Home Secretary
The home secretary, officially the secretary of state for the Home Department, is a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of the Home Office.[1] As a Great Office of State, the home secretary is one of the most senior ministers in the government. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, fifth in the ministerial ranking.[2]
Secretary of State for the Home Department | |
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![]() Royal Arms of the Home Office | |
Home Office | |
Style | Home Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (within the UK and Commonwealth) |
Type | Minister of the Crown |
Status | Department Leader Secretary of State |
Member of | |
Reports to | Prime Minister |
Seat | Westminster |
Nominator | Prime Minister |
Appointer | The Crown (on the advice of the Prime Minister |
Term length | At HM Pleasure |
Formation | 7 March 1782 |
First holder | Earl of Shelburne |
Website | www |
This article is part of a series on |
Politics of the United Kingdom |
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The position was created in 1782,[3] though its responsibilities have changed many times.[4] 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. In 2007, Jacqui Smith became the first woman home secretary.[5]
The office holder works alongside the other Home Office ministers and the Home Office permanent secretary. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow home secretary, and the performance of the home secretary is also scrutinised by the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson, the Home Affairs Select Committee[6] and the Justice and Home Affairs Committee.[7]
Priti Patel was appointed Home Secretary by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in July 2019.[8]
Responsibilities
Corresponding 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).[1]
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
The title Secretary of State in the government of England dates back to the early 17th century.[9] 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.[9]
In 2007, the new Ministry of Justice took on the criminal justice functions of the Home Office and its agencies.[10]
List of home secretaries
See also
Notes
- Including honorifics and constituencies for elected MPs.
- 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
Citations
- "Secretary of State for the Home Department". gov.uk. Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "Her Majesty's Government: The Cabinet". parliament.uk. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "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.
- "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. 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. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
The Justice and Home Affairs Committee will be questioning the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Priti Patel MP.
- "Priti Patel appointed UK interior minister: statement". Reuters. 24 July 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Sainty, J. C. (1973). "Introduction". Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 2 - Officials of the Secretaries of State 1660-1782. British History Online. University of London. pp. 1–21.
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.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Gibson 2008.
- "Home Secretary". Hansard. Parliament of the United Kingdom. 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.
Sources
- Gibson, Bryan (2008). The New Home Office: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Waterside Press. pp. 148–149. ISBN 978-1-904380-49-8.