Hamish Falconer

The Right Honourable
Hamish Falconer
MP
Official portrait, 2026
Minister for Intergovernmental Relations and European Relations
Incumbent
Assumed office
20 July 2026
Prime MinisterAndy Burnham
Preceded byDarren Jones[a]
Nick Thomas-Symonds[b]
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan
In office
18 July 2024 – 20 July 2026
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byThe Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Succeeded byStephen Doughty
Member of Parliament
for Lincoln
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 July 2024
Preceded byKarl McCartney
Majority8,793 (20.8%)
Personal details
BornHamish Nicholas Falconer
(1985-12-20) 20 December 1985
PartyLabour
Parents
EducationSt John's College, Cambridge (BA)
Websitehamishfalconer.co.uk

Hamish Nicholas Falconer (born 20 December 1985) is a British politician and former diplomat who has served as Minister for Intergovernmental Relations and European Relations since July 2026. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln since 2024.

Early life

Hamish Nicholas Falconer was born on 20 December 1985,[1] the son of Charlie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, who served as Lord Chancellor under Tony Blair, and Marianna Hildyard KC, Lady Falconer of Thoroton, a circuit judge. Falconer attended Westminster School and then St John's College, Cambridge, graduating in 2008 in Human, Social and Political Science,[2] before joining the diplomatic service.

Early career

Falconer worked in the UK government's Department for International Development from 2009 to 2013, and then the Foreign and Commonwealth Office until 2022.[3] His diplomatic career centred on national security and humanitarian relief, including hostage recovery.[4][5] Whilst in the Foreign Office, he spent a year at Yale University as a "World Fellow".[6]

Since leaving the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, Falconer worked as an associate fellow at the IPPR,[4] and was a policy fellow at the think tank Labour Together alongside standing as a candidate for Parliament.[7][8]

Parliamentary career

Shortly after being elected as MP for Lincoln in July 2024,[9] Falconer was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.[10]

Falconer voted in favour of means-testing the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners.[11]

Foreign Office minister (2024–2026)

Falconer at the United Nations Two-State Solution Conference, 2025

As Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, he was responsible for meeting with high-profile Egyptian-British political activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah. Falconer described the task of securing his release from prison as "at the top of my priority list, as well as that of the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister."[12] He stated that he was "very glad" when El-Fattah subsequently arrived in the United Kingdom at the end of December 2025.[13] This proved to be controversial[14] after historical posts on X (formerly Twitter) by El-Fattah emerged including describing British people as "dogs and monkeys"[15] as well as apparently endorsing killing Zionists[16] and the police.[17]

Falconer was under investigation, in April 2025, for a breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct for failing to register his share holdings in consultancy firm Upon a Hill Limited.[18]

Falconer faced intense parliamentary scrutiny over the Starmer government's stance on the Gaza war and genocide.[19][20] Falconer faced scrutiny[21] and criticism[22][23][24] for defending the government's stance that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza, which contradicted a UN Commission of Inquiry report which declared such acts are occurring.[25][26][27][28]

Falconer continued to defend the UK government's policy, which led to accusations of misleading the public and Labour party members, with Labour figures like John McDonnell condemning the government for failing to confront[29][30] the term genocide despite UN findings.

In July 2026, Falconer declined to answer questions from a Declassified UK journalist regarding the UK government's failure to stop British nationals fighting for Israel in Gaza who may have committed war crimes.[31] This came after over 26,000 people signed a letter asking the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office to investigate UK citizens[32] who fought in Gaza.[33]

In February 2026, his comment regarding a pause in the Chagos Islands handover deal caused diplomatic confusion with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office having to state he had "misspoken" and that no pause had actually occurred.[34]

Cabinet career (2026–present)

On 20 July 2026, Falconer was promoted to Minister for Intergovernmental Relations and European Relations by the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Although not a Cabinet Minister, he will attend cabinet.[35]

Honours

On 21 July 2026, Falconer was sworn into the Privy Council, entitling him to be styled with the honorific title "The Right Honourable" for life.[36]

Notes

  1. ↑ as Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
  2. ↑ as Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations

References

  1. ↑ "Hamish Nicholas FALCONER". GOV.UK.
  2. ↑ "SPS - Hamish Falconer | St John's College, University of Cambridge". www.joh.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  3. ↑ Rea, Ailbhe (29 June 2024). "Hamish Falconer: "We will be forming a government under much harder conditions than 1997"". New Statesman. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Hamish Falconer". IPPR. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  5. ↑ "Former Cabinet Office, Treasury and DWP civil servants among today's election candidates". Civil Service World. 4 July 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  6. ↑ "Hamish Falconer – Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program". Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  7. ↑ ""Greatest privilege of my life": Lincoln's Labour candidate named". The Lincolnite. 12 December 2022. Archived from the original on 12 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  8. ↑ ""National Securonomics": National Securonomics". LabourTogether. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  9. ↑ "Lincoln - General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  10. ↑ "Ministerial Appointments: July 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  11. ↑ "Data: How MPs voted on winter fuel payment". BBC News. 10 September 2024. Retrieved 21 July 2026.
  12. ↑ "Alaa Abd el-Fattah - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  13. ↑ Hamish Falconer [@HFalconerMP] (26 December 2025). "I'm very glad to see Alaa Abd El-Fattah back in the UK" (Tweet) – via X (formerly Twitter).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  14. ↑ Allegretti, Aubrey (28 December 2025). "Calls to strip citizenship of freed dissident hailed by PM". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  15. ↑ Turner, Camilla; Sawer, Patrick; Hymas, Charles (27 December 2025). "Starmer welcomes 'extremist' to Britain". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  16. ↑ Yorke, Harry (27 December 2025). "Killing Zionists is OK, said released activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  17. ↑ "Egyptian dissident should be deported from UK, say Tories". BBC News. 28 December 2025. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  18. ↑ Holl-Allen, Genevieve (22 April 2025). "Minister under investigation for late registration of interests". The Telegraph Newspaper.
  19. ↑ Bell-Cross, Lorin (12 January 2026). "Middle East minister defends government over claim it does not confront 'genocide' language on Israel". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  20. ↑ "UK Middle East minister appears to accept 'risk of genocide' in Gaza". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  21. ↑ "UK Middle East minister appears to accept 'risk of genocide' in Gaza". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  22. ↑ "Gaza: MSF UK calls on the UK government to act to stop the genocide". msf.org.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  23. ↑ "CAAT - Joint Statement: UN Commission of Inquiry finding of genocide in Gaza and UK position on genocide". Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  24. ↑ Harpin, Lee (25 November 2024). "Middle East minister fails to confirm UK will uphold ICC Netanyahu arrest warrant". Jewish News. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  25. ↑ Holmes, Oliver (23 June 2026). "Israel continues to commit genocide by targeting children in Gaza, UN inquiry finds". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  26. ↑ Jeune, James (15 July 2026). ""Nothing can justify the death and suffering to civilians on such a devastating scale"". Bailiwick Express News Jersey. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  27. ↑ "Israel continues to commit genocide and other atrocity crimes by deliberately targeting Palestinian children". OHCHR. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  28. ↑ "Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN commission of inquiry says". www.bbc.com. 16 September 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  29. ↑ Bell-Cross, Lorin (12 January 2026). "Middle East minister defends government over claim it does not confront 'genocide' language on Israel". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  30. ↑ Wintour, Patrick (15 March 2026). "UK complicit in desecration of international law in Gaza, says Corbyn-led tribunal". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  31. ↑ Dokal, PHIL MILLER, Alex Morris, Hanna-Johara (3 July 2026). "Foreign minister swerves questions about Britons fighting for Israel". Declassified UK. Retrieved 22 July 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  32. ↑ Morris, JOHN McEVOY, Alex (11 February 2026). "Over 2,000 Britons served for Israel amid Gaza genocide". Declassified UK. Retrieved 22 July 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  33. ↑ "Nobody wants to live next to a war criminal". Declassified UK. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  34. ↑ Quinn, Ben (25 February 2026). "Moves to pave way for Chagos handover paused, minister tells MPs". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  35. ↑ https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ministerial-appointments-july-2026
  36. ↑ "Hamish Falconer sworn as Privy Counsellor" (PDF). privycouncil.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
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