Secretary of State for Northern Ireland facts for kids

Quick facts for kids United Kingdom Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent Hilary Benn since 5 July 2024
Style	Northern Ireland Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (within the UK and Commonwealth)
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council
Reports to	The Prime Minister
Residence	Hillsborough Castle
Seat	Westminster
Nominator	The Prime Minister
Appointer	The Monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Precursor	Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Governor of Northern Ireland
Formation	24 March 1972
First holder	William Whitelaw
Deputy	Minister of State for Northern Ireland
Salary	£159,038 per annum (2022) (including £86,584 MP salary)

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is a very important government job in the United Kingdom. This person is in charge of the Northern Ireland Office, which helps run things in Northern Ireland. People sometimes call this role the Northern Ireland Secretary. The person holding this job is also a member of the Cabinet. The Cabinet is a group of the most important ministers who advise the Prime Minister. The current Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is Hilary Benn.

The Secretary of State works with other ministers in the Northern Ireland Office. There is also a "shadow minister" from the opposition party. This person watches what the Secretary of State does and suggests different ideas.

How the Job Started

For a long time, different people were in charge of Irish affairs for the UK Government.

• The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was in charge from around 1171 to 1922.
• The Chief Secretary for Ireland also had a big role from 1560 to 1922.
• After 1922, the Home Secretary looked after Northern Ireland until 1972.

In 1969, the Home Secretary, James Callaghan, sent British soldiers to Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales had their own Secretaries of State. But Northern Ireland was different because it had its own local government. This government was called the Government of Northern Ireland and the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

The job of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was created in 1972. This happened after the Northern Ireland government, based at Stormont, was stopped. There were many problems and disagreements in Northern Ireland at that time. The British government felt that Stormont was losing control. So, on 30 March 1972, the UK government took direct control from Westminster.

The new Secretary of State took over three important roles that existed before:

• The governor of Northern Ireland: This person was the official head of the government and represented the British monarch.
• The prime minister of Northern Ireland: Today, this role is shared by the first minister of Northern Ireland and deputy first minister.
• The minister of home affairs: Now, this role is handled by the minister of justice.

Direct rule was meant to be a short-term solution. The goal was to have a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland again. Parliament had to vote each year to continue direct rule.

Working Towards Peace

In 1973, the Sunningdale Agreement tried to set up a power-sharing government. This new government, called the Northern Ireland Executive, started on 1 January 1974. However, it only lasted a few months. A big strike by loyalist workers ended it on 28 May 1974. The strikers did not like the idea of power-sharing or the links with the rest of Ireland.

Later attempts to bring back local government also failed. These included the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (1975–1976) and the Northern Ireland Assembly (1982–1986). After the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, the UK and Irish governments started working more closely. They cooperated on security and political issues.

A major step towards peace was the Belfast Agreement, also known as the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement was signed on 10 April 1998. It led to the return of local government in Northern Ireland on 2 December 1999. This meant many of the Secretary of State's duties were given to local politicians. These politicians form the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Secretary's Role Today

The Secretary of State used to have a lot of power over Northern Ireland's internal affairs. But now, with devolution, many of those powers belong to the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Northern Ireland Executive.

Today, the Secretary of State mainly:

• Represents Northern Ireland in the UK cabinet.
• Makes sure the local government is working well.
• Handles certain issues that only the UK government controls. These include security, human rights, some public investigations, and running elections.

Since 1972, the job has been held by politicians from either the Conservative Party or the Labour Party. These Secretaries of State usually do not represent a local area in Northern Ireland. This is different from the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales.

The Secretary of State officially lives at Hillsborough Castle. This castle used to be the home of the Governor of Northern Ireland. It is also still a royal residence for the monarch in Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State works with and is supported by the Northern Ireland Office (NIO).

Sometimes, the local government in Northern Ireland has been stopped. This happened several times, especially between 2002 and 2007. During these times, the Secretary of State and their ministers took back control. They also worked hard to negotiate with all the political parties to get the local government working again.

Local government returned to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 May 2007. The Secretary of State kept control over policing and justice for a while. But most of those powers were also given to the local government on 12 April 2010.

List of Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland

Colour key
      Conservative       Labour

Secretary of state			Term of office		Party	Prime Minister
		William Whitelaw MP for Penrith and The Border	24 March 1972	2 December 1973	Conservative		Edward Heath
		Francis Pym MP for Cambridgeshire	2 December 1973	4 March 1974	Conservative
		Merlyn Rees MP for Leeds South	5 March 1974	10 September 1976	Labour		Harold Wilson
		Roy Mason MP for Barnsley	10 September 1976	4 May 1979	Labour		James Callaghan
		Humphrey Atkins MP for Spelthorne	5 May 1979	14 September 1981	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
		Jim Prior MP for Lowestoft (until 1983) MP for Waveney (from 1983)	14 September 1981	11 September 1984	Conservative
		Douglas Hurd MP for Witney	11 September 1984	3 September 1985	Conservative
		Tom King MP for Bridgwater	3 September 1985	24 July 1989	Conservative
		Peter Brooke MP for Cities of London and Westminster South	24 July 1989	10 April 1992	Conservative
							John Major
		Patrick Mayhew MP for Tunbridge Wells	10 April 1992	2 May 1997	Conservative
		Mo Mowlam MP for Redcar	3 May 1997	11 October 1999	Labour		Tony Blair
		Peter Mandelson MP for Hartlepool	11 October 1999	24 January 2001	Labour
		John Reid MP for Hamilton North and Bellshill	25 January 2001	24 October 2002	Labour
		Paul Murphy MP for Torfaen	24 October 2002	6 May 2005	Labour
		Peter Hain MP for Neath (also Welsh Secretary)	6 May 2005	28 June 2007	Labour
		Shaun Woodward MP for St Helens South	28 June 2007	11 May 2010	Labour		Gordon Brown
		Owen Paterson MP for North Shropshire	12 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative		David Cameron (Coalition)
		Theresa Villiers MP for Chipping Barnet	4 September 2012	14 July 2016	Conservative
							David Cameron (II)
		James Brokenshire MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup	14 July 2016	8 January 2018	Conservative		Theresa May (I)
							Theresa May (II)
		Karen Bradley MP for Staffordshire Moorlands	8 January 2018	24 July 2019	Conservative
		Julian Smith MP for Skipton and Ripon	24 July 2019	13 February 2020	Conservative		Boris Johnson (I)
							Boris Johnson (II)
		Brandon Lewis MP for Great Yarmouth	13 February 2020	7 July 2022	Conservative
		Shailesh Vara MP for North West Cambridgeshire	7 July 2022	6 September 2022	Conservative
		Chris Heaton-Harris MP for Daventry	6 September 2022	5 July 2024	Conservative		Liz Truss (I)
							Rishi Sunak (I)
		Hilary Benn MP for Leeds South	5 July 2024	Incumbent	Labour		Keir Starmer (I)

Timeline of Secretaries

See Also

• First Minister of Northern Ireland
• Great Seal of Northern Ireland
• Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
• Secretary of State (United Kingdom)
• Secretary of State for Scotland
• Secretary of State for Wales
• Chief Secretary for Ireland, a job that existed until 1922
• Governor of Northern Ireland, a job that existed from 1922 to 1973