This article needs additional citations for verification . (September 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
Secretary of State for Defence | |
---|---|
Ministry of Defence | |
Style |
|
Status | Minister of the Crown |
Member of | |
Reports to | The Prime Minister |
Seat | Westminster |
Appointer | The Crown on advice of the Prime Minister |
Term length | At Her Majesty's Pleasure |
Constituting instrument | Defence (Transfer of Functions) Act 1964 section 1(1)(a) |
Formation | 1 April 1964 |
First holder | Peter Thorneycroft |
Deputy | Minister of State for the Armed Forces |
Website | www |
This article is part of a series on |
Politics of the United Kingdom |
---|
United Kingdomportal |
The Secretary of State for Defence, also referred to as the Defence Secretary, is a senior Minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The office forms part of the British Cabinet.
The post of Secretary of State for Defence was created on 1 April 1964 replacing the three separate Cabinet positions of First Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air while the individual offices of the British Armed Forces were abolished and their functions transferred to the Ministry of Defence.
The current Secretary of State for Defence is Ben Wallace, MP. since his appointment by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in July 2019. [1]
Corresponding to what is generally known as a defence minister in many other countries, the Defence Secretary's remit includes:
The post was created in 1964 as successor to the posts of Minister for Coordination of Defence (1936–1940) and Ministry of Defence (1947–1964). It replaced the positions of First Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air, as the Admiralty, War Office and Air Ministry were merged into the Ministry of Defence (the Secretary of State for War had already ceased to be a cabinet position in 1946, with the creation of the cabinet-level Minister of Defence).
The position of Minister for Co-ordination of Defence was a British Cabinet-level position established in 1936 to oversee and co-ordinate the rearmament of Britain's defences. It was established by the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin in response to criticism that Britain's armed forces were understrength compared to those of Nazi Germany. The criticism had been led by Winston Churchill and many expected him to be appointed as the new minister. Baldwin's choice of the Attorney General Sir Thomas Inskip for the post provoked widespread astonishment. The appointment is now regarded as a sign of caution by Baldwin who did not wish to appoint someone like Churchill who would have been interpreted by foreign powers as a sign of the United Kingdom preparing for war, as well as a desire to avoid taking on board a controversial and radical minister.
In 1939 Inskip was succeeded by First Sea Lord Lord Chatfield. When the Second World War broke out, the new Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain formed a small War Cabinet and it was expected that Chatfield would serve as a spokesperson for the three service ministers, the Secretary of State for War, the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Secretary of State for Air; however, political considerations resulted in all three posts being included in the Cabinet, and Chatfield's role proved increasingly redundant. In April 1940 the position was formally wound up and the functions transferred to other Ministers.
The post of Minister of Defence was responsible for co-ordination of defence and security from its creation in 1940 until its abolition in 1964. The post was a Cabinet level post and generally ranked above the three service ministers, some of whom, however, continued to also serve in Cabinet.
On his appointment as Prime Minister in May 1940, Winston Churchill created for himself the new post of Minister of Defence. The post was created in response to previous criticism that there had been no clear single minister in charge of the prosecution of World War II. In 1946, the post became the only cabinet-level post representing the military, with the three service ministers – the Secretary of State for War, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and the Secretary of State for Air, now formally subordinated to the Minister of Defence.
Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Length of term | Party | Ministry | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Right Honourable Peter Thorneycroft MP for Monmouth (1909–1994) [3] | 1 April 1964 | 16 October 1964 | 6 months and 15 days (Cont. from above) | Conservative | Douglas-Home | ||
The Right Honourable Denis Healey MBE MP for Leeds East (1917–2015) [4] | 16 October 1964 | 19 June 1970 | 5 years, 8 months and 3 days | Labour | Wilson (I & II) | ||
The Right Honourable Peter Carrington 6th Baron Carrington KCMG MC PC DL (1919-2018) | 20 June 1970 | 8 January 1974 | 3 years, 6 months and 19 days | Conservative | Heath | ||
The Right Honourable Ian Gilmour MP for Central Norfolk (1926–2007) [5] | 8 January 1974 | 4 March 1974 | 1 month and 24 days | Conservative | |||
The Right Honourable Roy Mason MP for Barnsley (1924–2015) [6] | 5 March 1974 | 10 September 1976 | 2 years, 6 months and 5 days | Labour | Wilson (III & IV) | ||
The Right Honourable Fred Mulley MP for Sheffield Park (1918–1995) [7] | 10 September 1976 | 4 May 1979 | 2 years, 7 months and 24 days | Labour | Callaghan | ||
The Right Honourable Francis Pym MC]] MP for Cambridgeshire (1922–2008) [8] | 5 May 1979 | 5 January 1981 | 1 year and 8 months | Conservative | Thatcher I | ||
The Right Honourable John Nott MP for St Ives (born 1932) [9] | 5 January 1981 | 6 January 1983 | 2 years and 1 day | Conservative | |||
The Right Honourable Michael Heseltine MP for Henley (born 1933) [10] | 6 January 1983 | 7 January 1986 | 3 years and 1 day | Conservative | Thatcher II | ||
The Right Honourable George Younger TD MP for Ayr (1931–2003) [11] [12] | 7 January 1986 | 24 July 1989 | 3 years, 6 months and 17 days | Conservative | |||
Thatcher III | |||||||
The Right Honourable Tom King MP for Bridgwater (born 1933) [13] | 24 July 1989 | 10 April 1992 | 2 years, 8 months and 17 days | Conservative | |||
Major I | |||||||
The Right Honourable Malcolm Rifkind QC MP for Edinburgh Pentlands (born 1946) [14] | 10 April 1992 | 5 July 1995 | 3 years, 2 months and 25 days | Conservative | Major II | ||
The Right Honourable Michael Portillo MP for Enfield Southgate (born 1953) [15] | 5 July 1995 | 2 May 1997 | 1 year, 9 months and 27 days | Conservative | |||
The Right Honourable George Robertson MP for Hamilton South (born 1946) [16] | 3 May 1997 | 11 October 1999 | 2 years, 5 months and 8 days | Labour | Blair I | ||
The Right Honourable Geoff Hoon MP for Ashfield (born 1953) [17] | 11 October 1999 | 6 May 2005 | 5 years, 6 months and 25 days | Labour | |||
Blair II | |||||||
The Right Honourable John Reid MP for Airdrie and Shotts (born 1947) [18] | 6 May 2005 | 5 May 2006 | 11 months and 29 days | Labour | Blair III | ||
The Right Honourable Des Browne MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (born 1952) [19] | 5 May 2006 | 3 October 2008 | 2 years, 4 months and 28 days | Labour | |||
Brown | |||||||
The Right Honourable John Hutton MP for Barrow and Furness (born 1955) [20] | 3 October 2008 | 5 June 2009 | 8 months and 2 days | Labour | |||
The Right Honourable Bob Ainsworth MP for Coventry North East (born 1952) [21] | 5 June 2009 | 11 May 2010 | 11 months and 6 days | Labour | |||
The Right Honourable Liam Fox MP for North Somerset (born 1961) [22] [23] | 12 May 2010 | 14 October 2011 | 1 year, 5 months and 3 days | Conservative | Cameron–Clegg ( Con.–L.D. ) | ||
The Right Honourable Philip Hammond MP for Runnymede and Weybridge (born 1955) [24] [25] | 14 October 2011 | 15 July 2014 | 2 years, 9 months and 1 day | Conservative | |||
The Right Honourable Sir Michael Fallon KCB MP for Sevenoaks (born 1952) [26] [27] | 15 July 2014 | 1 November 2017 | 3 years, 3 months and 17 days | Conservative | |||
Cameron II | |||||||
May I | |||||||
May II | |||||||
The Right Honourable Gavin Williamson CBE MP for South Staffordshire (born 1976) [28] [29] | 2 November 2017 | 1 May 2019 | 1 year, 5 months and 29 days | Conservative | |||
The Right Honourable Penny Mordaunt MP for Portsmouth North (born 1973) [30] | 1 May 2019 | 24 July 2019 | 2 months and 23 days | Conservative | |||
The Right Honourable Ben Wallace MP for Wyre and Preston North (born 1970) [1] | 24 July 2019 | Incumbent | 1 year, 7 months and 2 days* | Conservative | Johnson I | ||
Johnson II |
* Incumbent's length of term last updated: 26 February 2021.
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State for Air.
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is a group in the government of the United Kingdom, consisting of the highest ranking ministers of the Crown. A committee of the Privy Council, its members include the holders of the four Great Offices of State, including the prime minister, who chairs the Cabinet. Other members include the principal secretaries of state who each head the government departments.
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Scotland, also referred to as the Secretary of State for Scotland or the Scottish Secretary, is the secretary of state and principal government minister for Scotland in the Cabinet of Her Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Scottish Secretary heads the Scotland Office, a government department based in London and Edinburgh.
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, also referred to as the Environment Secretary, is a British Cabinet level position, in charge of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the successor to the positions of Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom cabinet position, responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The post was originally named President of the Board of Agriculture and was created in 1889. In 1903, an Act was passed to transfer to the new styled Board of Agriculture and Fisheries certain powers and duties relating to the fishing industry, and the post was renamed President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.
The Secretary of State for Justice, also referred to as the Justice Secretary, is a senior Minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of the Ministry of Justice. The office forms part of the British Cabinet. Since it was created, the Justice Secretary also holds the office of Lord Chancellor in conjunction.
A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers. It is also quite common for a war cabinet to have senior military officers and opposition politicians as members.
The Order of precedence in New Zealand is a guide to the relative seniority of constitutional office holders and certain others, to be followed, as appropriate at State and official functions. The previous order of precedence is revoked and Her Majesty The Queen approved the following Order of Precedence in New Zealand effective 20 September 2018:
Thomas Walker Hobart Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote, was a British politician who served in many legal posts, culminating in serving as Lord Chancellor from 1939 until 1940. Despite legal posts dominating his career for all but four years, he is most prominently remembered for serving as Minister for Coordination of Defence from 1936 until 1939.
The position of Minister for Coordination of Defence was a British Cabinet-level position established in 1936 to oversee and co-ordinate the rearmament of Britain's defences.
The National Government of 1937–1939 was formed by Neville Chamberlain on his appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George VI. He succeeded Stanley Baldwin, who announced his resignation following the coronation of the King and Queen in May 1937.
Neville Chamberlain formed the Chamberlain war ministry in 1939 after declaring war on Germany. Chamberlain led the country for the first eight months of the Second World War, until the Norway Debate in Parliament led Chamberlain to resign and Winston Churchill to form a new ministry.
The Secretary of state for Housing, communities, and Local government, also referred to as the Communities Secretary, is a Cabinet position heading the UK's Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, previously known as the Department for Communities and Local Government from 2006 to 2018.
Victor Alexander George Anthony Warrender, 1st Baron Bruntisfield, MC, known as Sir Victor Warrender, Bt, between 1917 and 1942, was a British Conservative politician. He held minor political office between 1928 and 1945, notably as Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty from 1940 to 1945 in Winston Churchill's war-time coalition government. In 1942 he was ennobled as Baron Bruntisfield.
James Edward Ramsden was a British Conservative politician. He was the last person to hold the office of Secretary of State for War.
The Churchill war ministry was the United Kingdom's coalition government for most of the Second World War from 10 May 1940 to 23 May 1945. It was led by Winston Churchill, who was appointed Prime Minister by King George VI following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain in the aftermath of the Norway Debate.
The 1945 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours were announced on 14 August 1945 to mark the resignation of the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, following the success of the Labour Party in the 1945 General Election.
The 2010 Dissolution Honours List was issued on 28 May 2010 at the advice of the outgoing Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. The list was gazetted on 15 June. Keith Hill was offered but declined a knighthood, saying he would find the title "embarrassing".
The first Johnson ministry began on 24 July 2019 when Queen Elizabeth II invited Boris Johnson to form a new administration, following the resignation of the previous Prime Minister Theresa May. May had resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party on 7 June 2019; Johnson was elected as her successor on 23 July 2019. The Johnson ministry was formed from the 57th Parliament of the United Kingdom, as a Conservative minority government. It lost its working majority on 3 September 2019 when Tory MP Dr Phillip Lee crossed the floor to the Liberal Democrats. An election was called for 12 December 2019, which led to the formation of a Conservative majority government, the second Johnson ministry.
The Minister of Defence for the Royal Navy was a senior ministerial appointment of the British Government established in April 1964. The office holder was the ministerial head of the Navy Department of the Ministry of Defence, and reported to the Secretary of State for Defence.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Secretaries of State for Defence (UK) . |