Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry

United Kingdom Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent Luke Pollard since 6 September 2025
Ministry of Defence
Style	Minister
Nominator	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Appointer	The Monarch on advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
First holder	Roy Mason
Website	Official website

The Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry is, as a Minister of State, a mid-level defence minister in the Ministry of Defence of the British Government. The current incumbent of the post, Labour MP Luke Pollard, was appointed in September 2025. ^[1]

Origins

This ministerial post derives from that of two posts; the procurement aspects of this post were the responsibility of the Minister of Defence Procurement (either a Minister of State or the more junior, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State), while still the defence logistic aspects were the brief of the Minister of State for the Armed Forces.

This post was created in 2007 to reflect the establishment of the Defence Equipment and Support organisation of the UK Ministry of Defence. Lord Drayson was appointed as its first incumbent. ^[2] Whilst Lord Drayson held the role as a Minister of State, all of his successors were Parliamentary Under-Secretaries, the most junior ministerial rank in the British Government, until the appointment of Jeremy Quin in 2020.

The post was retitled in 2010 as Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology. The current title of the post is unclear as it has been announced as both Minister for Defence Procurement ^[3] and Minister for Defence Equipment, Technology and Support. ^[4]

Responsibilities

The Minister is responsible for: ^[5]

• implementation of relevant SDR Vision and Recommendations
• oversight of the National Armaments Director Group
• departmental communications strategy and reform
• armed forces readiness and stockpiles
• Defence procurement, including reform and UK Defence Innovation
• submarine delivery
• Defence Industrial Strategy implementation and growth
• Defence Exports Campaign and Office
• Defence Readiness Bill
• Ukraine support - military aid and industrial partnerships, including HIRST and KINDRED
• Defence industry relationships and the Defence Industrial Joint Council
• acquisition reform/UK Defence Innovation
• climate change and sustainability
• Defence estates, accommodation and Defence Infrastructure Organisation
• artificial intelligence and innovation
• science and technology
• Defence Afghanistan Relocation and Assistance Programme (ARAP) including eligibility applications and asylum
• oversight of Parliamentary engagement

List of ministers

Minister			Entered office	Left office	Political party
		Roy Mason	7 January 1967	16 April 1968	Labour
		John Morris	16 April 1968	19 June 1970
Minister			Entered office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
		Lord Balniel	23 June 1970	5 November 1972	Conservative	Edward Heath
Name		Portrait	Entered office	Left office	Political party
		Ian Gilmour	7 April 1971	5 November 1972	Conservative
Name		Portrait	Entered office	Left office	Political party
		Ian Gilmour	5 November 1972	8 January 1974	Conservative
		George Younger	8 January 1974	4 March 1974
		William Rodgers	4 March 1974	10 September 1976	Labour
		John Gilbert	10 September 1976	4 May 1979
		Euan Howard	6 May 1979	5 January 1981	Conservative
		The Viscount Trenchard	5 January 1981	29 May 1981
Minister			Entered office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
		The Viscount Trenchard	29 May 1981	6 January 1983	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher
		Geoffrey Pattie	6 January 1983	11 September 1984
		Adam Butler	11 September 1984	2 September 1985
		Norman Lamont	2 September 1985	21 May 1986
		The Lord Trefgarne	21 May 1986	24 July 1989
		Alan Clark	24 July 1989	14 April 1992
						John Major
		Jonathan Aitken	14 April 1992	20 July 1994
		Roger Freeman	20 July 1994	6 July 1995
		James Arbuthnot	6 July 1995	1 May 1997
		The Lord Gilbert	2 May 1997	July 1999	Labour	Tony Blair
		The Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean	July 1999	8 June 2001
		The Lord Bach	8 June 2001	6 May 2005
		The Lord Drayson	6 May 2005	6 March 2007
Minister			Entered office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
		The Lord Drayson	6 March 2007	7 November 2007	Labour	Tony Blair
						Gordon Brown
		The Baroness Taylor of Bolton	7 November 2007	5 October 2008
		Quentin Davies	5 October 2008	12 May 2010
		Peter Luff	9 June 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative	David Cameron
Minister			Entered office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
		Philip Dunne	4 September 2012	14 July 2016	Conservative	David Cameron
		Harriett Baldwin	18 July 2016	9 January 2018
						Theresa May
		Guto Bebb	9 January 2018	16 July 2018 [6]
		Stuart Andrew	19 July 2018	27 July 2019
		Anne-Marie Trevelyan	27 July 2019 [7]	16 December 2019		Boris Johnson
		James Heappey	16 December 2019	13 February 2020
		Jeremy Quin	13 February 2020	7 September 2022
		Alec Shelbrooke	7 September 2022	26 October 2022		Liz Truss
		Alex Chalk	27 October 2022	21 April 2023		Rishi Sunak
		James Cartlidge	21 April 2023	5 July 2024
		Maria Eagle	8 July 2024	6 September 2025	Labour	Keir Starmer
		Luke Pollard	6 September 2025	incumbent	Labour	Keir Starmer

References

1. "Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, Luke Pollard, statement on Defence Industrial Strategy". GOV.UK. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
2. Lord Drayson appointed minister Archived 2007-03-20 at the Wayback Machine
3. Election 2015: Prime Minister and ministerial appointments - 11 May 2015
4. Ministry of Defence Ministerial appointments finalised - 11 May 15
5. "Minister of State (Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry)". gov.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
6. Sparrow, Andrew; Rawlinson, Kevin; Sparrow, Andrew (16 July 2018). "May survives Tory Brexit rebellion with narrow Commons victory - as it happened". The Guardian.
7. Ripley, Tim (29 July 2019). "New UK procurement minister appointed". IHS Janes. London. Retrieved 30 July 2019.