Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

The shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland is a member of the British Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the secretary of state for Northern Ireland and their department, the Northern Ireland Office. The post is held by Alex Burghart.

Until recently there had been a 'bi-partisan' attitude to Northern Ireland affairs in the House of Commons but the role is influenced by the relationship between the main Official Opposition and parties in the country. The Conservative Party, for example, generally supports the unionist cause and in 2008 re-formalised a (since ended) link with the Ulster Unionist Party and relied on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party until the 2019 United Kingdom General Election in the House of Commons, while Labour has traditionally supported Irish nationalism and is loosely allied to the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The Liberal Democrats are linked with the cross-community Alliance Party.

Shadow secretaries of state

Name			Entered office	Left office	Length of Term	Political party	Shadow Cabinet
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Merlyn Rees	File:Merlyn Rees appearing on After Dark , 16 July 1988 - (cropped).jpg	24 March 1972	4 March 1974	Template:Ayd	Labour	Harold Wilson
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Francis Pym	File:Francis Leslie Pym.jpg	4 March 1974	29 October 1974	Template:Ayd	Conservative	Edward Heath
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Ian Gilmour	File:No image.svg	29 October 1974	18 February 1975	Template:Ayd
rowspan=3 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Airey Neave	File:AireyNeave (cropped).jpg	18 February 1975	30 March 1979	Template:Ayd
Edward Heath
Margaret Thatcher
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Roy Mason	File:No image.svg	4 May 1979	14 July 1979	Template:Ayd	Labour	James Callaghan
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Brynmor John	File:No image.svg	14 July 1979	8 December 1980	Template:Ayd
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Don Concannon	File:No image.svg	8 December 1980	31 October 1983	Template:Ayd		Michael Foot
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Peter Archer	File:No image.svg	31 October 1983	13 July 1987	Template:Ayd		Neil Kinnock
style="background-color: Template:Party color; border-bottom:solid 1px Template:Party color" height="30" |	Kevin McNamara	File:No image.svg	13 July 1987	20 October 1994	Template:Ayd
style="background-color: Template:Party color; border-bottom:solid 1px Template:Party color" |							John Smith
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |							Margaret Beckett
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Mo Mowlam	File:Mo Mowlam official portrait 2 (cropped).jpg	20 October 1994	2 May 1997	Template:Ayd		Tony Blair
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Andrew Mackay	File:No image.svg	23 June 1997	14 September 2001	Template:Ayd	Conservative	William Hague
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Quentin Davies	File:Lord Davies of Stamford 2015.jpg	14 September 2001	11 November 2003	Template:Ayd		Iain Duncan Smith
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	David Lidington	File:Official portrait of Mr David Lidington crop 2.jpg	11 November 2003	2 July 2007	Template:Ayd		Michael Howard
David Cameron
	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Owen Paterson	File:Official portrait of Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP crop 2.jpg	2 July 2007	11 May 2010		Template:Ayd
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Shaun Woodward	File:Shaun Woodward, June 2009 cropped.jpg	11 May 2010	7 October 2011	Template:Ayd	Labour	Harriet Harman
Ed Miliband
	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Vernon Coaker	File:Official portrait of Vernon Coaker crop 2.jpg	7 October 2011	7 October 2013		Template:Ayd
	rowspan=3 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Ivan Lewis	File:Official portrait of Mr Ivan Lewis crop 2.jpg	7 October 2013	13 September 2015		Template:Ayd
Ed Miliband
Harriet Harman
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Vernon Coaker	File:Official portrait of Vernon Coaker crop 2.jpg	13 September 2015	26 June 2016	Template:Ayd		Jeremy Corbyn
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Dave Anderson	File:Dave Anderson MP outside his Blaydon office.jpg	26 June 2016	14 June 2017	Template:Ayd
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Owen Smith	File:Official portrait of Owen Smith crop 2.jpg	14 June 2017	23 March 2018	Template:Ayd
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tony Lloyd	File:Official portrait of Tony Lloyd crop 2.jpg	23 March 2018	6 April 2020	Template:Ayd
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Louise Haigh	File:Official portrait of Louise Haigh MP crop 2.jpg	6 April 2020	29 November 2021	Template:Ayd		Sir Keir Starmer
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Peter Kyle	File:Official portrait of Peter Kyle MP crop 2.jpg	29 November 2021	4 September 2023	Template:Ayd
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Hilary Benn	File:Official portrait of Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP crop 2.jpg	4 September 2023	5 July 2024	Template:Ayd
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Alex Burghart	File:Official portrait of Alex Burghart crop 2.jpg	8 July 2024	Incumbent	Template:Ayd	Conservative	Rishi Sunak

See also

• Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
• Northern Ireland Office
• UK Shadow Cabinet
• Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team
• Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
• Northern Ireland Grand Committee

External links

• Conservative Northern Ireland branch
• Conservative Northern Ireland newsTemplate:Dead link
• Conservative Northern Ireland Education Spokesman
• David Lidington MP
• Lembit Öpik MP