“Jack Straw served continuously on the Labour front-bench for 30 years- from November 1980 until October 2010.
He was a senior member of the Labour Cabinet for the whole period of the 1997-2000 Labour Government. He served successively as Home Secretary (1997-2001), Foreign Secretary (2001-2006), Leader of the Commons (2006-7), and then Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary (2007-2010).”
UCL Constitution Unit, 7th March 2013
Source: www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit