| United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defence | |
|---|---|
|  | |
|  | |
| since 5 July 2024 | |
| Ministry of Defence | |
| Style | 
 | 
| Type | Minister of the Crown | 
| Status | Secretary of State | 
| Member of | |
| Reports to | The Prime Minister | 
| Seat | Westminster | 
| Nominator | The Prime Minister | 
| Appointer | The Monarch (on the advice of thePrime Minister) | 
| Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure | 
| Constituting instrument | Defence (Transfer of Functions) Act 1964 section 1(1)(a) | 
| Precursor | |
| Formation | 1 April 1964 | 
| First holder | Peter Thorneycroft | 
| Deputy | Minister of State for Defence Procurement and Industry | 
| Salary | £159,038 per annum(2022)[1] (including £86,584MP salary)[2] | 
| Website | Defence Secretary | 
Thesecretary of state for defence, also known as thedefence secretary, is asecretary of state in theGovernment of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for theMinistry of Defence.[3] As a senior minister, the incumbent is a member of theCabinet of the United Kingdom.
The post of secretary of state for defence was created on 1 April 1964, replacing the positions ofminister of defence,first lord of the admiralty,secretary of state for war, andsecretary of state for air, while the individual offices of theBritish Armed Forces were abolished and their functions transferred to the Ministry of Defence. In 2019,Penny Mordaunt became the UK's first female defence secretary.[4]
The secretary of state is supported by the other ministers in theDefence Ministerial Team and theMOD permanent secretary. The correspondingshadow minister is theshadow secretary of state for defence, and the secretary of state is also scrutinised by theDefence Select Committee.[5]
The current secretary of state for defence isJohn Healey, who was appointed on 5 July 2024 following the2024 United Kingdom general election.[6]
In contrast to what is generally known as adefence minister in many other countries, the Defence Secretary's remit includes:
| Royal Navy | British Army | Royal Air Force | Co-ordination | |
| 1628 | First Lord of the Admiralty (1628–1964) | |||
| 1794 | Secretary of State for War (1794–1801) | |||
| 1801 | Secretary of State for War and the Colonies (1801–1854) | |||
| 1854 | Secretary of State for War (1854–1964) | |||
| 1919 | Secretary of State for Air (1919–1964) | |||
| 1936 | Minister for Co-ordination of Defence (1936–1940) | |||
| 1940 | Minister of Defence (1940–1964) | |||
| 1964 | Secretary of State for Defence (1964–present) | |||
The position ofminister for co-ordination of defence was aBritish 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 ofNazi Germany. When theSecond World War broke out, the new prime ministerNeville Chamberlain formed a smallWar Cabinet and it was expected that the minister would serve as a spokesperson for the three service ministers, thesecretary of state for war, thefirst lord of the admiralty and thesecretary 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 | Term of office | Party | Ministry | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  | Thomas Inskip MP forFareham (1876–1947) | 13 March 1936 | 29 January 1939 | Conservative | Baldwin III | |
| Chamberlain I | ||||||
|  | Ernle Chatfield 1st Baron Chatfield (1873–1967) | 29 January 1939 | 3 April 1940 | Independent (National) | ||
| Chamberlain War | ||||||
The post ofminister of defence was responsible for co-ordination of defence and security from its creation in 1940 until its abolition in 1964. The post was aCabinet 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 ofWorld War II. In 1946, the post became the only cabinet-level post representing the military, with the three service ministers – thesecretary of state for war, thefirst lord of the admiralty, and thesecretary of state for air, now formally subordinated to the minister of defence.
| Portrait | Name (birth–death) | Term of office | Tenure | Political party | Ministry | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | ||||||
|  | Winston Churchill MP forEpping (1874–1965) | 10 May 1940 | 27 July 1945 | 5 years, 78 days | Conservative | Churchill War | |
| Churchill Caretaker | |||||||
|  | Clement Attlee MP forLimehouse (1883–1967) | 27 July 1945 | 20 December 1946 | 1 year, 146 days | Labour | Attlee I | |
|  | A. V. Alexander MP forSheffield Hillsborough (1885–1965) | 20 December 1946 | 28 February 1950 | 3 years, 70 days | Labour Co-op | ||
|  | Emanuel Shinwell MP forEasington (1884–1986) | 28 February 1950 | 26 October 1951 | 1 year, 240 days | Labour | Attlee II | |
|  | Winston Churchill MP forWoodford (1874–1965) | 28 October 1951 | 1 March 1952 | 127 days | Conservative | Churchill III | |
|  | Harold Alexander 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis (1891–1969) | 1 March 1952 | 18 October 1954 | 2 years, 231 days | Independent | ||
|  | Harold Macmillan MP forBromley (1894–1986) | 18 October 1954 | 7 April 1955 | 171 days | Conservative | ||
|  | Selwyn Lloyd MP forThe Wirral (1904–1978) | 7 April 1955 | 20 December 1955 | 257 days | Conservative | Eden | |
|  | Walter Monckton MP forBristol West (1891–1965) | 20 December 1955 | 18 October 1956 | 303 days | Conservative | ||
|  | Antony Head MP forCarshalton (1906–1983) | 18 October 1956 | 9 January 1957 | 83 days | Conservative | ||
|  | Duncan Sandys MP forStreatham (1906–1987) | 13 January 1957 | 14 October 1959 | 2 years, 274 days | Conservative | Macmillan I | |
|  | Harold Watkinson MP forWoking (1910–1995) | 14 October 1959 | 13 July 1962 | 2 years, 272 days | Conservative | Macmillan II | |
|  | Peter Thorneycroft MP forMonmouth (1909–1994) | 13 July 1962 | 1 April 1964 | 1 year, 263 days | Conservative | ||
| Douglas-Home | |||||||
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 offirst lord of the admiralty,secretary of state for war andsecretary of state for air, as theAdmiralty,War Office andAir Ministry were merged into theMinistry of Defence (the secretary of state for war had already ceased to be a cabinet position in 1946, with the creation of the cabinet-levelminister of defence).
| Portrait | Name (birth–death) | Term of office | Tenure | Party | Ministry | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  | Peter Thorneycroft MP forMonmouth (1909–1994)[8] | 1 April 1964 | 16 October 1964 | 198 days | Conservative | Douglas-Home | |
|  | Denis Healey MP forLeeds East (1917–2015)[9] | 16 October 1964 | 19 June 1970 | 5 years, 246 days | Labour | Wilson (I & II) | |
|  | Peter Carington 6thBaron Carrington (1919–2018) | 20 June 1970 | 8 January 1974 | 3 years, 202 days | Conservative | Heath | |
| Ian Gilmour MP forCentral Norfolk (1926–2007)[10] | 8 January 1974 | 4 March 1974 | 55 days | Conservative | |||
| Roy Mason MP forBarnsley (1924–2015)[11] | 5 March 1974 | 9 September 1976 | 2 years, 188 days | Labour | Wilson (III & IV) | ||
| Fred Mulley MP forSheffield Park (1918–1995)[12] | 10 September 1976 | 4 May 1979 | 2 years, 236 days | Labour | Callaghan | ||
|  | Francis Pym MP forCambridgeshire (1922–2008)[13] | 5 May 1979 | 4 January 1981 | 1 year, 244 days | Conservative | Thatcher I | |
|  | John Nott MP forSt Ives (1932–2024)[14] | 5 January 1981 | 5 January 1983 | 2 years, 0 days | Conservative | ||
|  | Michael Heseltine MP forHenley (born 1933)[15] | 6 January 1983 | 8 January 1986 | 3 years, 2 days | Conservative | Thatcher II | |
| George Younger MP forAyr (1931–2003)[16][17] | 9 January 1986 | 23 July 1989 | 3 years, 195 days | Conservative | |||
| Thatcher III | |||||||
|  | Tom King MP forBridgwater (born 1933)[18] | 28 July 1989 | 9 April 1992 | 2 years, 256 days | Conservative | ||
| Major I | |||||||
|  | Malcolm Rifkind MP forEdinburgh Pentlands (born 1946)[19] | 10 April 1992 | 4 July 1995 | 3 years, 85 days | Conservative | Major II | |
|  | Michael Portillo MP forEnfield Southgate (born 1953)[20] | 5 July 1995 | 2 May 1997 | 1 year, 301 days | Conservative | ||
|  | George Robertson MP forHamilton South (born 1946)[21] | 3 May 1997 | 11 October 1999 | 2 years, 161 days | Labour | Blair I | |
|  | Geoff Hoon MP forAshfield (born 1953)[22] | 11 October 1999 | 6 May 2005 | 5 years, 207 days | Labour | ||
| Blair II | |||||||
|  | John Reid MP forAirdrie and Shotts (born 1947)[23] | 6 May 2005 | 5 May 2006 | 364 days | Labour | Blair III | |
|  | Des Browne MP forKilmarnock and Loudoun (born 1952)[24] | 5 May 2006 | 3 October 2008 | 2 years, 151 days | Labour | ||
| Brown | |||||||
|  | John Hutton MP forBarrow and Furness (born 1955)[25] | 3 October 2008 | 5 June 2009 | 245 days | Labour | ||
|  | Bob Ainsworth MP forCoventry North East (born 1952)[26] | 5 June 2009 | 11 May 2010 | 340 days | Labour | ||
|  | Liam Fox MP forNorth Somerset (born 1961)[27][28] | 12 May 2010 | 14 October 2011 | 1 year, 156 days | Conservative | Cameron–Clegg (Con.–L.D.) | |
|  | Philip Hammond MP forRunnymede and Weybridge (born 1955)[29][30] | 14 October 2011 | 15 July 2014 | 2 years, 274 days | Conservative | ||
|  | Michael Fallon MP forSevenoaks (born 1952)[31][32] | 15 July 2014 | 1 November 2017 | 3 years, 109 days | Conservative | ||
| Cameron II | |||||||
| May I | |||||||
| May II | |||||||
|  | Gavin Williamson MP forSouth Staffordshire (born 1976)[33][34] | 2 November 2017 | 1 May 2019 | 1 year, 180 days | Conservative | ||
|  | Penny Mordaunt MP forPortsmouth North (born 1973)[35][36] | 1 May 2019 | 24 July 2019 | 84 days | Conservative | ||
|  | Ben Wallace MP forWyre and Preston North (born 1970)[37][38] | 24 July 2019 | 31 August 2023 | 4 years, 38 days | Conservative | Johnson I | |
| Johnson II | |||||||
| Truss | |||||||
| Sunak | |||||||
|  | Grant Shapps MP forWelwyn Hatfield (born 1968)[39] | 31 August 2023 | 5 July 2024 | 309 days | Conservative | ||
|  | John Healey MP forRawmarsh and Conisbrough (born 1960) | 5 July 2024 | Incumbent | 1 year, 113 days | Labour | Starmer | |

Penny Mordaunt has become the UK's first female defence secretary after Gavin Williamson was sacked.