Home Secretary Explained

Post:	Secretary of State for the Home Department
Insignia:	Royal Arms of the United Kingdom (Crown & Garter) (2022).svg
Insigniasize:	75px
Insigniacaption:	Royal Arms as used by the Home Office
Incumbent:	Yvette Cooper
Incumbentsince:	5 July 2024
Department:	Home Office
Style:	Home Secretary The Right Honourable
Type:	Minister of the Crown
Status:	Secretary of State Great Office of State
Reports To:	The Prime Minister
Seat:	Westminster
Nominator:	The Prime Minister
Appointer:	The Monarch
Termlength:	At His Majesty's pleasure
Formation:	27 March 1782
Salary:	£159,038 per annum ^[1] (including £86,584 MP salary)^[2]
First:	Earl of Shelburne
Website:	Home Secretary

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.

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]

Responsibilities

See main article: Powers of the home secretary. 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).

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. 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.^[10]

In 2007, the new Ministry of Justice took on the criminal justice functions of the Home Office and its agencies.^[11]

List of home secretaries

Secretary of State for the Home Department
! colspan=2
Charles III		Suella Braverman^[20]	6 September 2022	19 October 2022
Term of office	Party	Ministry	Monarch
		William Petty 2nd Earl of Shelburne	27 March 1782	10 July 1782		Whig		Rockingham II	scope=row style="text-align:center;" rowspan=16	George III
		Thomas Townsend	10 July 1782	2 April 1783		Whig		Shelburne
		Frederick North Lord North	2 April 1783	19 December 1783		Tory		Fox–North
		George Nugent-Temple-Grenville 3rd Earl Temple	19 December 1783	23 December 1783		Tory	rowspan=5	Pitt I
		Thomas Townsend 1st Baron Sydney	23 December 1783	5 June 1789		Whig
		William Grenville 1st Baron Grenville	5 June 1789	8 June 1791		Tory
		Henry Dundas	8 June 1791	11 July 1794		Tory
		William Cavendish-Bentinck 3rd Duke of Portland	11 July 1794	30 July 1801	Tory
rowspan=3		William Cavendish-Bentinck 3rd Duke of Portland	11 July 1794	30 July 1801	Addington
		Thomas Pelham 4th Baron Pelham of Stanmer	30 July 1801	17 August 1803		Whig
		Charles Philip Yorke	17 August 1803	12 May 1804		Tory
		Robert Jenkinson 2nd Baron Hawkesbury	12 May 1804	5 February 1806		Tory		Pitt II
		George Spencer 2nd Earl Spencer	5 February 1806	25 March 1807		Whig		All the Talents
		Robert Jenkinson 2nd Earl of Liverpool	25 March 1807	1 November 1809		Tory		Portland II
		Richard Ryder	1 November 1809	8 June 1812		Tory		Perceval
height=50 style="background-color: ; border-bottom:none"			Henry Addington 1st Viscount Sidmouth	11 June 1812	17 January 1822	Tory	Liverpool
height=50 style="background-color: ; border-top:none"			Henry Addington 1st Viscount Sidmouth	11 June 1812	17 January 1822	scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=6	George IV
		Robert Peel	17 January 1822	10 April 1827		Tory
		William Sturges Bourne	30 April 1827	16 July 1827		Tory	Canning
		Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne	16 July 1827	22 January 1828	Whig
		Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne	16 July 1827	22 January 1828		Goderich
height=50 style="background-color: ; border-bottom:none"			Robert Peel	26 January 1828	22 November 1830	Tory	Wellington–Peel
height=50 style="background-color: ; border-top:none"			Robert Peel	26 January 1828	22 November 1830	scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=6	William IV
		William Lamb 2nd Viscount Melbourne	22 November 1830	16 July 1834		Whig		Grey
		John Ponsonby 1st Baron Duncannon	19 July 1834	15 November 1834		Whig		Melbourne I
		Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of Wellington	15 November 1834	15 December 1834		Tory		Wellington Caretaker
		Henry Goulburn	15 December 1834	18 April 1835		Conservative		Peel I
height=50 style="background-color: ; border-bottom:none"			Lord John Russell^[12]	18 April 1835	30 August 1839	rowspan=2	Whig	rowspan=3	Melbourne II
height=50 style="background-color: ; border-top:none"			Lord John Russell^[12]	18 April 1835	30 August 1839	scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=25	Victoria
		Constantine Phipps 1st Marquess of Normanby	30 August 1839	30 August 1841		Whig
		James Graham	6 September 1841	30 June 1846		Conservative		Peel II
		George Grey	8 July 1846	23 February 1852		Whig		Russell I
		Spencer Horatio Walpole	27 February 1852	19 December 1852		Conservative		Who? Who?
		Henry John Temple 3rd Viscount Palmerston	28 December 1852	6 February 1855		Whig		Aberdeen
		George Grey	8 February 1855	26 February 1858		Whig		Palmerston I
		Spencer Horatio Walpole	26 February 1858	3 March 1859		Conservative	Derby–Disraeli II
		Thomas Henry Sutton Sotheron-Estcourt	3 March 1859	18 June 1859		Conservative
		George Cornewall Lewis	18 June 1859	25 July 1861		Liberal	rowspan=2	Palmerston II
		George Grey	25 July 1861	28 June 1866	Liberal
		George Grey	25 July 1861	28 June 1866		Russell II
		Spencer Horatio Walpole	6 July 1866	17 May 1867		Conservative	Derby–Disraeli III
		Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy	17 May 1867	3 December 1868		Conservative
		Henry Bruce (1815–1895)	9 December 1868	9 August 1873		Liberal	Gladstone I
		Robert Lowe	9 August 1873	20 February 1874		Liberal
		R. A. Cross	21 February 1874	23 April 1880		Conservative		Disraeli II
		William Harcourt	28 April 1880	23 June 1885		Liberal		Gladstone II
		R. A. Cross	24 June 1885	1 February 1886		Conservative		Salisbury I
		Hugh Childers	6 February 1886	25 July 1886		Liberal		Gladstone III
		Henry Matthews	3 August 1886	15 August 1892		Conservative		Salisbury II
		H. H. Asquith	18 August 1892	25 June 1895	rowspan=2	Liberal		Gladstone IV
		H. H. Asquith	18 August 1892	25 June 1895	Rosebery
		Matthew White Ridley	29 June 1895	12 November 1900		Conservative	Salisbury
height=20 style="background-color: ; border-bottom:none"			Charles Ritchie	12 November 1900	11 August 1902	Conservative
height=20 style="background-color: ; border:none"						scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=6	Edward VII
height=20 style="background-color: ; border-top:none"						Balfour
		Aretas Akers-Douglas	11 August 1902	5 December 1905		Conservative
		Herbert Gladstone	11 December 1905	19 February 1910	rowspan=2	Liberal		Campbell-Bannerman
		Herbert Gladstone	11 December 1905	19 February 1910	rowspan=4	Asquith
height=50 style="background-color: ; border-bottom:none"			Winston Churchill	19 February 1910	24 October 1911	Liberal
height=50 style="background-color: ; border-top:none"			Winston Churchill	19 February 1910	24 October 1911	scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=15	George V
		Reginald McKenna	24 October 1911	27 May 1915		Liberal
		John Simon	27 May 1915	12 January 1916		Liberal	Asquith Coalition
		Herbert Samuel	12 January 1916	7 December 1916		Liberal
		George Cave 1st Viscount Cave	11 December 1916	14 January 1919		Conservative	Lloyd George
		Edward Shortt	14 January 1919	23 October 1922		Liberal
		William Bridgeman	25 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative		Law
		William Bridgeman	25 October 1922	22 January 1924	Baldwin I
		Arthur Henderson	23 January 1924	4 November 1924		Labour		MacDonald I
		William Joynson-Hicks	7 November 1924	5 June 1929		Conservative		Baldwin II
		John Robert Clynes	8 June 1929	26 August 1931		Labour		MacDonald II
		Herbert Samuel	26 August 1931	1 October 1932	Liberal		National I
		Herbert Samuel	26 August 1931	1 October 1932	National II
		John Gilmour	1 October 1932	7 June 1935		Unionist
		John Simon	7 June 1935	28 May 1937	Liberal National	National III
					scope=row style="text-align:center"	Edward VIII
					scope=row style="text-align:center" rowspan=8	George VI
		Samuel Hoare	28 May 1937	3 September 1939		Conservative		National IV
		John Anderson	4 September 1939	4 October 1940	Independent		Chamberlain War
		John Anderson	4 September 1939	4 October 1940	Churchill War
		Herbert Morrison	4 October 1940	23 May 1945		Labour
		Donald Somervell	25 May 1945	26 July 1945		Conservative		Churchill Caretaker
		James Chuter Ede	3 August 1945	26 October 1951		Labour		Attlee
height=50 style="background-color: ; border-bottom:none"			David Maxwell Fyfe	27 October 1951	19 October 1954	Conservative	Churchill III
height=50 style="background-color: ; border-top:none"			David Maxwell Fyfe	27 October 1951	19 October 1954	Elizabeth II
		Gwilym Lloyd George	19 October 1954	14 January 1957	rowspan=2	National Liberal &<br/>Conservative
		Gwilym Lloyd George	19 October 1954	14 January 1957		Eden
		Rab Butler	14 January 1957	13 July 1962		Conservative	Macmillan
		Henry Brooke	14 July 1962	16 October 1964	Conservative
		Henry Brooke	14 July 1962	16 October 1964		Douglas-Home
		Frank Soskice	18 October 1964	23 December 1965		Labour	Wilson
		Roy Jenkins	23 December 1965	30 November 1967		Labour
		James Callaghan	30 November 1967	19 June 1970		Labour
		Reginald Maudling	20 June 1970	18 July 1972		Conservative	Heath
		Robert Carr	18 July 1972	4 March 1974		Conservative
		Roy Jenkins	5 March 1974	10 September 1976	Labour		Wilson
		Roy Jenkins	5 March 1974	10 September 1976	Callaghan
		Merlyn Rees	10 September 1976	4 May 1979		Labour
		William Whitelaw	4 May 1979	11 June 1983		Conservative		Thatcher I
		Leon Brittan	11 June 1983	2 September 1985		Conservative	Thatcher II
		Douglas Hurd	2 September 1985	26 October 1989	Conservative
Thatcher III		Douglas Hurd	2 September 1985	26 October 1989
		David Waddington	26 October 1989	28 November 1990		Conservative
		Kenneth Baker	28 November 1990	10 April 1992		Conservative		Major I
		Kenneth Clarke	10 April 1992	27 May 1993		Conservative	rowspan=2	Major II
		Michael Howard	27 May 1993	2 May 1997		Conservative
		Jack Straw	2 May 1997	8 June 2001		Labour		Blair I
		David Blunkett	8 June 2001	15 December 2004		Labour	Blair II
		Charles Clarke	15 December 2004	5 May 2006	Labour
Blair III		Charles Clarke	15 December 2004	5 May 2006
		John Reid^[13]	5 May 2006	27 June 2007		Labour
		Jacqui Smith^[14]	28 June 2007	5 June 2009		Labour	Brown
		Alan Johnson^[15]	5 June 2009	11 May 2010		Labour
		Theresa May^[16]	12 May 2010	13 July 2016	Conservative		Cameron–Clegg
May's tenure as Home Secretary		Theresa May^[16]		Cameron II
			Amber Rudd^[17]	13 July 2016	29 April 2018	Conservative		May I
	May II		Amber Rudd^[17]	13 July 2016	29 April 2018
		Sajid Javid^[18]	30 April 2018	24 July 2019		Conservative
		Priti Patel^[19]	24 July 2019	6 September 2022	Conservative		Johnson I
		Priti Patel^[19]	24 July 2019	6 September 2022	Johnson II
		Suella Braverman^[20]	6 September 2022	19 October 2022	Conservative	Truss
		Grant Shapps^[21]	19 October 2022	25 October 2022		Conservative
		Suella Braverman^[22]	25 October 2022	13 November 2023		Conservative	Sunak
		James Cleverly^[23]	13 November 2023	5 July 2024		Conservative
		Yvette Cooper^[24]	5 July 2024	Incumbent		Labour		Starmer

References

Sources

Book: Gibson, Bryan . The New Home Office: An Introduction . 2nd . 2008 . Waterside Press . 148–149 . 978-1-904380-49-8 .

External links

Home Office website

Notes and References

Web site: Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23 . 15 December 2022.
Web site: Pay and expenses for MPs . 15 December 2022 . parliament.uk.
Web site: Secretary of State for the Home Department. 30 June 2021. gov.uk. Government of the United Kingdom.
Web site: The Cabinet Papers: Senior Cabinet posts . The National Archives . 3 July 2021 . The post of Home Secretary was created in 1782 with the formation of the Home Office.
Web site: Records created or inherited by the Home Office, Ministry of Home Security, and related bodies . The National Archives . 3 July 2021.
Web site: Henry Addington was a Prime Minister and an 'East Indiaman' . Reginald Beer . 8 March 2024 . 15 January 2019.
Web site: First female boss for Home Office . BBC News . 28 June 2007 . 25 June 2021 . Jacqui Smith has become Britain's first female home secretary.
Web site: The work of the Home Secretary . Parliament.UK . 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. . 24 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200924024937/https://committees.parliament.uk/work/408/the-work-of-the-home-secretary/ . dead .
Web site: Home Secretary Priti Patel to appear before Lords Committee . Parliament.UK . 26 October 2021 . 21 February 2022 . The Justice and Home Affairs Committee will be questioning the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Priti Patel MP. . 27 October 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211027074626/https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/519/justice-and-home-affairs-committee/news/158244/home-secretary-priti-patel-to-appear-before-lords-committee/ . dead .
Book: Sainty, J. C.. Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 2 – Officials of the Secretaries of State 1660–1782. British History Online. University of London. 1973. 1–21. en. Introduction . 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..
Web site: House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee. 17 July 2007. The creation of the Ministry of Justice. 30 June 2021. parliament.uk. 3.
Web site: Home Secretary . . 12 September 2017.
News: Clarke is fired in Cabinet purge . 5 May 2006 . BBC News . 13 September 2017.
News: First female boss for Home Office . 28 June 2007 . BBC News . 13 September 2017.
News: Hutton quits in cabinet reshuffle . 5 June 2009 . BBC News . 13 September 2017.
News: Cameron coalition: Theresa May made home secretary . 12 May 2010 . BBC News . 13 September 2017.
News: Theresa May shakes up government with new-look cabinet . 14 July 2016 . BBC News . 13 September 2017.
Web site: Sajid Javid announced as new Home Secretary after Amber Rudd's resignation. Sky News. 30 April 2018.
Web site: 24 July 2019. Priti Patel appointed UK interior minister: statement. 30 June 2021. Reuters.
Web site: Suella Braverman MP on Twitter: My letter to the Prime Minister. . 2022-10-19 . Twitter . en.
News: 2022-10-19 . Grants Shapps replaces Suella Braverman as home secretary . en-GB . BBC News . 2022-10-19.
News: 25 October 2022. Braverman returns to home secretary role. BBC News. 25 October 2022.
News: 25 October 2022. Braverman returns to home secretary role. BBC News. 25 October 2022.
News: 5 July 2024. 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.