Secretary of State for Wales

Secretary of State for Wales
Royal Badge of Wales (Red Dragon version)
Incumbent Alun Cairns since 19 March 2016
Wales Office
Style	The Right Honourable
Appointer	Elizabeth II
Formation	18 October 1964
Website	Official website

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Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Wales (Welsh: Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru) is the principal minister of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. They are a member of the cabinet and the head of the Wales Office. They are responsible for ensuring Welsh interests are taken into account by Her Majesty's Government, representing the government within Wales and overseeing the passing of legislation which is only for Wales. The current Secretary of State for Wales is Alun Cairns following Stephen Crabb's appointment to become Work and Pensions Secretary.

Creation

In the first half of the 20th century, a number of politicians had supported the creation of the post of Secretary of State for Wales as a step towards Home Rule for Wales. A post of Minister of Welsh Affairs was created in 1951 under the Home Secretary and was upgraded to Minister of State level in 1954.

The Labour Party proposed the creation of a Welsh Office run by a Secretary of State for Wales in their manifesto for the 1959 general election and once they came to power in 1964 this could be put into effect.

The post of Secretary of State for Wales came into existence on 17 October 1964, the first incumbent being Jim Griffiths, MP for Llanelli. The position entailed responsibility for Wales and expenditure on certain public services was delegated from Westminster. In April 1965 administration of Welsh affairs, which had previously been divided between a number of government departments were united in a newly created Welsh Office with the Secretary of State for Wales at its head. As a result, the Welsh Secretary came to have responsibility for education and training, health, trade and industry, environment, transport and agriculture within Wales.

History

During the 1980s and 1990s, as the number of Conservative MPs for Welsh constituencies dwindled almost to nothing, the office fell into disrepute. Nicholas Edwards, MP for Pembrokeshire, held the post for some years, but was constantly mocked for his upper-class appearance and accent. On his departure, the government ceased to look within Wales for the Secretary of State, and the post was increasingly used as a way of getting junior high-fliers into the Cabinet. John Redwood in particular caused embarrassment to the government when he publicly demonstrated an inability to sing (or even successfully mime) "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", the Welsh national anthem.

The introduction of the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Government following the devolution referendum of 1997 was the beginning of a new era. On 1 July 1999 the majority of the functions of the Welsh Office transferred to the new assembly. The Welsh Office was disbanded but the post of Secretary of State for Wales was retained, as the head of the newly created Wales Office.

Since 1999 there have been calls for the office of Welsh Secretary to be scrapped or merged with the posts of Secretary of State for Scotland and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland due to the lesser powers of the role since devolution.^[1]^[2]

Ministers and Secretaries of State

Colour key
Conservative National Liberal Labour


Name		Term of office		Political party	Nation of Birth	Welsh constituency	Prime Minister
	Sir David Maxwell Fyfe (also Home Secretary)	28 October 1951	18 October 1954	Conservative	Scotland	No		Sir Winston Churchill
	Gwilym Lloyd George (also Home Secretary)	18 October 1954	13 January 1957	Liberal & Conservative	Wales	No^[1]		Sir Winston Churchill
	Gwilym Lloyd George (also Home Secretary)	18 October 1954	13 January 1957	Liberal & Conservative	Wales	No^[1]		Sir Anthony Eden
	Henry Brooke (also Min. of Housing & Local Govt.)	13 January 1957	9 October 1961	Conservative	England	No		Harold Macmillan
	Charles Hill (also Min. of Housing & Local Govt.)	9 October 1961	13 July 1962	National Liberal & Conservative	England	No
	Sir Keith Joseph (also Min. of Housing & Local Govt.)	13 July 1962	16 October 1964	Conservative	England	No
	Sir Keith Joseph (also Min. of Housing & Local Govt.)	13 July 1962	16 October 1964	Conservative	England	No		Sir Alec Douglas-Home

Name		Term of office		Political party	Nation of Birth	Welsh constituency	Prime Minister
	Jim Griffiths	18 October 1964	5 April 1966	Labour	Wales	Llanelli		Harold Wilson
	Cledwyn Hughes	5 April 1966	5 April 1968	Labour	Wales	Anglesey
	George Thomas	5 April 1968	20 June 1970	Labour	Wales	Cardiff West
	Peter Thomas	20 June 1970	5 March 1974	Conservative	Wales	No^[2]		Edward Heath
	John Morris	5 March 1974	5 May 1979	Labour	Wales	Aberavon		Harold Wilson
	John Morris	5 March 1974	5 May 1979	Labour	Wales	Aberavon		James Callaghan
	Nicholas Edwards	5 May 1979	13 June 1987	Conservative	England	Pembrokeshire		Margaret Thatcher
	Peter Walker	13 June 1987	4 May 1990	Conservative	England	No		Margaret Thatcher
	David Hunt	4 May 1990	27 May 1993	Conservative	Wales	No		John Major
	John Redwood	27 May 1993	26 June 1995^[3]	Conservative	England	No
	David Hunt (acting^[3])	26 June 1995	5 July 1995	Conservative	Wales	No
	William Hague	5 July 1995	3 May 1997	Conservative	England	No
	Ron Davies	3 May 1997	27 October 1998^[4]	Labour	Wales	Caerphilly		Tony Blair
	Alun Michael	27 October 1998	28 July 1999^[5]	Labour	Wales	Cardiff South and Penarth
	Paul Murphy	28 July 1999	24 October 2002	Labour	Wales	Torfaen
	Peter Hain (also Ldr. of the Commons 2003–05 Northern Ireland Sec. 2005–07 Work & Pensions Sec. 2007–08)	24 October 2002	24 January 2008	Labour	British Kenya	Neath
		24 October 2002	24 January 2008	Labour	British Kenya	Neath		Gordon Brown
	Paul Murphy	24 January 2008	5 June 2009	Labour	Wales	Torfaen
	Peter Hain	5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour	British Kenya	Neath
	Cheryl Gillan	11 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative	Wales	No		David Cameron (Coalition)
	David Jones	4 September 2012	14 July 2014	Conservative	England	Clwyd West
	Stephen Crabb	15 July 2014	19 March 2016	Conservative	Scotland	Preseli Pembrokeshire
	Stephen Crabb	15 July 2014	19 March 2016	Conservative	Scotland	Preseli Pembrokeshire		David Cameron (II)
	Alun Cairns	19 March 2016	Incumbent	Conservative	Wales	Vale of Glamorgan		David Cameron (II)

Notes

¹ Formerly MP for Pembrokeshire, but represented an English constituency while in office.

² Formerly MP for Conway, but represented an English constituency while in office.

³ Redwood resigned to stand in the 1995 Conservative leadership election. During the election, Hunt acted as Secretary of State.

⁴ Resigned following a "moment of madness" on Clapham Common.

⁵ Following Government of Wales Act 1998, held office as inaugural First Secretary for Wales from 12 May 1999.

References

↑ "WALES | 'Scrap Welsh secretary' demand". BBC News. 19 March 2001. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
↑ "UK | Wales | Wales Office in melting pot". BBC News. 12 June 2003. Retrieved 7 June 2010.

External links

Current duties of the Secretary of State for Wales
Labour Party in Wales – covers the history of the post
Hain promoted in Brown's cabinet, BBC News Online, 28 June 2007
Hain takes work and pensions job, BBC News Online, 28 June 2007

Secretaries of State for Wales

Wales Office

1964–1970	Griffiths Hughes Thomas

1970–1974	Thomas

1974–1979	Morris

1979–1997	Edwards Walker Hunt Redwood Hunt Hague

1997–2010	Davies Michael Murphy Hain^* Murphy Hain

2010–present	Gillan Jones Crabb Cairns

^*Also Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (2005–2007)

Wales Office

Headquarters: Gwydyr House, Whitehall, London and Caspian Point, Cardiff Bay

Secretary of State	Alun Cairns

Under-Secretary of State	The Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth Guto Bebb

Attorney General	Jeremy Wright

Predecessor: Welsh Office

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