The shadow cabinet minister for international development is the lead spokesperson for the United Kingdom's
Official Opposition
Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...
on issues related to international aid, most notably to the
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...
. The shadow cabinet minister holds the
minister of state for development and Africa
The minister of state for development, formerly the minister of state for development and Africa and the secretary of state for international development, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom
H ...
to account in Parliament. The role previously had no counterpart in the
Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
between 2020 and 2022 after the
Department for International Development
The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...
(DFID) and the role of
international development secretary was abolished by the
second Johnson government in 2020. The position was renamed from shadow secretary of state for international development in November 2021 and placed under the
shadow foreign secretary
The shadow secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, commonly called the shadow foreign secretary, is a position within the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), UK official opposition shadow cabinet th ...
.
The shadow minister also holds the
foreign secretary and other FCDO ministers to account in
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
. DFID was abolished in 2020 but
Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...
retained the role in his Shadow Cabinet.
Before
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
established DfID in
his first government after coming to power in
1997
Events January
* January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States.
* January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis.
* January 1 ...
, there was a minister for overseas development ("minister of" before 1970) who was a part of the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom.
The office was created on 2 ...
. Since 1989, the shadow minister or shadow secretary has usually been a member of the shadow cabinet.
Shadow ministers and secretaries
Notes
References
{{UK Parliament Opposition Cabinet Offices
Official Opposition (United Kingdom)
Department for International Development