Editing Geoff Hoon (section)

==Shadow Cabinet and early government posts==
In Parliament, Hoon was promoted by Tony Blair in 1994 when he was appointed as an opposition [[Whip (politics)|whip]], and in 1995 he joined the [[frontbench]] team as a spokesman on Trade and Industry. Following the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]] he became a member of the government of [[Tony Blair]] as the [[Parliamentary under-secretary of state]] at the [[Lord Chancellor's Department]], being promoted to the rank of [[Minister of State]] in the same department in 1998.

In 1999, Hoon was briefly a minister at the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]] with responsibility for Asia, the Pacific, Middle East and North Africa.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/news/vote2001/hi/english/key_people/newsid_1179000/1179286.stm|title=Geoff Hoon: Defence Secretary|date=2001-03-02|access-date=2019-10-25|language=en-GB}}</ref> He entered the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|cabinet]] later in the year as the [[Secretary of State for Defence]], at which time he became a member of the [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|Privy Council]]. He served as the [[Lord Privy Seal]] and the [[Leader of the House of Commons]] from the [[2005 United Kingdom general election|2005 general election]] until 5 May 2006, when he was appointed as Minister for Europe.