The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a
secretary of state in the
Government of the United Kingdom
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, with overall responsibility for the business of the
Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a member of the
Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
The post of Secretary of State for Defence was created on 1 April 1964 replacing the positions of
Minister of Defence
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
,
First Lord of the Admiralty
The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...
,
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. In 1997,
Michael Portillo
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo (; born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster and former politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as '' Great British Railway Journeys'' and '' Great Continental Railway Jour ...
was filling this post at the time of the
Portillo moment
The Portillo moment was the dramatic declaration of the result for the Enfield Southgate constituency in the 1997 UK general election, at around 3:10 am on 2 May 1997. The Labour candidate Stephen Twigg defeated the sitting MP, Conservative ca ...
. In 2019,
Penny Mordaunt
Penelope Mary Mordaunt (; born 4 March 1973) is a British politician who has been Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) ...
became the UK's first female defence secretary.
The postholder is supported by the other ministers in the
Defence Ministerial team and the
MOD permanent secretary. The corresponding
shadow minister is the
shadow secretary of state for defence
The Shadow Secretary of State for Defence is a member of the UK Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the Secretary of State for Defence and the department, the Ministry of Defence. The post is currently held by John Healey.
Shadow S ...
, and the secretary of state is also scrutinised by the
Defence Select Committee.
The current secretary of state for defence is
Ben Wallace MP, since his appointment by
Prime Minister Boris Johnson in July 2019.
He was reappointed by Prime Minister
Liz Truss
Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth day in office, she stepped down ...
in September 2022. He was also reappointed by Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak in October 2022.
Responsibilities
Corresponding to what is generally known as a
defence minister in many other countries, the Defence Secretary's remit includes:
*Strategic military and defensive operations. The postholder is a member of the
National Security Council, and chair of the
Defence Council, to which the monarch has given the power to command the Armed Forces.
*Oversight of
Defence Intelligence
Defence Intelligence (DI) is an organisation within the United Kingdom intelligence community which focuses on gathering and analysing military intelligence. It differs from the UK's intelligence agencies (MI6, GCHQ and MI5) in that it is an ...
*Relations with international partnerships, including
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
*Defence policy (
Trident nuclear weapons programme), resourcing and planning
*Communications on defence
History
Minister for Co-ordination of Defence (1936–1940)
The position of
Minister for Co-ordination of Defence
The 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 abolished in 1940.
History
The position was established by Prime Minister ...
was a
British Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the senior decision-making body of His Majesty's Government. A committee of the Privy Council, it is chaired by the prime minister and its members include secretaries of state and other senior ministers. ...
-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
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. When the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
broke out, the new Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain formed a small
War Cabinet
A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senio ...
and it was expected that the Minister would serve as a spokesperson for the three service ministers, the
Secretary of State for War, the
First Lord of the Admiralty
The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...
and the
Secretary of State for Air; however, political considerations resulted in all three posts being included in the Cabinet, and this role proved increasingly redundant. In April 1940 the position was formally wound up and the functions transferred to other Ministers.
Minister of Defence (1940–1964)
The post of
Minister of Defence
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
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
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
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
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. 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
The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...
, and the
Secretary of State for Air, now formally subordinated to the Minister of Defence.
Secretary of State for Defence (1964–present)
The post was created in 1964 as successor to the posts of Minister for Coordination of Defence and Minister of Defence. It replaced the positions of
First Lord of the Admiralty
The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...
,
Secretary of State for War and
Secretary of State for Air, as the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
,
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
and
Air Ministry
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 ...
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
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
).
Secretaries of State for Defence (1964–present)
* Incumbent's length of term last updated: .
References
External links
www.gov.uk/mod
{{DEFAULTSORT:Secretary Of State For Defence
Defence, Secretary of State for
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
Ministerial offices in the United Kingdom
1964 establishments in the United Kingdom