Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

The Rt Hon Shaun Woodward MP

Shaun Woodward was appointed as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in June 2007, as part of Gordon Brown's first Cabinet. Prior to this, he was Parliamentary Secretary at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), covering creative industries and tourism.

Before working at DCMS, Mr Woodward was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office.

Mr Woodward was elected as an MP in 2001 and re-elected in 2005.

He was a member of the Parliamentary Joint Commons and Lords Committee of Human Rights from 2001 to 2005. He has also been a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and European Union Scrutiny Select Committee.

Born in Bristol on 26 October 1958, Shaun Woodward was educated at Bristol Grammar School and at Cambridge University, where he read English Literature. He has a Double First from Jesus College. He has taught at the Institute of Politics, Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and at Queen Mary and Westfield College, London University.