Secretary of State for International Development

The Secretary of State for International Development, also referred to as the International Development Secretary, was a senior Minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of the Department for International Development (DFID). The office formed part of the British Cabinet.

Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for International Development
Royal Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Department for International Development
Style	International Development Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (UK and the Commonwealth)
Status	Minister of the Crown
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council National Security Council
Reports to	The Prime Minister
Seat	Westminster
Appointer	The Crown on advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	At Her Majesty's Pleasure
Formation	18 October 1964
First holder	Barbara Castle
Final holder	Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Abolished	2 September 2020
Deputy	Minister of State for International Development
Website	www.dfid.gov.uk

The Department for International Development was abolished in September 2020, and Anne-Marie Trevelyan was the last Secretary of State.

The office was shadowed by the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

Responsibilities

Corresponding to what is generally known as an international development minister in many other countries, the International Development Secretary's remit included:

• Oversight of development aid
• Oversight of international development (developing countries)
• Delivery and management of spending 0.7% GNI on development
• Communications for international development[1]

History

A separate Ministry of Overseas Development was established by Harold Wilson when he came to office in 1964. The first three holders of the office served in the Cabinet, but from 29 August 1967 the office was demoted. Under Edward Heath, the Ministry was re-incorporated into the FCO on 15 October 1970. Wilson again established the Ministry in 1974, but later merged it into the FCO once again: from 10 June 1975 to 8 October 1979 the Foreign Secretary served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Minister for Overseas Development in the cabinet, while the Minister for Overseas Development held the rank of Minister of State within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Minister of State had day-to-day responsibility. Under the Labour government of the 1970s, Reg Prentice sat in the Cabinet during his term.[2] The post's last and main format was created in 1997 when the Department for International Development was made independent of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

In June 2020, it was announced the Department for International Development would be dissolved, and its operations would be merged into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The process was completed by 2 September 2020, with the last International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan remaining in place until that time.[3]

List of Ministers and Secretaries of State

Ministers of Overseas Development (1964–1970)

Minister of Overseas Development

Name		Term of office		Length of term	Party	Prime Minister
	Barbara Castle	18 October 1964	23 December 1965	1 year, 2 months and 5 days	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Anthony Greenwood	23 December 1965	11 August 1966	7 months and 19 days	Labour
	Arthur Bottomley	11 August 1966	29 August 1967	1 year and 18 days	Labour
	Reginald Prentice	29 August 1967	6 October 1969	2 years, 1 month and 7 days	Labour
	Judith Hart	6 October 1969	19 June 1970	8 months and 13 days	Labour
	Richard Wood	23 June 1970	15 October 1970	3 months and 22 days (Cont. below)	Conservative		Edward Heath

Ministers for Overseas Development (1970–1997)

Minister for Overseas Development at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Name		Term of office		Length of term	Party	Prime Minister
	Richard Wood	15 October 1970	4 March 1974	3 years, 4 months and 17 days (Cont. from above)	Conservative		Edward Heath
	Judith Hart	7 March 1974	10 June 1975	1 year, 3 months and 3 days	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Reginald Prentice	10 June 1975	21 December 1976 (resigned)	1 year, 6 months and 11 days	Labour
							James Callaghan
	Frank Judd	21 December 1976	21 February 1977	2 months	Labour
	Judith Hart	21 February 1977	4 May 1979	2 years, 2 months and 13 days	Labour
	Neil Marten	6 May 1979	6 January 1983	3 years and 8 months	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
	Tim Raison	6 January 1983	10 September 1986	3 years, 8 months and 4 days	Conservative
	Chris Patten	10 September 1986	24 July 1989	2 years, 10 months and 14 days	Conservative
	The Baroness Chalker of Wallasey ( MP for Wallasey until 1992)	24 July 1989	2 May 1997	7 years, 9 months and 8 days	Conservative
							John Major

Secretaries of State for International Development (1997–2020)

Secretary of State for International Development

Portrait		Name	Term of office		Length of term	Party	Prime Minister
		Clare Short	3 May 1997	12 May 2003	6 years and 9 days	Labour		Tony Blair
		The Baroness Amos	12 May 2003	6 October 2003	4 months and 24 days	Labour
		Hilary Benn	6 October 2003	28 June 2007	3 years, 8 months and 22 days	Labour
		Douglas Alexander	28 June 2007	11 May 2010	2 years, 10 months and 13 days	Labour		Gordon Brown
		Andrew Mitchell	12 May 2010	4 September 2012	2 years, 3 months and 23 days	Conservative		David Cameron (Coalition)
		Justine Greening	4 September 2012	14 July 2016	3 years, 10 months and 10 days	Conservative
								David Cameron (II)
		Priti Patel	14 July 2016	8 November 2017	1 year, 3 months and 25 days	Conservative		Theresa May (I)
								Theresa May (II)
		Penny Mordaunt	9 November 2017	1 May 2019	1 year, 5 months and 22 days	Conservative
		Rory Stewart	1 May 2019	24 July 2019	2 months and 23 days	Conservative
		Alok Sharma	24 July 2019	13 February 2020	6 months and 20 days	Conservative		Boris Johnson
		Anne-Marie Trevelyan	13 February 2020	2 September 2020	6 months and 20 days	Conservative

References

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/secretary-of-state-for-international-development
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 October 2010. Retrieved 16 November 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. "Department for International Development to merge with Foreign Office". ITV News. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.