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The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.

The head of the FCO is the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly abbreviated to "Foreign Secretary" (currently William Hague). This position is regarded as one of the three most prestigious appointments in the Cabinet, alongside those of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. Together with the Prime Minister, these are the Great Offices of State.

The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Head of the Diplomatic Service since the end of August 2010 is Simon Fraser CMG.

Ministers[link]

The FCO Ministers are as follows: ^[2]

William Hague is also First Secretary of State, which implies seniority over all other Secretaries of State.

Lord Green also works at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills ^[3] and is lead minister on the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD).

Gallery[link]

• 

  Entrance to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

• 

  The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Whitehall, seen from St. James’s Park

History of the department[link]

The Foreign Office[link]

Eighteenth century

The Foreign Office was formed in March 1782 by combining the Southern and Northern Departments of the Secretary of State, each of which covered both foreign and domestic affairs in their parts of the Kingdom. The two departments' foreign affairs responsibilities became the Foreign Office, whilst their domestic affairs responsibilities were assigned to the Home Office. The Home Office is technically the more senior.^[4]

Nineteenth century

During the 19th century, it was not infrequent for the Foreign Office to approach The Times newspaper and ask for continental intelligence, which was often superior to that conveyed by official sources.^[5]

Twentieth century

During World War I the Arab Bureau was set up within the British Foreign Office. It was a section of the Cairo Intelligence Department.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office[link]

The FCO was formed in 1968, from the merger of the short-lived Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Office. The Commonwealth Office had been created only in 1966, by the merger of the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Colonial Office, and the Commonwealth Relations Office had been formed by the merger of the Dominions Office and the India Office in 1947—with the Dominions Office having been split from the Colonial Office in 1925.

Developments[link]

When David Miliband took over as Foreign Secretary in June 2007, he set in hand a review of the FCO’s strategic priorities. One of the key messages of these discussions was the conclusion that the existing framework of ten international strategic priorities, dating from 2003, was no longer appropriate. Although the framework had been useful in helping the FCO plan its work and allocate its resources, there was agreement that it needed a new framework to drive its work forward.

The new strategic framework consists of three core elements:

• A flexible global network of staff and offices, serving the whole of the UK Government.

• Three essential services that support the British economy, British nationals abroad and managed migration for Britain. These services are delivered through UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), consular teams in Britain and overseas, and the UK Border Agency (UKBA).

• Four policy goals:
  • countering terrorism and weapons proliferation and their causes
  • preventing and resolving conflict
  • promoting a low carbon, high-growth, global economy
  • developing effective international institutions, in particular the UN and the EU.

In August 2005, a report by management consultant group Collinson Grant was made public by Andrew Mackinlay. The report severely criticised the FCO's management structure, noting:

• The Foreign Office could be "slow to act".
• Delegation is lacking within the management structure.
• Accountability was poor.
• The FCO could feasibly cut 1200 jobs.
• At least £48 million could be saved annually.

The Foreign Office commissioned the report to highlight areas which would help it achieve its pledge to reduce spending by £87 million pounds over three years. In response to the report being made public, the Foreign Office stated it had already implemented the report's recommendations. [1]

In April 2006 a new executive agency was established, FCO Services, to provide corporate service functions. In April 2008 it moved to Trading Fund status so it had the ability to provide similar services which it already offers to the FCO, to other government departments and even outside businesses.

On 25 April 2010, the department apologised after The Sunday Telegraph obtained a "foolish" document calling for the upcoming September visit of Pope Benedict XVI to be marked by the launch of "Benedict-branded" condoms, the opening of an abortion clinic and the blessing of a same-sex marriage.^[6]

History of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office main building[link]

Ceiling above the Foreign Office's State Stair, 2008

The western or park end of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's building in 1866. It was then occupied by the Foreign and India Offices, while the Home and Colonial Offices occupied the Whitehall end

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office occupies a building which originally provided premises for four separate government departments: the Foreign Office, the India Office, the Colonial Office, and the Home Office. Construction on the building began in 1861 and finished in 1868, and it was designed by the architect George Gilbert Scott.^[7] Its architecture is in the Italianate style; Scott had initially envisaged a Gothic design, but Lord Palmerston, then Prime Minister, insisted on a classical style.^[7] English sculptors Henry Hugh Armstead and John Birnie Philip produced a number of allegorical figures ('Art', 'Law', 'Commerce', etc.) for the exterior.

In 1925, the Foreign Office played host to the signing of the Locarno Treaties, aimed at reducing tension in Europe. The ceremony took place in a suite of rooms that had been designed for banqueting, which subsequently became known as the Locarno Suite.^[8] During the Second World War, the Locarno Suite's fine furnishings were removed or covered up, and it became home to a foreign office code-breaking department.^[8]

Due to increasing numbers of staff, the offices became increasingly cramped and much of the fine Victorian interior was covered over—especially after World War II. In the 1960s, demolition was proposed, as part of major redevelopment plan for the area drawn up by architect Sir Leslie Martin.^[7] A subsequent public outcry prevented these proposals from ever being implemented. Instead, the Foreign Office became a Grade 1 listed building in 1970.^[7] In 1978, the Home office moved to a new building, easing overcrowding.

With a new sense of the building's historical value, it underwent a 17-year, £100 million restoration process, completed in 1997.^[7] The Locarno Suite, used as offices and storage since the Second World War, was fully restored for use in international conferences. The building is now open to the public each year over Open House Weekend. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is now also the main tenant of the Old Admiralty Building, at the opposite end of Horse Guards Parade.

List of Foreign and Commonwealth Office home properties[link]

• FCO Main Building, Whitehall, King Charles St, London (abbreviated to KCS by FCO staff)
• Old Admiralty Building, Whitehall, London (abbreviated to OAB by FCO staff)
• Hanslope Park, Hanslope, Milton Keynes (abbreviated to HSP by FCO staff). Location of FCO Services, HMGCC and Technical Security Department of the UK Secret Intelligence Service)

Devolution[link]

International relations are, by necessity, handled centrally from Westminster on behalf of the whole of Britain. However, the devolved administrations also maintain an overseas presence in the European Union and the USA alongside British diplomatic missions:

European Union

• Scotland House (Brussels)
• Wales House (Brussels)
• Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels

USA

• Scottish Affairs Office (Washington DC)
• Welsh Assembly Government External Affairs Department (New York)
• Northern Ireland Bureau (Washington DC)

These offices aim to promote their regional economies and ensure that devolved interests are taken into account in British foreign policy. Devolved ministers can attend international negotiations when permitted by the British Government e.g. EU fisheries negotiations.^[9]

UK and devolved ministers meet at approximately quarterly intervals through the Joint Ministerial Committee (Europe), chaired by the Foreign Secretary to "discuss matters bearing on devolved responsibilities that are under discussion within the European Union."

See also[link]

United Kingdom portal

• Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
• Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs
• Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
• Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
• Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service
• List of heads of missions from the United Kingdom
• Department for International Development
• Stabilisation Unit
• List of diplomatic missions in the United Kingdom
• List of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom
• Diplomacy
• Ambassador
• Court of St. James's (to which foreign ambassadors to Britain are accredited)
• Know Before You Go Campaign

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Foreign and Commonwealth Office

• Official website
• FCO Blogs
• Britain in the EU (FCO)
• Official website of FCO Services (Executive Agency)
• Official FCO/Immigration Service website
• FCO Flickr site
• FCO YouTube site
• FCO Twitter directory listing all our Twitter sites
• Know Before You Go Campaign Site

Coordinates: 51°30′09.7″N 0°07′39.7″W / 51.502694°N 0.127694°W / 51.502694; -0.127694

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The Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations was a British Cabinet office existing between 1947 and 1966, responsible for dealing with British relationship with members of the Commonwealth of Nations (its former colonies). The position was created out of the old position of Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs. In 1966, the position was merged with that of the Secretary of State for the Colonies to form that of Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs, which was in turn merged with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1968 to create the new position of Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Secretaries of State for Commonwealth Relations, 1947-1966[link]

• Viscount Addison (7 July 1947 - 7 October 1947)
• Philip Noel-Baker (7 October 1947 - 28 February 1950)
• Patrick Gordon Walker (28 February 1950 - 26 October 1951)
• Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay (28 October 1951 - 12 March 1952)
• Robert Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury (12 March 1952 - 24 November 1952)
• Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Viscount Swinton (24 November 1952 - 7 April 1955)
• Alexander Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home (7 April 1955 - 27 July 1960)
• Duncan Sandys (27 July 1960 - 16 October 1964)
• Arthur Bottomley (18 October 1964 - 1 August 1966)

References[link]

• Foreign and Commonwealth Office website

Christopher John Bryant (born 11 January 1962) is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rhondda since 2001. Bryant is the former Minister for Europe and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Background[link]

Chris Bryant was born in Cardiff to a Scottish mother and a Welsh computer engineer father. Bryant grew up in Cardiff, Wales (where his father worked for five years)^[1][2] and Cheltenham.^[3] He was educated at Cheltenham College, where he was captain of the school swimming team, and Mansfield College, Oxford where he received a BA degree in English in 1983 and later received the MA (Oxon). He then trained to be a priest in the Church of England at Ripon College Cuddesdon in Oxfordshire, where he obtained a further degree in theology. Although initially a member of the Conservative Party, and an elected office-holder in the Oxford University Conservative Association, he joined the Labour Party in 1986 after leaving Oxford. From 1986 he served as a Curate at the Church of All Saints, High Wycombe and from 1989, as a Youth Chaplain in Peterborough, as well as travelling in Latin America.^[2]

Political career[link]

In 1991 Bryant left the ordained ministry, after deciding that being gay and being a priest were incompatible. Statements made by Richard Harries, the then-Bishop of Oxford also influenced his decision.^[2] Bryant made a radical career move and began work as the election agent to the Holborn and St Pancras Constituency Labour Party, where he helped Frank Dobson hold his seat in the 1992 general election. From 1993 he was Local Government officer for the Labour Party; he lived in Hackney and was elected to Hackney Borough Council in 1993, serving until 1998. He became Chairman of the Christian Socialist Movement.^[2] He is also a member of the Labour Friends of Israel group as well as the Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East.^[4] From 1994 to 1996 he was London manager of the charity Common Purpose.^[5]

In 1996 he became a full time author, writing biographies of Stafford Cripps and Glenda Jackson. He was Labour candidate for Wycombe in the 1997 general election (where he lost by 2,370 votes), and Head of European Affairs for the BBC from 1998.^[5] His selection for the very safe Labour seat of Rhondda in South Wales in 2000 surprised many people given Bryant's background – gay, a former Anglican vicar, and someone who had been a Conservative as a student. He says of his surprise selection "I fell off the chair, and my opponents certainly did". Fifty-two people applied for the candidature and a local councillor was hot favourite to win.^[2] He retained the seat comfortably with a 16,047 majority, one of the biggest in the country.

From 2004 until 2007, Bryant was chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, succeeded by Mary Creagh MP. Bryant is a signatory of the Henry Jackson Society principles.

On 5 September 2006 he and Siôn Simon co-ordinated a prominent letter which was signed by 15 Labour backbenchers calling for Tony Blair's immediate resignation.^[6]

Bryant was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs Charlie Falconer. In Gordon Brown's autumn 2008 reshuffle, Bryant was promoted from his role as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Harriet Harman to the ministerial position of Deputy Leader of the House of Commons otherwise known as Parliamentary Secretary to the House of Commons. This was followed by another move in the June 2009 reshuffle, when he moved to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. On 13 October 2009, he was also appointed Minister for Europe.^[7]

Following the defeat of the Labour government at the General Election of 2010, Bryant returned to the back benches. He stood as one of 49 candidates for election to the 19 places in the Shadow Cabinet in the internal Labour Party poll of October 2010. He polled 77 votes, reaching 29th position on the list. He is currently a shadow Justice Minister, with responsibility for political and constitutional reform.^[8]

Expenses claims scandal[link]

Chris Bryant claimed over £92,000 in expenses over the five years leading up to the 2009 scandal over MPs' expenses. During that time he flipped his second-home expenses twice, claimed mortgage interest expenses that started at £7,800 per year before rising (after flipping) to £12,000 per year. He also claimed £6,400 in stamp duty and other fees on his most recent purchase, and £6,000 per year in service charges. A claim that he made for £58,493.26, almost three times the annual maximum, in 2004, was disallowed.^[9]

Comments on housing benefit reforms[link]

In October 2010, Chris Bryant described the coalition government's housing benefit reforms as poorer people "being socially engineered and sociologically cleansed out of London". The use of the term "ethnic cleansing" was criticised by members of the coalition, including Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who called Bryant's comment "offensive to people who had witnessed ethnic cleansing in other parts of the world".^[10]

Personal life[link]

Bryant is openly gay, and entered into a civil partnership with Jared Cranney on 27 March 2010. The ceremony was the first civil partnership ever held in the Houses of Parliament.^[2] Bryant lives in Porth in the Rhondda Fach.^[3] On 25 September 2006, The Guardian newspaper ran four spoof diary articles called "Chris Bryant's Manchester Diary". The newspaper later printed a clarification to confirm that these were parodies, and were not written by Bryant.^[11]

Media[link]

He was ridiculed by the press in 2003 when he was discovered to have posed wearing only underpants on a gay dating site, Gaydar, whilst an MP.^{[12][13][14][15]} Bryant later reflected upon his photograph scandal, saying, "It was a wound but it's a rather charming scar now. I had a period when I barely slept and it was horrible, but I'm very lucky in having a supportive set of friends – MP friends and others – and they looked after me." At the time, the media predicted that he would not survive, and there was much talk of his possible deselection.^[2]

In 2011 in the House of Commons, he criticised Prince Andrew, Duke of York for a number of alleged indiscretions.^[16]

Publications[link]

• Glenda Jackson: The Biography by Chris Bryant, 1999, HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-255911-0
• Stafford Cripps: The First Modern Chancellor by Chris Bryant, 1997, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, ISBN 0-340-67892-5
• Possible Dreams: Personal History of the British Christian Socialists by Chris Bryant, 1996, Hodder & Stoughton Religious, ISBN 0-340-64201-7

References[link]

1. ^ "Chris Bryant: You Ask The Questions". The Independent (London). 22 March 2010. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/chris-bryant-you-ask-the-questions-1925067.html. Retrieved 28 April 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Moss, Stephen (18 March 2010). "Chris Bryant: 'I don't think of myself as a gay MP'". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/18/chris-bryant-gay-mp-civil-partnership. Retrieved 28 April 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.chrisbryant.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=27
4. ^ http://www.lfpme.org/lfpme-supporters
5. ^ ^{a b} Who's Who. A & C Black. January 2007. 
6. ^ "Minister joins Blair exit demands". BBC News. 5 September 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5314632.stm. Retrieved 28 April 2010. 
7. ^ Webster, Philip (13 October 2009). "Brown downgrades Europe post in Cabinet reshuffle farce". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6871302.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=2015164. Retrieved 28 April 2010. 
8. ^ "Her Majesty's Official Opposition - UK Parliament". Parliament.uk. 2010-06-03. http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/government-and-opposition1/opposition-holding/. Retrieved 2012-05-09. 
9. ^ Chris Bryant changed second home twice to claim £20,000: MPs' expenses Telegraph.co.uk
10. ^ "Clegg denies Labour's urban 'cleansing' claim"]. BBC News. 26 October 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11627021. Retrieved 28 October 2010. 
11. ^ "Apology - Chris Bryant MP". The Guardian (London). 21 November 2006. http://www.guardian.co.uk/corrections/story/0,,1953293,00.html. Retrieved 28 April 2010. 
12. ^ "Reward for gay pants MP Bryant". The Sun (London). 6 October 2008. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/1771888/Gay-pants-MP-Chris-Bryant-rewarded-as-he-is-appointed-Deputy-Leader-of-the-Commons.html. 
13. ^ "MP 'sorry' over underpants photo". BBC News. 2 December 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3256348.stm. Retrieved 28 April 2010. 
14. ^ MP faces being outed from Rhondda - WalesOnline
15. ^ "No Im the only gay in the valleys". The Sun (London). 21 May 2007. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,43-2003552584,00.html. 
16. ^ "Time to give Prince Andrew order of the boot, says Labour MP Chris Bryant - Mirror Online". Mirror.co.uk. 2011-03-07. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/03/07/time-to-give-prince-andrew-order-of-the-boot-says-labour-mp-chris-bryant-115875-22971507/. Retrieved 2012-05-09. 

External links[link]

• Chris Bryant MP official constituency website
• Chris Bryant MP on Twitter
• Chris Bryant MP Welsh Labour Party profile
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Column archive at The Guardian
• Chris Bryant, Minister for Europe, London archived Foreign Office(FCO) blog
• Teenage Mums an online pamphlet by Chris Bryant MP
• Works by or about Chris Bryant in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

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