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 senior.
Nineteenth century . It was then occupied by the Foreign and India Offices, while the Home and Colonial Offices occupied the
Whitehall end. 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. Examples of journalists who specialized in foreign affairs and were well connected to politicians included:
Henry Southern,
Valentine Chirol, Harold Nicolson, and
Robert Bruce Lockhart.
Twentieth century During the
First World War, the
Arab Bureau was set up within the British Foreign Office as a section of the
Cairo Intelligence Department. During the early
Cold War an important department was the
Information Research Department (IRD) which was used to create propaganda against socialist and anti-colonial movements. In 1922 after the end of the
First World War the recently created
Government Code and Cypher School moved from the
Admiralty to the Foreign Office. The Foreign Office hired its first woman diplomat,
Monica Milne, in 1946.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1968–2020) The FCO was formed on 17 October 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, the Commonwealth Relations Office having 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. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office held responsibility for
international development issues between 1970 and 1974, and again between 1979 and 1997.
The National Archives website contains a government timeline to show the departments responsible for foreign and commonwealth affairs from 1945.
Under New Labour (1997–2010) From 1997, international development became the responsibility of the separate
Department for International Development. 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 & Investment (UKTI), consular teams in Britain and overseas, and
UK Visas and Immigration. • 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
United Nations and the
European Union. 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 1,200 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 over three years. In response to the report being made public, the Foreign Office stated it had already implemented the report's recommendations. In 2009, Gordon Brown created the position of Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) to the FCO. The first science adviser was
David Clary. 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.
Coalition and Conservatives (2010–2020) In 2012, the Foreign Office was criticised by
Gerald Steinberg of the Jerusalem-based research institute
NGO Monitor, saying that the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development provided more than £500,000 in funding to
Palestinian NGOs which he said "promote political attacks on Israel". In response, a spokesman for the Foreign Office said "we are very careful about who and what we fund. The objective of our funding is to support efforts to achieve a
two-state solution. Funding a particular project for a limited period of time does not mean that we endorse every single action or public comment made by an NGO or by its employees." In September 2012, the FCO and the
Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding on diplomatic cooperation, which promotes the co-location of embassies, the joint provision of consular services, and common crisis response. The project has been criticised for further diminishing the UK's influence in Europe. In 2011, the then foreign secretary,
William Hague, announced the government's intention to open a number of new diplomatic posts in order to enhance the UK's overseas network. As such, eight new embassies and six new consulates were opened around the world.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (2020–2022) On 16 June 2020, Prime Minister
Boris Johnson announced the merger of the FCO with the Department for International Development. This was following the decision in the
February 2020 cabinet reshuffle to give cross-departmental briefs to all junior ministers in the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office. The merger, which created the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, took place in September 2020 with a stated aim of ensuring that
aid is spent "in line with the UK's priorities overseas". The merger was criticised by three former prime ministers –
Gordon Brown,
Tony Blair and
David Cameron – with Cameron saying that it would mean "less respect for the UK overseas". The chief executive of
Save the Children, Kevin Watkins, called it "reckless, irresponsible and a dereliction of UK leadership" that "threatens to reverse hard-won gains in child survival, nutrition and poverty". On 21 February 2022, UK Minister for Africa
Vicky Ford announced a new £74 million financial package to support women entrepreneurs across Nigeria, who own businesses and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In 2022, Maria Bamieh settled an employment claim against the Foreign Office for more than £400,000 shortly before her claim was due to be heard by an employment tribunal. She said that the Foreign Office failed to support her when she attempted to expose corruption at the
EU's rule of law mission (EULEX). The Foreign Office said: "We have agreed to settle this long-running case without any admission of liability and continue to strongly refute these allegations." ==International Academy==