Home Secretary

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is one of the Great Offices of State. The Home Secretary is responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the whole of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland).

The remit of the UK ministry includes policing, national security, immigration, and matters of citizenship.

The current Home Secretary is Jacqui Smith.

Responsibilities

The Home Secretary is currently responsible for:

Constitutional & Legal Affairs

The Home Secretary has no responsibility for the Courts of England and Wales. Unlike many other governments issues usually dealt with by a Department of Justice, the British government has three separate departments: The Home Office (as specified above), the Attorney General's Office and the Ministry of Justice, headed by the Secretary of State for Justice, for legal, judicial and civil rights issues.

Development of other government departments

Because the Home Office was initially the primary government department with responsibility for domestic affairs, all subsequent domestic departments have effectively been created by taking responsibilities from the Home Office. Until 2001 this left a variety of miscellaneous tasks that sat apart from the law and order functions of the department, such as British Summer Time or wild birds in Scotland. However, on the appointment of David Blunkett as Home Secretary, these functions - and others such as responsibility for the Fire Brigade - have been reallocated to other departments to give the position a focus solely on law and order.

Home Secretaries since 1782

	Entered office	Left office	Political party	Subsequent post
The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Shelburne	27 March 1782	10 July 1782	Whig	Prime Minister of Great Britain
The Rt. Hon. Thomas Townsend MP	10 July 1782	2 April 1783	Whig	Leader of the House of Commons
The Rt. Hon. Lord North KG MP	2 April 1783	19 December 1783	Tory	None
The Rt. Hon. The Earl Temple	19 December 1783	23 December 1783	Whig	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
The Rt. Hon. The Lord Sydney	23 December 1783	5 June 1789	Whig	None
The Rt. Hon. The Lord Grenville	5 June 1789	8 June 1791	Whig	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
The Rt. Hon. Henry Dundas MP	8 June 1791	11 July 1794	Tory	President of the Board of Control (1793–) and Secretary of State for War
His Grace The Duke of Portland	11 July 1794	30 July 1801	Tory	Lord President of the Council
The Rt. Hon. Lord Pelham	30 July 1801	17 August 1803	Whig	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Rt. Hon. Charles Yorke MP	17 August 1803	12 May 1804	Tory	First Lord of the Admiralty (1810–)
The Rt. Hon. The Lord Hawkesbury	12 May 1804	5 February 1806	Tory	Secretary of State for the Home Department (1807–)
The Rt. Hon. The Earl Spencer	5 February 1806	25 March 1807	Whig	None
The Rt. Hon. The Lord Hawkesbury (inherited his father's peerage in 1808, becoming The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Liverpool)	25 March 1807	1 November 1809	Tory	Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
The Rt. Hon. Richard Ryder MP	1 November 1809	8 June 1812	Tory	None
The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Sidmouth	11 June 1812	17 January 1822	Tory	None
The Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bt. MP	17 January 1822	10 April 1827	Tory	Secretary of State for the Home Department (1828–)
The Rt. Hon. William Bourne MP	30 April 1827	16 July 1827	Tory	First Commissioner of Woods and Forests
The Most Hon. The Marquess of Lansdowne	16 July 1827	22 January 1828	Whig	Lord President of the Council (1830–)
The Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bt. MP	26 January 1828	22 November 1830	Tory	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–)
The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Melbourne	22 November 1830	16 July 1834	Whig	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Rt. Hon. Viscount Duncannon	19 July 1834	15 November 1834	Whig	Lord Privy Seal and First Commissioner of Woods and Forests
His Grace The Duke of Wellington KG KP GCB GCH	15 November 1834	15 December 1834	Tory	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of Lords
The Rt. Hon. Henry Goulburn MP	15 December 1834	18 April 1835	Conservative	Chancellor of the Exchequer (1841–)
The Rt. Hon. Lord John Russell	18 April 1835	30 August 1839	Whig	Leader of the House of Commons and Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
The Most Hon. The Marquess of Normanby	30 August 1839	30 August 1841	Whig	None
Sir James Graham, 2nd Baronet	6 September 1841	30 June 1846	Conservative
Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet	8 July 1846	23 February 1852	Whig
Spencer Horatio Walpole	27 February 1852	19 December 1852	Conservative
The Viscount Palmerstone	28 December 1852	6 February 1855	Whig
Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet	8 February 1855	26 February 1858	Whig
Spencer Horatio Walpole	26 February 1858	3 March 1859	Conservative
Thomas H. Sotheron-Estcourt	3 March 1859	18 June 1859	Conservative
Sir George Cornewall Lewis, 2nd Baronet	18 June 1859	25 July 1861	Liberal
Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet	25 July 1861	28 June 1866	Liberal
Spencer Horatio Walpole	6 July 1866	17 May 1867	Conservative
Gathorne Hardy	17 May 1867	3 December 1868	Conservative
Henry Bruce	9 December 1868	9 August 1873	Liberal
Robert Lowe	9 August 1873	20 February 1874	Liberal
Richard Cross	21 February 1874	23 April 1880	Conservative
Sir William Harcourt	28 April 1880	23 June 1885	Liberal
Richard Cross	24 June 1885	1 February 1886	Conservative
Hugh Childers	6 February 1886	25 July 1886	Liberal
Henry Matthews	3 August 1886	15 August 1892	Conservative
H. H. Asquith	18 August 1892	25 June 1895	Liberal
Sir Matthew Ridley	29 June 1895	12 November 1900	Conservative
Charles Ritchie	12 November 1900	12 July 1902	Conservative
Aretas Akers-Douglas	12 July 1902	5 December 1905	Conservative
Herbert Gladstone	11 December 1905	19 February 1910	Liberal
Winston Churchill	19 February 1910	24 October 1911	Liberal
Reginald McKenna	24 October 1911	27 May 1915	Liberal
Sir John Simon	27 May 1915	12 January 1916	Liberal
Herbert Samuel	12 January 1916	7 December 1916	Liberal
George Cave, 1st Viscount Cave	11 December 1916	14 January 1919	Conservative
Edward Shortt	14 January 1919	23 October 1922	Liberal
William Bridgeman	25 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative
Arthur Henderson	23 January 1924	4 November 1924	Labour
Sir William Joynson-Hicks	7 November 1924	5 June 1929	Conservative
J. R. Clynes	8 June 1929	26 August 1931	Labour
Sir Herbert Samuel	26 August 1931	1 October 1932	Liberal
Sir John Gilmour	1 October 1932	7 June 1935	Unionist
The Rt. Hon. Sir John Simon MP	7 June 1935	28 May 1937	National Liberal
The Rt. Hon. Sir Samuel Hoare MP	28 May 1937	3 September 1939	Conservative
The Rt. Hon. Sir John Anderson MP	4 September 1939	4 October 1940	Conservative
Herbert Morrison	4 October 1940	23 May 1945	Labour
The Rt. Hon. Sir Donald Somervell MP	25 May 1945	26 July 1945	Conservative
James Chuter Ede	3 August 1945	26 October 1951	Labour
Sir David Maxwell Fyfe	27 October 1951	19 October 1954	Conservative
Gwilym Lloyd George	19 October 1954	14 January 1957	Conservative
The Rt. Hon. Rab Butler MP	14 January 1957	13 July 1962	Conservative
Henry Brooke	14 July 1962	16 October 1964	Conservative
The Rt. Hon Frank Soskice MP	18 October 1964	23 December 1965	Labour
The Rt. Hon. Roy Jenkins MP	23 December 1965	30 November 1967	Labour
The Rt. Hon. James Callaghan MP	30 November 1967	19 June 1970	Labour
The Rt. Hon. Reginauld Maudling MP	20 June 1970	18 July 1972	Conservative
Robert Carr	18 July 1972	4 March 1974	Conservative
Roy Jenkins	5 March 1974	10 September 1976	Labour
Merlyn Rees	10 September 1976	4 May 1979	Labour
William Whitelaw	4 May 1979	11 June 1983	Conservative
Leon Brittan	11 June 1983	2 September 1985	Conservative
Douglas Hurd	2 September 1985	26 October 1989	Conservative
David Waddington	24 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative
Kenneth Baker	28 November 1990	11 April 1992	Conservative
Kenneth Clarke	10 April 1992	27 May 1993	Conservative
Michael Howard	27 May 1993	2 May 1997	Conservative
Jack Straw	2 May 1997	8 June 2001	Labour
David Blunkett	8 June 2001	15 December 2004	Labour
Charles Clarke	15 December 2004	5 May 2006	Labour
John Reid	5 May 2006	27 June 2007	Labour
Jacqui Smith	28 June 2007	present	Labour