attorney General of Ontario and Solicitor General of Ontario
• Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness - acts as Solicitor General of Canada
• United States Attorney General
• United States Secretary of Homeland Security
• Attorney General (Mexico)

Asian positions

• Minister for Home Affairs (India)
• Indian Attorney General
• Secretary for Justice (Hong Kong) - formerly Attorney General
• Secretary for Security (Hong Kong)

Australasian positions

• Attorney-General of Australia
• Attorney-General (New Zealand)

See also

• Cabinet (government)
• Departments of the United Kingdom Government
• Ministry of Justice
• List of British ministries
• Great Offices of State
• Shadow Home Secretary

External links

• Home Office website
• Electronic list of ministerial responsibilities
• Her Majesty's Government (Cabinet Ministers)
• Full list of Her Majesty's Government (which includes various junior Ministers too).
• Ministry of Justice

v • d • e Home Secretaries of the United Kingdom of Great Britain Shelburne · Sydney · North · Temple · Sydney · Grenville · Dundas · Portland of the United Kingdom Pelham · Yorke · Hawkesbury · Spencer · Liverpool · Ryder · Sidmouth · Peel  · Bourne · Lansdowne · Peel · Melbourne · Duncannon · Wellington · Goulburn · Russell · Normanby · Graham · Grey · Walpole · Palmerston · Grey · Walpole · Sotheron-Estcourt · Cornewall Lewis · Grey · Walpole · Hardy · Bruce · Lowe · Cross · Harcourt · Cross · Childers · Matthews · Asquith · Ridley · Ritchie · Akers-Douglas · Gladstone · Churchill · McKenna · Simon · Samuel · Cave · Shortt · Bridgeman · Henderson · Joynson-Hicks  · Clynes · Samuel · Gilmour · Simon · Hoare · Anderson · Morrison · Somervell · Ede · Fyfe · Lloyd George · Butler · Brooke · Soskice · Jenkins · Callaghan · Maudling · Carr · Jenkins · Rees · Whitelaw · Brittan · Hurd · Waddington · Baker · Clarke · Howard · Straw · Blunkett · Clarke · Reid · Smith

v • d • e Great Offices of State of the United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling Foreign Secretary David Miliband Home Secretary Jacqui Smith