View source for Shadow Foreign Secretary

{{short description|UK shadow cabinet position}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox Political post
| post = Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
| body = 
| nativename = 
| department = [[Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom)|Shadow Cabinet]]
| image = Official portrait of Rt Hon Priti Patel MP.jpg
| alt = 
| incumbent = [[Priti Patel|Dame Priti Patel]]
| incumbentsince = 4 November 2024
| style = 
| residence = 
| nominator = 
| nominatorpost = 
| appointer = [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| appointerpost = 
| termlength = 
| inaugural = [[Alfred Robens]]
| formation = 14 December 1955
| last = 
| abolished = 
| succession = 
| deputy = 
| salary = 
| website = 
}}

The '''shadow secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs''', commonly called the '''shadow foreign secretary''', is a position within the [[Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom)|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 (United Kingdom)|foreign secretary]].

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 [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs]] and other FCDO ministers to account in [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]].

Although [[DFID]] and the role of [[International Development Secretary|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|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==
{| class="wikitable" style="width:60%;"
! colspan=2|Name
! width=60|Portrait
! colspan=2|Term of office
! Political party
! Shadow Cabinet
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| rowspan="2" | [[Alfred Robens]]
| rowspan="2" | [[File:Alfred Robens, Baron Robens of Woldingham.jpg|60px]]
| rowspan="2" | 15 July 1955<ref>{{cite news |title=McNeil is Not on Attlee's List |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V28-AAAAIBAJ&dq=shadow+Bevan+labour&pg=PA7&article_id=7133,1196598 |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=The Bulletin |date=15 July 1955}}</ref>
| rowspan="2" | 27 November 1956
| rowspan="2" | Labour
| Attlee II
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| rowspan="4" |[[Shadow Cabinet of Hugh Gaitskell|Gaitskell]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Aneurin Bevan]]
| [[File:Aneurin Bevan (crop).jpg|60px]]
| 27 November 1956<ref>{{cite news |title=Bevan Ousts Robens as Foreign Chief |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wDVBAAAAIBAJ&dq=shadow+George+Brown+labour&pg=PA4&article_id=1619,4423145 |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=The Bulletin |date=28 November 1956 |page=4}}</ref>
| 6 July 1960
| Labour
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Denis Healey]]
| [[File:Denis Healey.jpg|60px]]
| 7 July 1960
| 30 November 1961<ref>{{cite news |title=Wilson - Foreign Spokesman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GuVAAAAAIBAJ&dq=shadow+Harold+Wilson&pg=PA1&article_id=3644,3759254 |access-date=28 April 2025 |work=Evening Times |date=30 November 1961 |page=1}}</ref>
| Labour
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| rowspan="2" |[[Harold Wilson]]
| rowspan="2" |[[File:Dodwilson.JPG|60px]]
| rowspan="2" |30 November 1961
| rowspan="2" |22 February 1963
| rowspan="2" |Labour
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Shadow Cabinet of George Brown|Brown]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Patrick Gordon Walker]]
| [[File:Patrick Gordon Walker.jpg|60px]]
| 22 February 1963
| 15 October 1964
| Labour
|[[First Shadow Cabinet of Harold Wilson|Wilson I]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[R. A. Butler]]
| [[File:RA Butler cropped.png|60px]]
| 15 October 1964
| 16 February 1965<ref name="Baston">{{cite book |last=Baston |first=Lewis |date=2004 |title=Reggie: The Life of Reginald Maudling |publisher=Sutton Publishing |page=246 |isbn=0-7509-2924-3}}</ref>
| Conservative
| rowspan="2" |[[Shadow Cabinet of Alec Douglas-Home|Douglas-Home]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Reginald Maudling]]
| [[File:Reginald Maudling, 1969 (Brightned) (cropped).jpg|60px]]
| 16 February 1965<ref name="Baston"/>
| 4 August 1965<ref>{{cite news |title=Party unify seen factor in Heath "cabinet" choices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fS9gAAAAIBAJ&dq=shadow+cabinet&pg=PA7&article_id=7119,451640 |access-date=16 April 2025 |work=Saskatoon Star-Phoenix |agency=Associated Press |date=5 August 1965 |location=London}}</ref>
| Conservative
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Christopher Soames]]
| [[File:Christopher Soames.jpg|60px]]
| 4 August 1965
| 13 April 1966
| Conservative
| rowspan="2" |[[First Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath|Heath I]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Alec Douglas-Home]]
| [[File:Alec Douglas-Home (c1963).jpg|60px]]
| 13 April 1966
| 19 June 1970
| Conservative
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Michael Stewart, Baron Stewart of Fulham|Michael Stewart]]
| [[File:No image.svg|70px]]
| 19 June 1970
| 24 July 1970
| Labour
| rowspan="3" |[[Second Shadow Cabinet of Harold Wilson|Wilson II]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Denis Healey]]
| [[File:Denis Healey.jpg|60px]]
| 24 July 1970
| 19 April 1972
| Labour
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[James Callaghan]]
| [[File:James Callaghan.JPG|60px]]
| 19 April 1972
| 4 March 1974
| Labour
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Alec Douglas-Home]]
| [[File:Alec Douglas-Home (c1963).jpg|60px]]
| 4 March 1974
| August 1974
| Conservative
| rowspan="2" |[[Second Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath|Heath II]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Geoffrey Rippon]]
| [[File:Geoffrey Rippon (1970).jpg|60px]]
| August 1974
| 11 February 1975
| Conservative
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Reginald Maudling]]
| [[File:Reginald Maudling, 1969 (Brightned) (cropped).jpg|60px]]
| 11 February 1975
| 11 April 1976
| Conservative
| rowspan="3" |[[Shadow Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[John Davies (British businessman)|John Davies]]
|
| 11 April 1976
| 6 November 1978
| Conservative
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Francis Pym]]{{efn|Following Davies' resignation, it was announced that Pym would lead the two-day debate on Rhodesia for the Conservatives.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3gI-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=dUkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2596,1335047&dq=john+davies&hl=en |title=Pym favourite for top Thatcher post |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=7 November 1978 |author=Geoffrey Parkhouse |page=1}}</ref> 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.}}
| [[File:Francis Leslie Pym.jpg|60px]]
| 6 November 1978
| 4 May 1979
| Conservative
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[David Owen]]
| [[File:Official portrait of Lord Owen crop 2.jpg|60px]]
| 4 May 1979
| 14 July 1979
| Labour
| rowspan="2" |[[Shadow Cabinet of James Callaghan|Callaghan]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Peter Shore]]
|
| 14 July 1979
| 8 December 1980
| Labour
|-
! rowspan="2" style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| rowspan="2" |[[Denis Healey]]
| rowspan="2" |[[File:Denis Healey.jpg|60px]]
| rowspan="2" |8 December 1980
| rowspan="2" |13 June 1987
| rowspan="2" |Labour
| [[Shadow Cabinet of Michael Foot|Foot]]
|-
| rowspan="2" |[[Shadow Cabinet of Neil Kinnock|Kinnock]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Gerald Kaufman]]
| [[File:Kaufman.JPG|60px]]
| 13 June 1987
| 24 July 1992
| Labour
|-
! rowspan="2" style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| rowspan="2" |[[Jack Cunningham]]
| rowspan="2" |[[File:No image.svg|60px]]
| rowspan="2" |24 July 1992
| rowspan="2" |20 October 1994
| rowspan="2" |Labour
|[[Shadow Cabinet of John Smith|Smith]]
|-
|[[Shadow Cabinet of Margaret Beckett|Beckett]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Robin Cook]]
| [[File:Robin Cook-close crop.jpg|60px]]
| 20 October 1994
| 2 May 1997
| Labour
|[[Shadow Cabinet of Tony Blair|Blair]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[John Major]]
| [[File:Major PM full.jpg|60px]]
| 7 May 1997
| 11 June 1997
|Conservative
|[[Shadow Cabinet of John Major|Major]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Michael Howard]]
| [[File:Official portrait of Lord Howard of Lympne crop 2.jpg|60px]]
| 11 June 1997
| 15 June 1999
| Conservative
| rowspan="3" |[[Shadow Cabinet of William Hague|Hague]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[John Maples]]
|
| 15 June 1999
| 2 February 2000
| Conservative
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Francis Maude]]
| [[File:Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office.jpg|60px]]
| 2 February 2000
| 18 September 2001
| Conservative
|-
! rowspan="2" style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| rowspan="2" |[[Michael Ancram]]
| rowspan="2" |[[File:Official portrait of The Marquess of Lothian crop 2.jpg|60px]]
| rowspan="2" |18 September 2001
| rowspan="2" |10 May 2005
| rowspan="2" |Conservative
| [[Shadow Cabinet of Iain Duncan Smith|Duncan Smith]]
|-
| rowspan="2" |[[Shadow Cabinet of Michael Howard|Howard]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[Liam Fox]]
| [[File:Official portrait of Dr Liam Fox crop 2.jpg|60px]]
| 10 May 2005
| 6 December 2005
| Conservative
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
| [[William Hague]]
| [[File:William Hague Foreign Secretary (2010).jpg|60px]]
| 6 December 2005
| 11 May 2010
| Conservative
|[[Shadow Cabinet of David Cameron|Cameron]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| [[David Miliband]]
| [[File:David Miliband 2.jpg|60px]]
| 11 May 2010
| 8 October 2010
| Labour
|[[First Shadow Cabinet of Harriet Harman|Harman I]]
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
|[[Yvette Cooper]]
|[[File:Official portrait of Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP crop 2.jpg|60px]]
|8 October 2010
|20 January 2011
|Labour
| rowspan="2" |[[Shadow Cabinet of Ed Miliband|Miliband]]
|-
!style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
|[[Douglas Alexander]]
|[[File:Douglas Alexander MP at Chatham House 2015 crop.jpg|60px]]
|20 January 2011
|11 May 2015
|Labour
|-
! rowspan="2" style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
| rowspan="2" |[[Hilary Benn]]
| rowspan="2" |[[File:Official portrait of Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP crop 2.jpg|60px]]
| rowspan="2" |11 May 2015
| rowspan="2" |[[June 2016 British shadow cabinet resignations|26 June 2016]]
| rowspan="2" |Labour
| [[Second Shadow Cabinet of Harriet Harman|Harman II]] 
|-
| rowspan="2" |[[Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn|Corbyn]]
|-
!style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
|[[Emily Thornberry]]
|[[File:Official portrait of Rt Hon Emily Thornberry MP crop 2.jpg|60px]]
|[[June 2016 British shadow cabinet resignations|27 June 2016]]
|5 April 2020
|Labour
|-
!style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
|[[Lisa Nandy]]
|[[File:Official portrait of Lisa Nandy MP crop 2.jpg|60px]]
|5 April 2020
|[[November 2021 British shadow cabinet reshuffle|29 November 2021]]
|Labour
| rowspan="2" |[[Shadow Cabinet of Keir Starmer|Starmer]]
|-
!style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" |
|[[David Lammy]]
|[[File:Official portrait of Rt Hon David Lammy MP crop 5.jpg|60px]]
|[[November 2021 British shadow cabinet reshuffle|29 November 2021]]
|[[2024 United Kingdom general election|5 July 2024]]
|Labour
|-
!style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
|[[Andrew Mitchell]]
|[[File:Official portrait of Andrew Mitchell MP crop 2, 2024.jpg|60px]]
|8 July 2024
|4 November 2024
|Conservative
|[[Shadow Cabinet of Rishi Sunak|Sunak]]
|-
!style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}" |
|[[Priti Patel|Dame Priti Patel]]
|[[File:Priti Patel Official Cabinet Portrait, September 2021 (cropped2).jpg|60px]]
|4 November 2024
|Incumbent
|Conservative
|[[Shadow Cabinet of Kemi Badenoch|Badenoch]]
|}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Shadow Foreign Secretaries}}
{{Shadow Great Officers of State}}
{{UK Parliament Opposition Cabinet Offices}}

[[Category:Official Opposition (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Long stubs with short prose]]


{{UK-poli-stub}}