Minister of Supply

The Minister of Supply was the minister in the British Government responsible for the Ministry of Supply, which existed to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to the national armed forces. The position was campaigned for by many sceptics of the foreign policy of the National Government in the 1930s before finally being created in 1939.

The wartime Ministry of Aircraft Production was amalgamated into the Ministry of Supply in July 1945.

In the post-war governments, the Ministry became increasingly unpopular with economy-minded Conservatives, who objected to it as a redundant middle-man. This point of view was shared by Reginald Maudling, who served as the Minister under Anthony Eden and refused to continue in office under Harold Macmillan, who had served in a junior role in the Ministry and believed in it. Nevertheless, he agreed to wind it up in 1959.

Minister of Supply 1939–1959

Portrait		Name	Term of office		Political party	Government
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)/meta/color" |		The Right Honourable Leslie Burgin MP for Luton	14 July 1939	12 May 1940	Liberal National	National IV (Cons.–Lab.Nat.–Lib.Nat.)
Chamberlain War (Cons.–Lab.Nat.–Lib.Nat.)
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |		The Right Honourable Herbert Morrison MP for Hackney South	12 May 1940	3 October 1940	Labour	Churchill War
style="background-color: Template:National Government (United Kingdom)/meta/color" |		The Right Honourable Sir Andrew Rae Duncan MP for City of London	3 October 1940	29 June 1941	National
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |		The Right Honourable The Lord Beaverbrook PC	29 June 1941	4 February 1942	Conservative
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:National Government (United Kingdom)/meta/color" |		The Right Honourable Sir Andrew Rae Duncan MP for City of London	4 February 1942	26 July 1945	National
Churchill Caretaker
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |		The Right Honourable John Wilmot MP for Deptford	3 August 1945	7 October 1947	Labour	Attlee (I & II)
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |		The Right Honourable George Strauss MP for Lambeth North before 1950 MP for Vauxhall after 1950	7 October 1947	26 October 1951	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |		The Right Honourable Duncan Sandys MP for Streatham	31 October 1951	18 October 1954	Conservative	Churchill III
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |		The Right Honourable Selwyn Lloyd CBE QC MP for The Wirral	18 October 1954	7 April 1955	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	File:Reginald Maudling.jpg	The Right Honourable Reginald Maudling MP for Barnet	7 April 1955	16 January 1957	Conservative	Eden
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |		The Right Honourable Aubrey Jones MP for Birmingham Hall Green	16 January 1957	22 October 1959	Conservative	Macmillan I