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Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

Member of the British Shadow Cabinet

Member of the British Shadow Cabinet

FieldValue
postShadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
imageOfficial portrait of Alex Burghart.jpg
incumbentAlex Burghart
incumbentsince8 July 2024
appointerLeader of the Opposition
inauguralMerlyn Rees
formation24 March 1972
websiteThe Shadow Cabinet

The shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland is a member of the British Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the secretary of state for Northern Ireland and their department, the Northern Ireland Office. The post is held by Alex Burghart.

Until recently there had been a 'bi-partisan' attitude to Northern Ireland affairs in the House of Commons but the role is influenced by the relationship between the main Official Opposition and parties in the country. The Conservative Party, for example, generally supports the unionist cause and in 2008 re-formalised a (since ended) link with the Ulster Unionist Party and relied on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party until the 2019 United Kingdom General Election in the House of Commons, while Labour has traditionally supported Irish nationalism and is loosely allied to the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The Liberal Democrats are linked with the cross-community Alliance Party.

Shadow secretaries of state

NameEntered officeLeft officeLength of TermPolitical partyShadow CabinetLabour Party (UK)}}"Conservative Party (UK)}}"Conservative Party (UK)}}"Conservative Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 1px " height="30"Labour Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 1px "Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Conservative Party (UK)}}"Conservative Party (UK)}}"Conservative Party (UK)}}"Conservative Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Labour Party (UK)}}"Conservative Party (UK)}}"
Merlyn Rees[[File:Merlyn Rees appearing on After Dark , 16 July 1988 - (cropped).jpg60px]]24 March 19724 March 1974LabourHarold Wilson
Francis Pym[[File:Francis Leslie Pym.jpg60px]]4 March 197429 October 1974Conservative
Edward Heath
Ian Gilmour[[File:No image.svg60px]]29 October 197418 February 1975
Airey Neave[[File:AireyNeave (cropped).jpg60px]]18 February 197530 March 1979
Edward Heath
Margaret Thatcher
Roy Mason[[File:No image.svg60px]]4 May 197914 July 1979LabourJames Callaghan
Brynmor John[[File:No image.svg60px]]14 July 19798 December 1980
Don Concannon[[File:No image.svg60px]]8 December 198031 October 1983Michael Foot
Peter Archer[[File:No image.svg60px]]31 October 198313 July 1987
Neil Kinnock
Kevin McNamara[[File:No image.svg60px]]13 July 198720 October 1994****
John Smith
Margaret Beckett
Mo Mowlam[[File:Mo Mowlam official portrait 2 (cropped).jpg60px]]20 October 19942 May 1997Tony Blair
Andrew Mackay[[File:No image.svg60px]]23 June 199714 September 2001ConservativeWilliam Hague
Quentin Davies[[File:Lord Davies of Stamford 2015.jpg60px]]14 September 200111 November 2003Iain Duncan Smith
David Lidington[[File:David Lidington.JPG80x80px]]11 November 20032 July 2007Michael Howard
David Cameron
Owen Paterson[[File:Brian Cowen and Owen Patterson, June 2010 (cropped).jpg79x79px]]2 July 200711 May 2010
Shaun Woodward[[File:Shaun Woodward, June 2009 cropped.jpg60px]]11 May 20107 October 2011LabourHarriet Harman
Ed Miliband
Vernon Coaker[[File:Official portrait of Vernon Coaker crop 2.jpg60px]]7 October 20117 October 2013
Ivan Lewis[[File:Official portrait of Mr Ivan Lewis crop 2.jpg60px]]7 October 201313 September 2015
Harriet Harman
Vernon Coaker13 September 201526 June 2016Jeremy Corbyn
Dave Anderson[[File:Dave_Anderson_MP_outside_his_Blaydon_office.jpg60px]]26 June 201614 June 2017
Owen Smith[[File:Official portrait of Owen Smith crop 2.jpg60px]]14 June 201723 March 2018
Tony Lloyd[[File:Official_portrait_of_Tony_Lloyd_crop_2.jpg60px]]23 March 20186 April 2020
Louise Haigh[[File:Official_portrait_of_Louise_Haigh_MP_crop_2.jpg60px]]6 April 202029 November 2021Sir Keir Starmer
Peter Kyle[[File:Official_portrait_of_Peter_Kyle_MP_crop_2.jpg60px]]29 November 20214 September 2023
Hilary Benn[[File:Hilary Benn Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024 (crop 1).jpg78x78px]]4 September 20235 July 2024
Alex Burghart[[File:Alex Burghart PMQs.png80x80px]]8 July 2024IncumbentConservativeRishi Sunak
Kemi Badenoch

References

References

  1. (8 July 2024). "Sunak names interim shadow cabinet as David Cameron resigns".
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

official-opposition-(united-kingdom) government-of-northern-ireland
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