Foreign Affairs Select Committee
The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is one of many select committees of the British House of Commons, which scrutinises the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.[1]
Membership
[edit]Membership of the committee is as follows:[2]
Changes since 2024
[edit]| Date | Outgoing Member & Party |
Constituency | → | New Member & Party |
Constituency | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 December 2024 | Claire Hazelgrove MP (Labour) | Filton and Bradley Stoke | → | Alex Ballinger MP (Labour) | Halesowen | Hansard | ||
| 16 December 2024 | Matthew Patrick MP (Labour) | Wirral West | → | Phil Brickell MP (Labour) | Bolton West | Hansard | ||
2019-2024 Parliament
[edit]The chair was elected on 29 January 2020, with the members of the committee being announced on 2 March 2020.[3][4] In 2022 Tom Tugendhat stepped down as the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee after assuming a ministerial role as Minister for Security. He was replaced by Alicia Kearns.
Changes 2019-2024
[edit]2017–2019 Parliament
[edit]The chair was elected on 12 July 2017, with the members of the committee being announced on 11 September 2017.[5][6]
Changes 2017–2019
[edit]| Date | Outgoing Member & Party |
Constituency | → | New Member & Party |
Constituency | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 February 2018 | Nus Ghani MP (Conservative) | Wealden | → | Priti Patel MP (Conservative) | Witham | Hansard | ||
| Nadhim Zahawi MP (Conservative) | Stratford-on-Avon | Bob Seely MP (Conservative) | Isle of Wight | |||||
| 19 March 2019 | Ian Austin MP (Independent) | Dudley North | → | Conor McGinn MP (Labour)[a] | St Helens North | Hansard | ||
| Mike Gapes MP (Change UK) | Stratford-on-Avon | Catherine West MP (Labour)[a] | Hornsey and Wood Green | |||||
- ^ a b Unusually, this motion was debated by the House. It was objected to by Austin and Gapes, since they perceived it to be retaliation by Jeremy Corbyn for their comments on antisemitism while they were still in the Labour Party. The change was approved by 199 votes to 134.[7]
2015–2017 Parliament
[edit]The chair was elected on 18 June 2015, with members being announced on 8 July 2015.[8][9]
Changes 2015–2017
[edit]| Date | Outgoing Member & Party |
Constituency | → | New Member & Party |
Constituency | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 October 2016 | Yasmin Qureshi MP (Labour) | Bolton South East | → | Ian Murray MP (Labour) | Edinburgh South | Hansard | ||
2010–2015 Parliament
[edit]The chair was elected on 10 June 2010, with members being announced on 12 July 2010.[10][11]
Changes 2010–2015
[edit]| Date | Outgoing Member & Party |
Constituency | → | New Member & Party |
Constituency | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 November 2010 | Emma Reynolds MP (Labour) | Wolverhampton North East | → | Bob Ainsworth MP (Labour) | Coventry North East | Hansard | ||
| 18 June 2012 | David Watts MP (Labour) | St Helens North | → | Mark Hendrick MP (Labour and Co-op) | Preston | Hansard | ||
| 20 May 2013 | Bob Ainsworth MP (Labour) | Coventry North East | → | Sandra Osborne MP (Labour) | Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock | Hansard | ||
| 30 June 2014 | Rory Stewart MP (Conservative) | Penrith and The Border | → | Nadhim Zahawi MP (Conservative) | Stratford-on-Avon | Hansard | ||
Chairs
[edit]| Chair | Party | Constituency | Term of office | Electors | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Kershaw | Conservative | Stroud | 3 May 1979 | 1 January 1987 | Committee | |
| David Howell | Conservative | Guildford | 1 January 1987 | 21 March 1997 | ||
| Donald Anderson | Labour | Swansea East | 16 July 1997 | 12 July 2005 | ||
| Mike Gapes | Labour | Ilford South | 18 July 2005 | 12 April 2010 | ||
| Richard Ottaway | Conservative | Croydon South | 10 June 2010 | 30 March 2015 | Commons | |
| Crispin Blunt | Conservative | Reigate | 18 June 2015 | 3 May 2017 | ||
| Tom Tugendhat | Conservative | Tonbridge and Malling | 12 July 2017 | 6 September 2022 | ||
| Alicia Kearns | Conservative | Rutland and Melton | 12 October 2022 | Incumbent | ||
Inquiries
[edit]The Foreign Affairs Committee carries out many inquiries, and publishes a variety of reports, including an annual Human Rights Report. During its inquiry into the government's decision to invade Iraq, David Kelly famously gave evidence to the committee on 15 July 2003, two days before his death.
In 2015 through 2016 the committee conducted an extensive and highly critical inquiry into the British involvement in the Libyan Civil War. It concluded that the early threat to civilians had been overstated and that the significant Islamist element in the rebel forces had not been recognised, due to an intelligence failure. By summer 2011 the initial limited intervention to protect Libyan civilians had become a policy of regime change. However that new policy did not include proper support and for a new government, leading to a political and economic collapse in Libya and the growth of ISIL in North Africa. The report concluded that the former Prime Minister David Cameron was ultimately responsible for this British policy failure.[12][13][14]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Foreign Affairs Committee". UK Parliament. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
The Foreign Affairs Committee examines the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and other bodies associated with the Foreign Office
- ^ "Foreign Affairs Committee membership appointed". committees.parliament.uk. Foreign Affairs Committee. 29 October 2024. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ "Speaker's Statement: Select Committee Chairs". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 670. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 29 January 2020.
- ^ "Committees". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 672. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 2 March 2020.
- ^ "Speaker's Statement: Select Committee Chairs". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 627. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 12 July 2017.
- ^ "Business without Debate". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 628. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 11 September 2017.
- ^ "Foreign Affairs Committee". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 656. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 19 March 2019.
- ^ "Speaker's Statement". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 597. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 18 June 2015.
- ^ "Business without Debate". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 598. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 8 July 2015.
- ^ "Speaker's Statement". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 511. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 10 June 2010.
- ^ "Committees". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 513. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 12 July 2010.
- ^ "MPs attack Cameron over Libya 'collapse'". BBC News. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ Patrick Wintour (14 September 2016). "MPs deliver damning verdict on Cameron's Libya intervention". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ Libya: Examination of intervention and collapse and the UK's future policy options (PDF). Foreign Affairs Committee (House of Commons) (Report). UK Parliament. 6 September 2016. HC 119. Retrieved 14 September 2016.