United Kingdom
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Europe
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent
Leo Docherty
since 27 October 2022
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
StatusIncumbent
Reports toSecretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
NominatorSecretary of State
AppointerThe King
(on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Term lengthAt His Majesty's pleasure
Formation1979
First holderDouglas Hurd

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Europe,[1] formerly the Minister of State for Europe, is a ministerial position within the Government of the United Kingdom, in charge of affairs with Europe.[2] The Minister can also be responsible for government policy towards European security; defence and international security; the Falkland Islands; polar regions; migration; protocol; human resources; OSCE and Council of Europe; relations with Parliament; British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus; and FCO finance, knowledge and technology.

History

The office currently a Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Despite being a junior ministerial role, the position has sometimes conferred the right to attend meetings of the Cabinet, which is occasionally granted to other such ministers at the Prime Minister's discretion. This first occurred when Denis MacShane was replaced by Douglas Alexander after the 2005 general election, although Alexander's successor ceased to have this right. When Chris Bryant held the office, it was not as Minister of State but as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Europe and Asia.[3]

The responsibilities of the office were next appointed to a Minister of State in 2010 by then Prime Minister David Cameron. He appointed David Lidington, who held the office for over six years. In July 2016, the responsibility for the relationship with the European Union, which represented the greater part of British policy towards Europe, became the brief of a new Cabinet level post, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, or more informally, Brexit Secretary. With the winding up of DEXEU, the department led by the Brexit Secretary, responsibility was transferred to the Cabinet Office, first under Michael Gove, and then under Lord Frost who was made a member of the Cabinet and held the ministerial position of Minister of State at the Cabinet Office. Through this period, any residual responsibilities for European relations that remained with the Foreign Office were combined with the portfolio of the traditionally more junior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. The post of Minister of State for Europe and the Americas was held by Alan Duncan until he resigned on 22 July 2019; Duncan was largely regarded as the second most senior-ranking Foreign Office Minister behind the Foreign Secretary.[4][5][6] On 25 July 2019, newly elected Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Conservative MP for Tamworth, Christopher Pincher to the role as part of his ministerial reshuffle. Johnson promoted Wendy Morton to the role of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for European Neighbourhood and the Americas to replace Pincher in February 2020.[7] In December 2021, upon the resignation of Lord Frost, ministerial responsibility returned to the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Chris Heaton-Harris became Minister of State for Europe as responsibility for the United Kingdom's relations with the European Union was moved from the Cabinet Office back to the Foreign Office. In February 2022, James Cleverly was appointed Minister of State for Europe and North America. His former position as Minister of State for Middle East, North Africa and North America was the second highest position in the Foreign Office;[8] his new position as Europe Minister then took its place as the deputy to the Foreign Secretary.[9]

The post is not to be confused with the Minister of State within the Department for Exiting the European Union, the department created by Prime Minister Theresa May following the UK's vote to leave the EU in 2016 and abolished by Boris Johnson following the UK's exit from the EU on 31 January 2020. They supported the work of the department overseeing the UK's exit from the EU rather than overseeing government policy towards all-European affairs.[10][11]

List of ministers

Name Portrait Term of office Political party P.M. F.Sec.
Minister of State for Europe
Douglas Hurd 4 May 1979 9 June 1983 Conservative Thatcher Carrington
Pym
Malcolm Rifkind 9 June 1983 11 January 1986 Howe
Lynda Chalker 11 January 1986 24 July 1989
Francis Maude 25 July 1989 28 November 1990 Major
Hurd
Tristan Garel-Jones 28 November 1990 27 May 1993 Major
David Heathcoat-Amory 27 May 1993 20 July 1994
David Davis 20 July 1994 2 May 1997
Rifkind
Doug Henderson 5 May 1997 28 July 1998 Labour Blair Cook
Joyce Quin 28 July 1998 28 July 1999
Geoff Hoon 28 July 1999 11 October 1999
Keith Vaz 11 October 1999 11 June 2001
Peter Hain 11 June 2001 24 October 2002 Straw
Denis MacShane 28 October 2002 11 May 2005
Douglas Alexander 11 May 2005 8 May 2006
Geoff Hoon 8 May 2006 28 June 2007 Beckett
Jim Murphy 28 June 2007 3 October 2008 Brown Miliband
Caroline Flint 3 October 2008 5 June 2009
The Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead 5 June 2009 13 October 2009
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Europe and Asia
Chris Bryant 13 October 2009 11 May 2010 Labour Gordon Brown Miliband
Minister of State for Europe
David Lidington 12 May 2010 14 July 2016 Conservative Cameron
Minister of State for Europe and the Americas
Alan Duncan 15 July 2016 22 July 2019 Conservative May
Christopher Pincher 25 July 2019 13 February 2020 Conservative Johnson Raab
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for European Neighbourhood and the Americas
Wendy Morton 13 February 2020 19 December 2021 Conservative Johnson Raab
Minister of State for Europe
Chris Heaton-Harris 19 December 2021 8 February 2022 Conservative Johnson Truss
Minister of State for Europe and North America
James Cleverly 8 February 2022 7 July 2022 Conservative Johnson Truss
Minister of State for Europe
Graham Stuart 7 July 2022 6 September 2022 Conservative Johnson Truss
Leo Docherty 7 September 2022 27 October 2022 Conservative Truss Cleverly
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Europe
Leo Docherty 27 October 2022 Incumbent Conservative Sunak

References

  1. ↑ "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Europe) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  2. ↑ "Minister of State for Europe - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  3. ↑ "The Times & The Sunday Times". Archived from the original on 2019-12-13. Retrieved 2017-10-16.
  4. ↑ "Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan resigns ahead of Boris Johnson's expected premiership". Sky News. London. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  5. ↑ Swinford, Steven (21 June 2017). "Boris Johnson's deputy Alan Duncan tells him to resist temptation to 'play games'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  6. ↑ editor, Patrick Wintour Diplomatic (3 October 2017). "Brexit vote was 'tantrum' by British working class, says Alan Duncan". Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017 – via www.theguardian.com. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  7. ↑ @SMcDonaldFCO (February 17, 2020). "@DominicRaab & @annietrev have divided portfolios among 7 joint @foreignoffice & @DFID_UK ministers:@morton_wendy is Minister for European Neighbourhood & the Americas" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. ↑ "Minister of State (Minister for Middle East, North Africa and North America) - GOV.UK". Archived from the original on 2022-02-06. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  9. ↑ "Minister of State (Minister for Europe and North America) - GOV.UK". Archived from the original on 2022-02-25. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  10. ↑ "Minister of State - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  11. ↑ "Minister of State - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2017-11-23.

See also

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