Le ministre de cabinet fantôme pour le Développement international est le principal porte-parole de l'opposition officielle du Royaume-Uni sur les questions liées au département du Développement international (DfID), qui est responsable de l'aide internationale, notamment dans les pays du tiers monde.
↑Richard Wood replied for the Opposition in a debate on 24 February, six days after Margaret Thatcher named her Shadow Cabinet. Various other Conservatives, including the Reginald Maudling (as Shadow Foreign Secretary), Peter Tapsell, and John Davies (as Shadow Foreign Secretary) replied in debates on overseas development thereafter.
↑John Major's interim Shadow Cabinet consisted of those members of his Cabinet who retained their seats at the 1997 general election, but there had been no International Development Secretary, and the Overseas Development Minister was not in Cabinet. According to the Shadow Cabinet list, Major himself was responsible for Foreign Affairs (the department responsible for development in his government), but ministers could call on the services of Members who served under them in Government[6]. It is unknown whether Major called on the service of Baroness Chalker of Wallasey, the last Minister for Overseas Development, during the approximately two months before William Hague was elected leader. Therefore it is unclear whether the office was vacant or non-existent, or whether Major or Chalker should be considered to have held it.
↑Under Labour Party rules, ministers shadow their former roles when the party enters opposition[14]. Alexander was International Development Secretary when Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister[15].