Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Incumbent Peter Kyle since 29 November 2021
Appointer	Leader of the Opposition
Inaugural holder	Merlyn Rees
Formation	24 March 1972
Website	The Shadow Cabinet

The Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is a member of the British Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and their department, the Northern Ireland Office. The post is currently held by Peter Kyle

Until recently there had been a 'bi-partisan' attitude to Northern Ireland affairs in the House of Commons but the role is influenced by the relationship between the main Official Opposition and parties in the country. The Conservative Party, for example, generally supports the unionist cause and in 2008 re-formalised a (since ended) link with the Ulster Unionist Party and relied on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party until the 2019 United Kingdom General Election in the House of Commons, while Labour has traditionally supported Irish nationalism and is loosely allied to the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The Liberal Democrats are linked with the cross-community Alliance Party.

Shadow Secretaries of State[]

Name			Entered office	Left office	Political party	Shadow Cabinet
	Merlyn Rees		24 March 1972	4 March 1974	Labour	Harold Wilson
	Francis Pym		4 March 1974	29 October 1974	Conservative	Edward Heath
	Ian Gilmour		29 October 1974	18 February 1975	Conservative
	Airey Neave		18 February 1975	30 March 1979	Conservative
						Margaret Thatcher
	Roy Mason		4 May 1979	14 July 1979	Labour	James Callaghan
	Brynmor John		14 July 1979	8 December 1980	Labour
	Don Concannon		8 December 1980	31 October 1983	Labour	Michael Foot
	Peter Archer		31 October 1983	13 July 1987	Labour	Neil Kinnock
	Kevin McNamara		13 July 1987	20 October 1994	Labour
						John Smith
						Margaret Beckett
	Mo Mowlam		20 October 1994	2 May 1997	Labour	Tony Blair
	Andrew Mackay		23 June 1997	14 September 2001	Conservative	William Hague
	Quentin Davies		14 September 2001	11 November 2003	Conservative	Iain Duncan Smith
	David Lidington		11 November 2003	2 July 2007	Conservative	Michael Howard
						David Cameron
	Owen Paterson		2 July 2007	11 May 2010	Conservative
	Shaun Woodward		11 May 2010	7 October 2011	Labour	Harriet Harman
						Ed Miliband
	Vernon Coaker		7 October 2011	7 October 2013	Labour
	Ivan Lewis		7 October 2013	13 September 2015	Labour
						Harriet Harman
	Vernon Coaker		13 September 2015	26 June 2016	Labour	Jeremy Corbyn
	Dave Anderson		26 June 2016	14 June 2017	Labour
	Owen Smith		14 June 2017	23 March 2018	Labour
	Tony Lloyd		23 March 2018	6 April 2020	Labour
	Louise Haigh		6 April 2020	29 November 2021	Labour	Keir Starmer
	Peter Kyle		29 November 2021	Incumbent	Labour

See also[]

• Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
• Northern Ireland Office
• UK Shadow Cabinet
• Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team
• Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
• Northern Ireland Grand Committee

References[]

External links[]

• Conservative Northern Ireland branch
• Conservative Northern Ireland news^{[permanent dead link]}
• Conservative Northern Ireland Education Spokesman
• David Lidington MP
• Lembit Öpik MP