Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

The secretary of state for Northern Ireland (Irish: Rúnaí Stáit Thuaisceart Éireann; Scots: Secretar o State for Norlin Airlan), also called the Northern Ireland secretary or SoSNI, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom. They are in charge of the Northern Ireland Office. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. They are 17th in the ministerial ranking.

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 the Commonwealth)
Status	Secretary of state Minister of the Crown
Residence	Hillsborough Castle
Appointer	The Monarch on 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
Website	www.nio.gov.uk

The works with the other Northern Ireland Office ministers. The shadow minister is the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

History

Historically, the main ministers for Irish (and Northern Ireland) affairs in the UK Government were:

• the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (c.1171–1922);
• the Chief Secretary for Ireland (1560–1922); and
• the Home Secretary (1922–1972).

Scotland and Wales have had the Secretary of State for Scotland (1885) and Secretary of State for Wales (1964) for a long time but Northern Ireland did not have a Secretary. This was caused by the Government of Northern Ireland and Parliament of Northern Ireland. The office of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was created after the Northern Ireland government (at Stormont) was suspended. The government was later ended after civil problems. The British government was worried that the Parliament of Northern Ireland was losing control of the situation. On 30 March 1972, the country was put under the direct rule of the british Parliamen. The Secretary of State replced three jobs from the previous government. These were:

• the Governor of Northern Ireland - The main representative of the British monarch
• the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland - now the First Minister of Northern Ireland and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland
• the Minister of Home Affairs - Now the Minister of Justice

Direct rule was expected to last for only a short time. Sharing the pwer was preferred as the solution. It has been renewed by a vote in Parliament each year. The Sunningdale Agreement in 1973 created the Northern Ireland Executive from 1 January 1974. It was ended by the Ulster Workers' Council strike on 28 May 1974. The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (1975–1976) and Northern Ireland Assembly (1982–1986) could not restore the government. Following the Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement) on 10 April 1998 removed many of the duties of the Secretary of State and the Northern Ireland Office.

Many of the powers of the Secretary have been given to the Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive. The secretary of state in now limited to representing Northern Ireland in the UK cabinet and controling the operation of the administration. They are also in charge of several other areas. These include security, human rights, some public inquiries and elections.

The secretary of state officially lives in Hillsborough Castle. It was the official home of the governor of Northern Ireland. The castle is still a royal residence of the monarch in Northern Ireland.

List of secretaries of state for Northern Ireland

Portrait	Name	Term of office		Length of term	Party	Prime Minister
	William Whitelaw MP for Penrith and The Border	24 March 1972	2 December 1973	1 year, 253 days	Conservative	Edward Heath
	Francis Pym MP for Cambridgeshire	2 December 1973	4 March 1974	3 months and 2 days	Conservative
	Merlyn Rees MP for Leeds South	5 March 1974	10 September 1976	2 years, 189 days	Labour	Harold Wilson
	Roy Mason MP for Barnsley	10 September 1976	4 May 1979	2 years, 236 days	Labour	James Callaghan
	Humphrey Atkins MP for Spelthorne	5 May 1979	14 September 1981	2 years, 132 days	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher
	Jim Prior MP for Lowestoft (until 1983) MP for Waveney (from 1983)	14 September 1981	11 September 1984	2 years, 363 days	Conservative
	Douglas Hurd MP for Witney	11 September 1984	3 September 1985	11 months and 23 days	Conservative
	Tom King MP for Bridgwater	3 September 1985	24 July 1989	3 years, 324 days	Conservative
	Peter Brooke MP for Cities of London and Westminster South	24 July 1989	10 April 1992	2 years, 261 days	Conservative
						John Major
	Sir Patrick Mayhew MP for Tunbridge Wells	10 April 1992	2 May 1997	5 years and 22 days	Conservative
	Mo Mowlam MP for Redcar	3 May 1997	11 October 1999	2 years, 161 days	Labour	Tony Blair
	Peter Mandelson MP for Hartlepool	11 October 1999	24 January 2001	1 year, 105 days	Labour
	John Reid MP for Hamilton North and Bellshill	25 January 2001	24 October 2002	1 year, 272 days	Labour
	Paul Murphy MP for Torfaen	24 October 2002	6 May 2005	2 years, 194 days	Labour
	Peter Hain MP for Neath (also Welsh Secretary)	6 May 2005	28 June 2007	2 years, 53 days	Labour
	Shaun Woodward MP for St Helens South	28 June 2007	11 May 2010	2 years, 317 days	Labour	Gordon Brown
	Owen Paterson MP for North Shropshire	12 May 2010	4 September 2012	2 years, 115 days	Conservative	David Cameron (Coalition)
	Theresa Villiers MP for Chipping Barnet	4 September 2012	14 July 2016	3 years, 314 days	Conservative
						David Cameron (II)
	James Brokenshire MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup	14 July 2016	8 January 2018	1 year, 178 days	Conservative	Theresa May
	Karen Bradley MP for Staffordshire Moorlands	8 January 2018	24 July 2019	1 year, 197 days	Conservative
	Julian Smith MP for Skipton and Ripon	24 July 2019	13 February 2020	6 months and 20 days	Conservative	Boris Johnson
	Brandon Lewis MP for Great Yarmouth	13 February 2020	7 July 2022	2 years, 144 days	Conservative
	Shailesh Vara MP for North West Cambridgeshire	7 July 2022	6 September 2022	61 days	Conservative
	Chris Heaton-Harris MP for Daventry	6 September 2022	5 July 2024	1 year, 303 days	Conservative	Liz Truss
						Rishi Sunak
	Hilary Benn MP for Leeds South	5 July 2024	Incumbent	133 days*	Labour	Keir Starmer

* Incumbent's length of term last updated: 15 November 2024.