Minister of Defence (United Kingdom)

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.

History

Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, concerns about British forces being understrength led in 1936 to the creation of the post of Minister for Coordination of Defence by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. The post was abolished by Baldwin's successor Neville Chamberlain in April 1940.

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 the war. 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.

In 1964, the creation of a single, merged Ministry of Defence and the abolition of the separate service ministries in the UK led to the creation of the new post of Secretary of State for Defence, more popularly known as Defence Secretary.

Ministers of Defence, 1940–1964

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Winston Churchill		10 May 1940	27 July 1945	Conservative	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Winston Churchill (War Coalition)
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Clement Attlee		27 July 1945	20 December 1946	Labour	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Clement Attlee
style="background-color: Template:Labour Co-operative/meta/color" |	A. V. Alexander		20 December 1946	28 February 1950	Labour Co-op
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Emanuel Shinwell		28 February 1950	26 October 1951	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Winston Churchill		28 October 1951	1 March 1952	Conservative	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Winston Churchill
style="background-color: Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" |	The Earl Alexander of Tunis		1 March 1952	18 October 1954	none
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harold Macmillan	File:Harold Macmillan number 10 official.jpg	18 October 1954	7 April 1955	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Selwyn Lloyd		7 April 1955	20 December 1955	Conservative	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Anthony Eden
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Sir Walter Monckton		20 December 1955	18 October 1956	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Antony Head		18 October 1956	9 January 1957	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Duncan Sandys		13 January 1957	14 October 1959	Conservative	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harold Macmillan
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Harold Watkinson		14 October 1959	13 July 1962	Conservative
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Peter Thorneycroft		13 July 1962	1 April 1964	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |						Sir Alec Douglas-Home

The post of Minister of Defence was abolished in 1964 and replaced by the new post of Secretary of State for Defence.

See also

• Secretary of State for Defence
• Ministry of Defence (1947–1964)