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  • Chapter 8 - The Rise and Fall of the Foreign Secretary, 1782–2024

  • Anthony Seldon, University of Buckingham
  • Assisted by Jonathan Meakin, Illias Thoms, Tom Egerton
  • Book:
    The Impossible Office?
    Published online:
    14 March 2024
    Print publication:
    14 March 2024, pp 313-348

  • Summary

    By 2024, the prime minister had emerged as the dominant figure in control of foreign policy, taking over the powers initially from the monarch, then Parliament, then the Foreign Secretary. The prime minister decides British foreign relations, whether the country goes to war, and how it is fought. This chapter will examine how and why this transition occurred, and why the prime minister today can afford to be more preoccupied with foreign rather than domestic policy, and what this has meant to the office and powers of the prime minister – even in the face of war and increasing geopolitical tension.