Secretary of State for Wales

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. When they came to power in 1964 this was soon put into effect.

The post of Secretary of State for Wales came into existence on 17 October 1964; the first incumbent was 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, was united in a newly created Welsh Office with the secretary of state for Wales at its head, and the Welsh secretary became responsible for education and training, health, trade and industry, environment, transport and agriculture within Wales.

During the 1980s and 1990s, as the number of Conservative MPs for Welsh constituencies dwindled almost to zero, the office fell into disrepute. Nicholas Edwards, MP for Pembrokeshire, held the post for eight years. 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 when he publicly demonstrated his inability to sing "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", the Welsh national anthem, at a conference.

The introduction of the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Government, after 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, to reflect the lesser powers of the role since devolution.[4][5] Those calling for a Secretary of State for the Union include Robert Hazell,[6] in a department into which Rodney Brazier has suggested adding a Minister of State for England with responsibility for English local government.[7]

Colour key
  Conservative   National Liberal   Labour

Ministers of Welsh Affairs (1951–1964)
Secretary of State			Term of office		Political party	Cabinet	Prime Minister
		David Maxwell Fyfe MP for Liverpool West Derby (also Home Secretary)	28 October 1951	18 October 1954	Conservative	Churchill III		Winston Churchill
		Gwilym Lloyd George MP for Newcastle North (also Home Secretary)	18 October 1954	13 January 1957	Liberal & Conservative	Churchill III
						Eden		Anthony Eden
		Henry Brooke MP for Hampstead (also Min. of Housing & Local Govt.)	13 January 1957	9 October 1961	Conservative	Macmillan I		Harold Macmillan
						Macmillan II
		Charles Hill MP for Luton (also Min. of Housing & Local Govt.)	9 October 1961	13 July 1962	National Liberal & Conservative	Macmillan II
		Keith Joseph MP for Leeds North East (also Min. of Housing & Local Govt.)	13 July 1962	16 October 1964	Conservative	Macmillan II
						Douglas-Home		Alec Douglas-Home
Secretaries of State for Wales (1964–present)
Secretary of State			Term of office		Political party	Cabinet	Prime Minister
		Jim Griffiths MP for Llanelli	18 October 1964	5 April 1966	Labour	Wilson I		Harold Wilson
		Cledwyn Hughes MP for Anglesey	5 April 1966	5 April 1968	Labour	Wilson II
		George Thomas MP for Cardiff West	5 April 1968	20 June 1970	Labour	Wilson II
		Peter Thomas MP for Hendon South	20 June 1970	5 March 1974	Conservative	Heath		Edward Heath
		John Morris MP for Aberavon	5 March 1974	4 May 1979	Labour	Wilson III		Harold Wilson
						Callaghan		James Callaghan
		Nicholas Edwards MP for Pembrokeshire	4 May 1979	13 June 1987	Conservative	Thatcher I		Margaret Thatcher
						Thatcher II
		Peter Walker MP for Worcester	13 June 1987	4 May 1990	Conservative	Thatcher III
		David Hunt MP for Wirral West	4 May 1990	27 May 1993	Conservative	Major I		John Major
						Major II
		John Redwood MP for Wokingham	27 May 1993	26 June 1995[fn 1]	Conservative	Major II
		David Hunt MP for Wirral West (acting)	26 June 1995	5 July 1995	Conservative	Major II
		William Hague MP for Richmond (Yorks)	5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative	Major II
		Ron Davies MP for Caerphilly	2 May 1997	27 October 1998[fn 2]	Labour	Blair I		Tony Blair
		Alun Michael MP for Cardiff South and Penarth	27 October 1998	28 July 1999[fn 3]	Labour	Blair I
		Paul Murphy MP for Torfaen	28 July 1999	24 October 2002	Labour	Blair I
						Blair II
		Peter Hain MP for Neath (also Ldr. of the Commons 2003–05 Northern Ireland Sec. 2005–07 Work & Pensions Sec. 2007–08)	24 October 2002	24 January 2008	Labour	Blair II
						Blair III
						Brown		Gordon Brown
		Paul Murphy MP for Torfaen	24 January 2008	5 June 2009	Labour	Brown
		Peter Hain MP for Neath	5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour	Brown
		Cheryl Gillan MP for Chesham and Amersham	11 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative	Coalition		David Cameron
		David Jones MP for Clwyd West	4 September 2012	14 July 2014	Conservative	Coalition
		Stephen Crabb MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire	15 July 2014	19 March 2016	Conservative	Coalition
						Cameron II
		Alun Cairns MP for Vale of Glamorgan	19 March 2016	6 November 2019	Conservative	Cameron II
						May I		Theresa May
						May II
						Johnson I		Boris Johnson
		Simon Hart MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire	16 December 2019[8]	6 July 2022	Conservative	Johnson I
						Johnson II
		Robert Buckland MP for South Swindon	7 July 2022	25 October 2022	Conservative	Johnson II
						Truss		Liz Truss
		David TC Davies MP for Monmouth	25 October 2022	Incumbent	Conservative	Sunak		Rishi Sunak

Note

• First Minister for Wales
• Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
• Secretary of State for Scotland

• 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