The parliamentary under-secretary of state for Africa is a ministerial portfolio in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK government. The minister has responsibility for most of Africa, except North Africa which is part of the parliamentary under-secretary of state for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan portfolio.
History During the Brown ministry, Mark Malloch Brown was appointed Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with Africa included as part of his portfolio. North Africa was combined with the Middle East in a single portfolio held by Bill Rammell. List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments November 2008. Cabinet Office. Following the Conservative Party's victory at the 2010 United Kingdom general election and the subsequent formation of the Cameron-Clegg coalition, both portfolios were retained but demoted to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State rank and assigned to Henry Bellingham and Alistair Burt, respectively. Upon the formation of the First May ministry, both portfolios were combined into a single Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East and Africa held by Tobias Ellwood, but were later returned to their original portfolios at Minister of State rank. List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments October 2016. Cabinet Office. This arrangement was retained by the First Johnson ministry, but under the Second Johnson ministry the Africa portfolio was demoted back to Parliamentary Secretary rank.
In early 2022, Africa was combined with Latin America and the Caribbean in a new parliamentary under-secretary of state portfolio assigned to Vicky Ford, while North Africa was joined with South and Central Asia. During the brief Truss ministry, responsibility for the whole of Africa was assigned to Gillian Keegan as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. For the duration of the Sunak ministry North Africa was once again combined with the Middle East portfolio under Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, while the rest of Africa was combined with the Minister of State for Development under Andrew Mitchell. With the formation of the Starmer ministry in 2024, North Africa and the Middle East were assigned to Hamish Falconer and the rest of Africa to Lord Collins of Highbury, both as Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State.
Responsibilities The following is a list of the office's current responsibilities:
Africa United Nations, Commonwealth and multilateral democracy and human rights Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict
List of ministers for Africa The following is a list of ministers for Africa since 2007: List of Ministerial Responsibilities Including Executive Agencies and Non- Ministerial Departments October 2009. Cabinet Office.
TitleNamePortrait Term of officeLength of servicePolitical partyP.M.F.Sec. Minister of State for Africa and the United Nations28 June 200724 July 2009LabourBrownMiliband13 October 200911 May 2010 Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa11 May 20105 September 2012ConservativeCameronHague Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State5 September 201211 August 2014 Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State 11 August 2014 16 July 2016Hammond Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East and Africa16 July 201613 June 2017 MayJohnson Minister of State for Africa15 June 20179 January 2018 Minister of State for International Development and Africa9 January 201825 July 2019Hunt Minister of State for Africa25 July 201913 February 2020 JohnsonRaab Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa13 February 202016 September 2021Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa (2021–2022) Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean (2022) 16 September 2021 6 September 2022Truss Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa 7 September 2022 25 October 2022TrussCleverly Minister of State for Development and Africa 25 October 2022 5 July 2024 Sunak CleverlyCameron Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa9 July 2024 7 September 2025LabourStarmerLammyMinister of State for International Development and Africa5 September 202520 July 2026Cooper21 July 2026IncumbentBurnhamMiliband
See also Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Minister of State for Europe Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
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