Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

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See also
Belfast Agreement (1998) St Andrews Agreement (2006) Elections in Northern Ireland Constituencies • Political parties
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The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is the United Kingdom cabinet minister who has responsibility for government matters relating Northern Ireland. He or she is only responsible to the UK Parliament at Westminster, and not the Northern Ireland Assembly, even when it is sitting.

The role of the Secretary of State is to represent Northern Ireland interests at Westminster. He or she, along with the ministers of the Northern Ireland Office also perform many of the functions which would otherwise be carried out by the Northern Ireland Assembly were it in operation. Even when the assembly is sitting, the role of the Secretary of State still exists, although his role and that of his ministers is greatly diminished.

As neither the Labour nor Conservative parties has ever won a UK parliamentary election in Northern Ireland since its inception, no Northern Ireland Office minister have ever represented a Northern Ireland constituency.

1 History
2 Secretaries of State (1972- present)
3 Notes
4 See also

[edit] History

The office was created following the suspension, then abolition, of the home rule Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1972, following widespread civil strife. The post of Secretary of State in effect fills two roles under the previous Stormont regime; the nominal head of the Northern Ireland executive, the Governor of Northern Ireland (the representative of Queen Elizabeth II) and the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State resides in Hillsborough Castle, the previous residence of the Governor and the Queen's official residence in Northern Ireland.

Power was devolved back to Northern Ireland on January 1, 1974 to the Northern Ireland Assembly under Brian Faulkner, but this administration collapsed on May 29 after a widespread strike organised by the loyalist Ulster Workers' Council, who refused to countenance the power-sharing and All-Ireland aspects of the new administration. In 1982 a second Northern Ireland Assembly was established with the hope that it would eventually assume power, but this Assembly was prorogued shortly after the Anglo-Irish Agreement.

Under the Belfast Agreement (also called the Good Friday Agreement), the third Northern Ireland Assembly was established. In 1999 the new coalition government was established, consisting of a First Minister of Northern Ireland, a Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and an inter-party cabinet. This removed many of the Secretary of State and his Northern Ireland Office colleagues and devolved them to locally-elected politicians.

The devolved administration was suspended several times because the Ulster Unionists were uncomfortable being in government with Sinn Féin when the Provisional IRA had failed to fully decommission. On each of these occasions, the responsibilities of the ministers in the Executive then returned to to the Secretary of State and his ministers.

Although there remain difficulties about forming an Executive and devolving powers from the Secretary of State and Northern Ireland Office to locally elected politicians, most parties in Northern Ireland agree that decisions are better made by politicians who have to answer to the local electorate rather than so-called fly-away ministers who have always represented constituencies in Great Britain.

[edit] Secretaries of State (1972- present)

Name	Took up post	Relinquished Post	Political party
William Whitelaw	March 24, 1972	December 2, 1973	Conservative
Francis Pym	December 2, 1973	March 4, 1974	Conservative
Merlyn Rees	March 5, 1974	September 10, 1976	Labour
Roy Mason	September 10, 1976	May 4, 1979	Labour
Humphrey Atkins	May 5, 1979	September 14, 1981	Conservative
James Prior	September 14, 1981	September 11, 1984	Conservative
Douglas Hurd	September 11, 1984	September 3, 1985	Conservative
Tom King	September 3, 1985	July 24, 1989	Conservative
Peter Brooke	July 24, 1989	April 10, 1992	Conservative
Sir Patrick Mayhew	April 10, 1992	May 2, 1997	Conservative
Mo Mowlam	May 3, 1997	October 11, 1999	Labour
Peter Mandelson	October 11, 1999	January 24, 2001*	Labour
John Reid	January 25, 2001	October 24, 2002	Labour
Paul Murphy	October 24, 2002	May 6, 2005	Labour
Peter Hain^[1]	May 6, 2005		Labour