Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Responsibilities
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State has responsibility for:
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Europe (bilateral)
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Eastern Europe and Central Asia
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defence and international security
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national and economic security
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growth
Current role holder
Lord Wood of Anfield
Lord Wood of Anfield was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on 23 July 2026. He served as a member of the Labour Shadow Cabinet and as a senior advisor to Ed Miliband during his leadership of the Labour Party from 2010 to 2015. Prior to this, he was a foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010.
Career
Lord Wood is a Labour life peer and a long-standing policy adviser, academic and political strategist.
From 2001 to 2007, he was a member of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Council of Economic Advisers, where he specialised in education policy, local government affairs and EU policy.
In the House of Lords, he has served as Chair of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee and has sat on the International Relations and Defence Committee, European Affairs Committee and related foreign policy committees.
Outside of government, Lord Wood has held academic posts at the University of Oxford and has written extensively on international political economy, Europe and public policy.