The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office.[3] The position is a Great Office of State, making the home secretary one of the most senior and influential ministers in the government. The incumbent is a statutory member of the British Cabinet and National Security Council.
| United Kingdom Secretary of State for the Home Department | |
|---|---|
.svg) Royal Arms as used by the Home Office | |
.jpg) | |
| Home Office | |
| Style | Home Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (within the UK and Commonwealth) |
| Type | Minister of the Crown |
| Status | Secretary of State Great Office of State |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | The Prime Minister |
| Seat | Westminster |
| Nominator | The Prime Minister |
| Appointer | The Monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister) |
| Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure |
| Formation | 27 March 1782 |
| First holder | Earl of Shelburne |
| Salary | £159,038 per annum (2022)[1] (including £86,584 MP salary)[2] |
| Website | Home Secretary |
The position, which may be known as interior minister in other nations, was created in 1782,[4] though its responsibilities have changed many times.[5] Past office holders have included the prime ministers Lord North, Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Palmerston, Winston Churchill, James Callaghan and Theresa May. The longest-serving home secretary is Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, who held the post continuously for 9 years, 221 days.[6] The shortest-serving home secretary is Grant Shapps, who served in the position for the final six days of the premiership of Liz Truss. In 2007, Jacqui Smith became the first female home secretary.[7] The incumbent home secretary is Yvette Cooper.
The office holder works alongside the other Home Office ministers and the permanent under-secretary of state of the Home Office. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow home secretary, and the performance of the home secretary is also scrutinized by the Home Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons[8] and the Justice and Home Affairs Committee in the House of Lords.[9]
Historically, the role has a reputation for being a graveyard for aspiring politicians, owing to the large number of potential issues and controversies that can arise.[10][11][12]
Responsibilities
editCorresponding to what is generally known as an interior minister in many other countries, the home secretary's remit includes:
- Law enforcement in England and Wales
- Matters of national security
- Issues concerning immigration
- Oversight of the Security Service (MI5).[3]
Formerly, the home secretary was the minister responsible for prisons and probation in England and Wales; however in 2007 those responsibilities were transferred to the Ministry of Justice under the lord chancellor.
History
editThe title Secretary of State in the government of England dates back to the early 17th century.[13] The position of Secretary of State for the Home Department was created in the British governmental reorganisation of 1782, in which the responsibilities of the Northern and Southern Departments were reformed into the Foreign Office and Home Office.[13]
In 2007, the new Ministry of Justice took on the criminal justice functions of the Home Office and its agencies.[14]
List of home secretaries
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Timeline
edit
See also
edit- British government departments
- Cabinet (government)
- Great Offices of State
- Interior minister
- List of British governments
- List of current interior ministers
- List of permanent under secretaries of state of the Home Office
- Ministry of Justice
- Shadow Home Secretary
- Home Office under Theresa May
- Under Secretary of State for the Home Department
Notes
edit- ^ The Prince of Wales served as prince regent from 5 February 1811.
- ^ Elevated to the Peerage of Great Britain in 1790.
- ^ Elected to a new constituency in the 1847 general election.
- ^ Lost seat in the 1868 general election and elected to a new constituency in the Renfrewshire by-election.
- ^ Ennobled on the day of the 1918 election, which he did not contest. His rank did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords.
- ^ Elected on 28 February 1924 in the Burnley by-election.
References
editCitations
edit- ^ "Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23" (PDF). 15 December 2022.
- ^ "Pay and expenses for MPs". parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ a b c "Secretary of State for the Home Department". gov.uk. Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
- ^ "The Cabinet Papers: Senior Cabinet posts". The National Archives. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
The post of Home Secretary was created in 1782 with the formation of the Home Office
- ^ "Records created or inherited by the Home Office, Ministry of Home Security, and related bodies". The National Archives. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
- ^ Reginald Beer (15 January 2019). "Henry Addington was a Prime Minister and an 'East Indiaman'". Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ "First female boss for Home Office". BBC News. 28 June 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Jacqui Smith has become Britain's first female home secretary
- ^ "The work of the Home Secretary". Parliament.UK. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
The Committee holds regular evidence sessions with the Home Secretary, the Permanent Secretary and other officials to ask questions about the policies and priorities of the department.
- ^ "Home Secretary Priti Patel to appear before Lords Committee". Parliament.UK. 26 October 2021. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
The Justice and Home Affairs Committee will be questioning the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Priti Patel MP.
- ^ "Five reasons the Home Office is so tough for ministers to run". BBC News. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
The Home Office is the arm of government where at any given moment the political equivalent of a grenade can go off without notice, potentially destroying the careers of ambitious ministers - and occasionally their officials too.
- ^ "Home Truths". The Times. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
The Home Office used to be regarded as a political graveyard, such was its propensity for abruptly ending ministerial careers. Those days were thought to be over when the department was stripped of some of its most troublesome responsibilities, including prisons.
- ^ Mindell, Jeremy (8 June 2022). "Why chancellors rarely become prime ministers". Tax Journal. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
The home secretary's job is generally seen as a political graveyard given the number of potential issues that can occur to damage any home secretary's reputation.
- ^ a b Sainty, J. C. (1973). "Introduction". Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 2 – Officials of the Secretaries of State 1660–1782. University of London. pp. 1–21 – via British History Online.
At the Restoration [in 1660] the practice of appointing two Secretaries of State, which was well established before the Civil War, was resumed. Apart from the modifications which were made necessary by the occasional existence of a third secretaryship, the organisation of the secretariat underwent no fundamental change from that time until the reforms of 1782 which resulted in the emergence of the Home and Foreign departments. ... English domestic affairs remained the responsibility of both Secretaries throughout the period. In the field of foreign affairs there was a division into a Northern and a Southern Department, each of which was the responsibility of one Secretary. The distinction between the two departments emerged only gradually. It was not until after 1689 that their names passed into general currency. Nevertheless the division of foreign business itself can, in its broad outlines, be detected in the early years of the reign of Charles II.
- ^ House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee (17 July 2007). "The creation of the Ministry of Justice" (PDF). parliament.uk. p. 3. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Gibson 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm "Home Secretary". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ "Clarke is fired in Cabinet purge". BBC News. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
- ^ "First female boss for Home Office". BBC News. 28 June 2007. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
- ^ "Hutton quits in cabinet reshuffle". BBC News. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
- ^ "Cameron coalition: Theresa May made home secretary". BBC News. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
- ^ "Theresa May shakes up government with new-look cabinet". BBC News. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
- ^ "Sajid Javid announced as new Home Secretary after Amber Rudd's resignation". Sky News. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Priti Patel appointed UK interior minister: statement". Reuters. 24 July 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
- ^ "Suella Braverman MP on Twitter: My letter to the Prime Minister". Twitter. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
- ^ "Grants Shapps replaces Suella Braverman as home secretary". BBC News. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
- ^ "Braverman returns to home secretary role". BBC News. 25 October 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "Braverman returns to home secretary role". BBC News. 25 October 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "Rachel Reeves becomes UK's first female chancellor with Angela Rayner deputy PM as Keir Starmer names cabinet – election live". The Guardian. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
Sources
edit- Gibson, Bryan (2008). The New Home Office: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Waterside Press. pp. 148–149. ISBN 978-1-904380-49-8.
External links
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