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Red_Dog's avatar

Who was the last foreign secretary not to be a member of Parliament? Well off the top of my head and without looking it up, I'm thinking Castlereagh?

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Red_Dog's avatar

Ah, you also provided the answer... Like most things connected to Raab, that was a disappointment

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Donald Henderson's avatar

Surely Alec Douglas Home, if you exclude incumbents over general election periods and shortly thereafter?

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Steen Carndorf's avatar

You have to admire one aspect of this appointment (this article being a case in point): who is now talking about Mrs Braver.... what was her name again???

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Mike Cohen's avatar

Raab - never thought of that one!

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Richard Gadsden's avatar

Last FS not to be a member of parliament was Raab during the 2019 election

Last FS not to be an MP (excluding dissolution periods) was Peter Carington, Lord Carrington 1979-1982

Last FS not to be in either house of parliament (excluding dissolution periods) was Patrick Gordon Walker 1964-65 (he lost his seat in the 1964 election but was nonetheless appointed as FS until a by-election came available. He resigned after losing the by-election)

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d. a. t. green's avatar

I assume this is the minimum standard of knowledge for a constitutional history super-nerd.

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Anthony Bennett's avatar

Dominic Raab doesn't really count - the same would apply to any Minister after the dissolution of Parliament. The proper answer is Patrick Gordon Walker, who was appointed Foreign Secretary by Harold Wilson after the Labour election victory in October 1964. Unfortunately for him, Gordon Walker lost his seat in the election, but was appointed regardless, and soldiered on until losing the subsequent by-election in January 1965 which had been intended to get him back in.

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d. a. t. green's avatar

PGW and Carrington are the obvious answers.

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Anthony Bennett's avatar

Carrington was a Member of Parliament in the broader sense of course. As all Peers are.

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d. a. t. green's avatar

I hope this is the minimum amount of knowledge for a follower of this blog :-)

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Jeremy Stone's avatar

Does nobody else find it strange that Cameron is able to return to office after the Greensill affair (and his part in it, anatomised in Nigel Boardman's report)?

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