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.
The Ministry of Defence was created in 1947.
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
PortraitName Term of officePolitical party CabinetTook officeLeft office Time in officeWinston Churchill10 May 194027 July 1945 ConservativeChurchill WarChurchill Caretaker Clement Attlee 27 July 1945 20 December 1946 LabourAttlee I A. V. AlexanderMP for Sheffield Hillsborough(1885–1965) 20 December 1946 28 February 1950 Labour Co-op Emanuel ShinwellMP for Easington(1884–1986) 28 February 1950 26 October 1951 Labour Attlee II Winston ChurchillMP for Woodford(1874–1965) 28 October 1951 1 March 1952 ConservativeChurchill III Harold Alexander1st Earl Alexander of Tunis(1891–1969) 1 March 1952 18 October 1954 Independent Harold MacmillanMP for Bromley(1894–1986) 18 October 1954 7 April 1955 Conservative Selwyn LloydMP for The Wirral(1904–1978) 7 April 1955 20 December 1955 ConservativeEdenWalter MoncktonMP for Bristol West(1891–1965)20 December 195518 October 1956 ConservativeAntony HeadMP for Carshalton(1906–1983)18 October 19569 January 1957 ConservativeDuncan SandysMP for Streatham(1906–1987)13 January 195714 October 1959 ConservativeMacmillan IHarold WatkinsonMP for Woking(1910–1995)14 October 195913 July 1962 ConservativeMacmillan IIPeter ThorneycroftMP for Monmouth(1909–1994)13 July 19621 April 1964 ConservativeDouglas-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 Ministry of Defence (1947–1964)
References