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.[1][2] Those calling for a Secretary of State for the Union include Robert Hazell,[3] in a department into which Rodney Brazier has suggested adding a Minister of State for England with responsibility for English local government.[4]

Colour key
  Conservative   National Liberal   Labour

Ministers of Welsh Affairs (1951–1964)
Name			Term of office		Length of term	Political party	Prime Minister
	Sir David Maxwell Fyfe (also Home Secretary)		28 October 1951	18 October 1954	2 years, 11 months and 20 days	Conservative		Sir Winston Churchill
	Gwilym Lloyd George (also Home Secretary)		18 October 1954	13 January 1957	2 years, 2 months and 26 days	Liberal & Conservative
								Sir Anthony Eden
	Henry Brooke (also Min. of Housing & Local Govt.)		13 January 1957	9 October 1961	4 years, 8 months and 26 days	Conservative		Harold Macmillan
	Charles Hill (also Min. of Housing & Local Govt.)		9 October 1961	13 July 1962	9 months and 4 days	National Liberal & Conservative
	Sir Keith Joseph (also Min. of Housing & Local Govt.)		13 July 1962	16 October 1964	2 years, 3 months and 3 days	Conservative
								Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Secretaries of State for Wales (1964–present)
Name			Term of office		Length of term	Political party	Prime Minister
	Jim Griffiths		18 October 1964	5 April 1966	1 year, 5 months and 18 days	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Cledwyn Hughes		5 April 1966	5 April 1968	2 years	Labour
	George Thomas		5 April 1968	20 June 1970	2 years, 2 months and 15 days	Labour
	Peter Thomas		20 June 1970	5 March 1974	3 years, 8 months and 13 days	Conservative		Edward Heath
	John Morris		5 March 1974	4 May 1979	5 years, 1 month and 29 days	Labour		Harold Wilson
								James Callaghan
	Nicholas Edwards		4 May 1979	13 June 1987	8 years, 1 month and 9 days	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
	Peter Walker		13 June 1987	4 May 1990	2 years, 10 months and 21 days	Conservative
	David Hunt		4 May 1990	27 May 1993	3 years and 23 days	Conservative		John Major
	John Redwood		27 May 1993	26 June 1995[fn 1]	2 years and 30 days	Conservative
	David Hunt (acting)		26 June 1995	5 July 1995	9 days	Conservative
	William Hague		5 July 1995	2 May 1997	1 year, 9 months and 27 days	Conservative
	Ron Davies		2 May 1997	27 October 1998[fn 2]	1 year, 5 months and 25 days	Labour		Tony Blair
	Alun Michael		27 October 1998	28 July 1999[fn 3]	9 months and 1 day	Labour
	Paul Murphy		28 July 1999	24 October 2002	3 years, 2 months and 26 days	Labour
	Peter Hain (also Ldr. of the Commons 2003–05 Northern Ireland Sec. 2005–07 Work & Pensions Sec. 2007–08)		24 October 2002	24 January 2008	5 years and 3 months	Labour
								Gordon Brown
	Paul Murphy		24 January 2008	5 June 2009	1 year, 4 months and 12 days	Labour
	Peter Hain		5 June 2009	11 May 2010	11 months and 6 days	Labour
	Cheryl Gillan		11 May 2010	4 September 2012	2 years, 3 months and 24 days	Conservative		David Cameron
	David Jones		4 September 2012	14 July 2014	1 year, 10 months and 10 days	Conservative
	Stephen Crabb		15 July 2014	19 March 2016	1 year, 8 months and 4 days	Conservative
	Alun Cairns		19 March 2016	6 November 2019	3 years, 7 months and 18 days	Conservative
								Theresa May
								Boris Johnson
	Simon Hart		16 December 2019[5]	Incumbent	1 year, 1 month and 15 days*	Conservative

* Incumbent's length of term last updated: 31 January 2021.

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