Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa | |
|---|---|
Incumbent since 7 September 2025Vacant | |
| Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | |
| Style | Minister |
| Nominator | Prime Minister |
| Appointer | The King (on the advice of the Prime Minister) |
| Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure |
| Formation | 28 June 2007 |
The parliamentary under-secretary of state for Africa is a ministerial portfolio in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK government. The minister has responsibility for most of Africa, except North Africa which is part of the parliamentary under-secretary of state for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan portfolio.
History
During the Brown ministry, Mark Malloch Brown was appointed Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with Africa included as part of his portfolio. North Africa was combined with the Middle East in a single portfolio held by Bill Rammell.[1] Following the Conservative Party's victory at the 2010 United Kingdom general election and the subsequent formation of the Cameron-Clegg coalition, both portfolios were retained but demoted to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State rank and assigned to Henry Bellingham and Alistair Burt, respectively.[2] Upon the formation of the First May ministry, both portfolios were combined into a single Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East and Africa held by Tobias Ellwood, but were later returned to their original portfolios at Minister of State rank.[3][4] This arrangement was retained by the First Johnson ministry, but under the Second Johnson ministry the Africa portfolio was demoted back to Parliamentary Secretary rank.[5]
In early 2022, Africa was combined with Latin America and the Caribbean in a new parliamentary under-secretary of state portfolio assigned to Vicky Ford, while North Africa was joined with South and Central Asia.[6] During the brief Truss ministry, responsibility for the whole of Africa was assigned to Gillian Keegan as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.[7] For the duration of the Sunak ministry North Africa was once again combined with the Middle East portfolio under Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, while the rest of Africa was combined with the Minister of State for Development under Andrew Mitchell.[8][9] With the formation of the Starmer ministry in 2024, North Africa and the Middle East were assigned to Hamish Falconer and the rest of Africa to Lord Collins of Highbury, both as Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State.[10][7]
Responsibilities
The following is a list of the office's current responsibilities:[11]
- Africa
- United Nations, Commonwealth and multilateral
- democracy and human rights
- Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict
List of ministers for Africa
The following is a list of ministers for Africa since 2007:[1][12][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
| Title | Name | Portrait | Term of office | Length of service | Political party | P.M. | F.Sec. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minister of State[a] | 28 June 2007 | 24 July 2009 | 2 years and 26 days | Labour | Brown | Miliband | ||||
| 13 October 2009 | 11 May 2010 | 6 months and 28 days | ||||||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa[b] | 11 May 2010 | 5 September 2012 | 6 months and 18 days | Conservative | Cameron | Hague | ||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State[c] | 5 September 2012 | 11 August 2014 | 1 year, 7 months and 3 days | |||||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State[d] | 11 August 2014 | 16 July 2016 | 11 months and 22 days | Hammond | ||||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East and Africa | 16 July 2016 | 13 June 2017 | 10 months and 28 days | May | Johnson | |||||
| Minister of State for Africa[e] | 15 June 2017 | 9 January 2018 | 6 months and 25 days | |||||||
| Minister of State for International Development and Africa[f] | 9 January 2018 | 25 July 2019 | 1 year, 6 months and 16 days | Hunt | ||||||
| Minister of State for Africa[g] | 25 July 2019 | 13 February 2020 | 6 months and 18 days | Johnson | Raab | |||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa[h] | 13 February 2020 | 16 September 2021 | 1 year, 7 months and 3 days | |||||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa (2021–2022)[i] Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean (2022)[j] |
16 September 2021 | 6 September 2022 | 11 months and 22 days | Truss | ||||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa | 7 September 2022 | 25 October 2022 | 1 month and 18 days | Truss | Cleverly | |||||
| Minister of State for Development and Africa[k] | 25 October 2022 | 5 July 2024 | 1 month and 18 days | Sunak | Cleverly Cameron | |||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa[l] | 9 July 2024 | 7 September 2025 | 1 year, 1 month and 29 days | Labour | Starmer | Lammy | ||||
See also
- Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
- Minister of State for Europe
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Notes
- ^ North Africa was the responsibility of Bill Rammell from 2007 to 2009 and Ivan Lewis from 2009 to 2010.[1][12]
- ^ North Africa was part of Alistair Burt's portfolio as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East and North Africa[2]
- ^ North Africa was part of Alistair Burt's portfolio.[13]
- ^ North Africa was part of Tobias Ellwood's portfolio.[14]
- ^ North Africa was the responsibility of Alistair Burt as Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa.[4]
- ^ North Africa was the responsibility of Alistair Burt as Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa.[15]
- ^ North Africa was the responsibility of Andrew Murrison as Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa.[16]
- ^ North Africa was the responsibility of James Cleverly as Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa.[17]
- ^ North Africa was the responsibility of James Cleverly as Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa.[18]
- ^ North Africa was the respponsibility of Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon as Minister of State for South and Central Asia, United Nations, and the Commonwealth.[6]
- ^ North Africa was the responsibility of Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon as minister of state for Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, United Nations and the Commonwealth.[8]
- ^ North Africa is the responsibility of Hamish Falconer as parliamentary under-secretary of state for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan.[19]
References
- ^ a b c List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments November 2008. Cabinet Office.
- ^ a b c "List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments July 2010" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
- ^ a b List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments October 2016. Cabinet Office.
- ^ a b c "List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments December 2017" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
- ^ a b "List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non-Ministerial Departments August 2020" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
- ^ a b c "List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments May 2022" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
- ^ a b c "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Africa)". GOV.UK. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
- ^ a b c "Minister of State (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, United Nations and the Commonwealth)". GOV.UK. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
- ^ a b "Minister of State (Development and Africa)". GOV.UK. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
- ^ a b "Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan)". GOV.UK. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
- ^ This article incorporates text published under the British Open Government Licence: "Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Africa)". GOV.UK. Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
- ^ a b List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments October 2009. Cabinet Office.
- ^ "List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments December 2013" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
- ^ List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments July 2015. Cabinet Office.
- ^ "List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments March 2018" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
- ^ "List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments October 2019" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
- ^ "List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments March 2021" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
- ^ "List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments November 2021" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
- ^ "List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including the List of Non- Ministerial Departments and Executive Agencies November 2024" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 13 September 2025.