Reports to The Prime Minister Term length No fixed term | Seat Westminster, London | |
 | ||
Style The Right Honourable
(Formal prefix)
Home Secretary Member of British Cabinet
Privy Council
National Security Council Appointer The British Monarch
on advice of the Prime Minister | ||
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, normally referred to as the Home Secretary, is a senior official as one of the Great Offices of State within Her Majesty's Government and head of the Home Office. The office is a British Cabinet level position.
The Home Secretary is responsible for the internal affairs of England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the United Kingdom. The remit of the Home Office also includes policing in England and Wales and matters of national security, as the Security Service, MI5, is directly accountable to the Home Secretary. Formerly, the Home Secretary was the minister responsible for prisons and probation in England and Wales; however, in 2005 those responsibilities were transferred to the newly created Ministry of Justice under the Lord Chancellor.
The current Home Secretary is Amber Rudd, appointed formally by Queen Elizabeth II on the advice of her Prime Minister Theresa May on 13 July 2016. Mrs. May had been the previous incumbent, appointed on 12 May 2010 by Prime Minister, David Cameron, to serve in the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government. May was reappointed by Cameron on 8 May 2015 to serve as Home Secretary in the Conservative government. She stood down from this role on 13 July 2016 upon assuming the office of Prime Minister, succeeding Cameron.