Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security

"Trade Minister" redirects here. For general usage, see Commerce minister.

The Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security,^[1] formerly Minister of State for Trade Policy and Minister of State for Trade, is a mid-level role at the Department for Business and Trade in the Government of the United Kingdom. It is currently held by Douglas Alexander, who took the office on 6 July 2024. From 2016 to February 2023, the role was based in the Department for International Trade.

United Kingdom Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent Douglas Alexander since 6 July 2024
Department for Business and Trade
Style	Minister
Nominator	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Appointer	The Monarch on advice of the Prime Minister
Formation	3 September 1953
First holder	Derick Heathcoat-Amory
Website	www.gov.uk/government/ministers/minister-of-state--172

History

Although a Minister of State position, it was considered to be one of the most important jobs outside Cabinet rank as when Douglas Alexander became Minister of State for Trade in September 2004, he was given a special provision to attend the Cabinet meetings.

The subsequent role of Minister of State for Investment was created in 2021.

The minister formerly worked at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Department for International Trade.

List of ministers

Minister			Entered office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
Minister of State for Trade
		Derick Heathcoat-Amory	3 September 1953	18 October 1954	Conservative		Winston Churchill
		Derek Walker-Smith	18 October 1954	6 April 1955	Conservative
		Derick Heathcoat-Amory	6 April 1955	16 January 1957	Conservative		Anthony Eden
		Derek Walker-Smith	16 January 1957	17 September 1957	Conservative		Harold Macmillan
		John Vaughan-Morgan	17 September 1957	22 October 1959	Conservative
		Frederick Erroll	22 October 1959	9 October 1961	Conservative
		Keith Joseph	9 October 1961	16 July 1962	Conservative
		Alan Green	16 July 1962	23 October 1963	Conservative
		The Lord Derwent	6 September 1962	23 October 1963	Conservative
		The Lord Drumalbyn	23 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative		Alec Douglas-Home
		Edward du Cann	23 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative
		George Darling	20 October 1964	6 April 1968	Labour		Harold Wilson
		Edward Redhead	20 October 1964	11 October 1965	Labour
		Roy Mason	20 October 1964	7 January 1967	Labour
		The Lord Brown	11 October 1965	19 June 1970	Labour
		Joseph Mallalieu	7 January 1967	1 July 1968	Labour
		Edmund Dell	6 April 1968	13 October 1969	Labour
		William Rodgers	1 July 1968	13 October 1969	Labour
		Goronwy Roberts	13 October 1969	19 June 1970	Labour
		Frederick Corfield	24 June 1970	15 October 1970	Conservative		Edward Heath
		Michael Noble	15 October 1970	5 November 1972	Conservative
		Geoffrey Howe[a]	5 November 1972	4 March 1974	Conservative
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade
		Eric Deakins	4 March 1974	5 April 1976	Labour		Harold Wilson
		Stanley Clinton-Davis	4 March 1974	4 May 1979	Labour
		Michael Meacher	5 April 1976	4 May 1979	Labour		James Callaghan
Minister of State for Trade
		Cecil Parkinson	7 May 1979	14 September 1981	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
		Peter Rees	14 September 1981	9 June 1983	Conservative
		Paul Channon	9 June 1983	24 January 1986	Conservative
		Alan Clark	24 January 1986	25 July 1989	Conservative
		The Lord Trefgarne	25 July 1989	23 July 1990	Conservative
		Tim Sainsbury	23 July 1990	14 April 1992	Conservative		John Major
		Richard Needham	14 April 1992	6 July 1995	Conservative
		Anthony Nelson	6 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative
		The Lord Clinton-Davis	2 May 1997	28 July 1998	Labour		Tony Blair
		Brian Wilson	28 July 1998	28 July 1999	Labour
		Richard Caborn	28 July 1999	11 June 2001	Labour
		The Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean	11 June 2001	13 June 2003	Labour
		Mike O'Brien	13 June 2003	9 September 2004	Labour
		Douglas Alexander	9 September 2004	11 May 2005	Labour
		Ian Pearson	11 May 2005	8 May 2006	Labour
		Ian McCartney[b]	8 May 2006	28 June 2007	Labour
		The Lord Jones of Birmingham	29 June 2007	3 October 2008	Independent[c]		Gordon Brown
		Gareth Thomas[d]	3 October 2008	5 June 2009	Labour
Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Business
		The Lord Davies of Abersoch	14 January 2009	11 May 2010	Labour		Gordon Brown
Minister of State for Business and Enterprise
		Mark Prisk[e]	11 May 2010	11 January 2011	Conservative		David Cameron
Minister of State for Trade and Investment
		The Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint	11 January 2011	11 December 2013	Conservative		David Cameron
		The Lord Livingston of Parkhead	11 December 2013	11 May 2015	Conservative
		The Lord Maude of Horsham	11 May 2015	10 February 2016	Conservative		David Cameron
		The Lord Price[f]	4 April 2016	3 September 2017	Conservative		Theresa May
Minister of State for Trade
		The Baroness Fairhead	28 September 2017	7 May 2019	Conservative		Theresa May
Minister of State for Trade Policy
		Greg Hands	15 July 2016	21 June 2018	Conservative		Theresa May
		George Hollingbery	21 June 2018	25 July 2019	Conservative
		Conor Burns	25 July 2019	4 May 2020	Conservative		Boris Johnson
		Greg Hands	13 February 2020	15 September 2021	Conservative
		Penny Mordaunt	16 September 2021	6 September 2022	Conservative
		Conor Burns	7 September 2022	7 October 2022	Conservative		Liz Truss
		Greg Hands	9 October 2022	7 February 2023	Conservative
							Rishi Sunak
		Vacant	7 February 2023	13 November 2023
		Greg Hands	13 November 2023	5 July 2024	Conservative
Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security
		Douglas Alexander	6 July 2024	Present	Labour		Keir Starmer

Minister of State for Investment

Minister of State			Entered office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
		The Lord Grimstone of Boscobel	18 March 2020	7 July 2022	Conservative		Boris Johnson
		The Lord Johnson of Lainston	2 October 2022	28 October 2022	Conservative		Liz Truss
			24 November 2022	5 July 2024	Conservative		Rishi Sunak
		Poppy Gustafsson	10 October 2024	Incumbent	Labour		Keir Starmer

Notes

1. Attended Cabinet.
2. Attended Cabinet.
3. Jones sat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords, but never joined the party.
4. Thomas apparently continued as a Trade Minister after the appointment of Davies. BERR described him simply as Minister for Trade, rather than Minister for Trade and Investment, as he was prior to Davies' appointment.^[2]
5. He handled UK Trade & Investment until Green entered the government.
6. Joyce Anelay, Baroness Anelay of St John's was given Maude's responsibilities on an interim basis until Price took up the role in March 2016.^[3]