Minister of State for Europe and the Americas
Royal Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent Sir Alan Duncan since 15 July 2016
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Reports to	Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Nominator	Secretary of State
Appointer	The Prime Minister approved and sworn in by the Queen-in-Council
Term length	No fixed term
Formation	1979
First holder	Douglas Hurd

The Minister of State for Europe (colloquially also known as the Minister for Europe or Europe Minister) is an informal title for a ministerial position within the Government of the United Kingdom, in charge of affairs with Europe, the European Union and NATO.^[1]

The office is generally, formally one of a number of Ministers of State within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Despite being a junior ministerial role, the position has sometimes conferred the right to attend meetings of the Cabinet, which is occasionally granted to other such Ministers at the Prime Minister's discretion. This first occurred when Denis MacShane was replaced by Douglas Alexander after the 2005 general election, although Alexander's successor ceased to have this right. The Minister of State is also responsible for the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus.

When Chris Bryant MP held the office it was not as a Minister of State but a more junior Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.^[2]

The responsibilities of the office were next appointed to a Minister of State in 2010 by then Prime Minister David Cameron. He appointed David Lidington, who held the office for over six years.

As of July 2016, the responsibilities of the Minister for Europe were combined with the portfolio of the traditionally more junior Minister of State for Europe and the Americas.

The now enlarged post of Minister of State for Europe and the Americas is held by Sir Alan Duncan, who is largely regarded as the second most senior-ranking Foreign Office Minister behind the Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, formerly Boris Johnson .^[3][4] The Minister is responsible for government policy towards The Americas (including Cuba); Europe; NATO and European security; defence and international security; the Falkland Islands; polar regions; migration; protocol; human resources; OSCE and Council of Europe; relations with Parliament; FCO finance; knowledge and technology

The post is not to be confused with the Minister of State within the Department for Exiting the European Union, the department created by Prime Minister Theresa May following the UK's vote to leave the EU in 2016. They support the work of the department overseeing the UK's exit from the EU rather than overseeing government policy towards all-European affairs.^[5][6]

List of Ministers for Europe[edit]

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	P.M.		F.Sec.
	Douglas Hurd		4 May 1979	9 June 1983	Conservative		Thatcher	Carrington
								Pym
	Malcolm Rifkind		9 June 1983	11 January 1986	Conservative			Howe
	Lynda Chalker		11 January 1986	24 July 1989	Conservative
	Francis Maude		25 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative			Major
								Hurd
	Tristan Garel-Jones		28 November 1990	27 May 1993	Conservative		Major
	David Heathcoat-Amory		27 May 1993	20 July 1994	Conservative
	David Davis		20 July 1994	May 1997	Conservative
								Rifkind
	Doug Henderson		5 May 1997	28 July 1998	Labour		Blair	Cook
	Joyce Quin		28 July 1998	28 July 1999	Labour
	Geoff Hoon		28 July 1999	11 October 1999	Labour
	Keith Vaz		11 October 1999	11 June 2001	Labour
	Peter Hain		11 June 2001	24 October 2002	Labour			Straw
	Denis MacShane		28 October 2002	11 May 2005	Labour
	Douglas Alexander		11 May 2005	8 May 2006	Labour
	Geoff Hoon		8 May 2006	27 June 2007	Labour			Beckett
	Jim Murphy		28 June 2007	3 October 2008	Labour		Brown	Miliband
	Caroline Flint		3 October 2008	5 June 2009	Labour
	Glenys Kinnock		5 June 2009	13 October 2009	Labour
	Chris Bryant Undersecretary of State for Europe and Asia		13 October 2009	12 May 2010	Labour
	David Lidington		12 May 2010	14 July 2016	Conservative		Cameron	Hague
								Hammond
	Alan Duncan Minister of State for Europe and the Americas		15 July 2016	Incumbent	Conservative		May	Johnson

References[edit]

See also[edit]

• Foreign and Commonwealth Office


• Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union


• 
  Minister of State for European Affairs, the counterpart in the Republic of Ireland

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