Minister of State for the Armed Forces explained

Post:	Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces
Insignia:	Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government) (2022).svg
Insigniasize:	120
Insigniacaption:	Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government
Incumbent:	Luke Pollard
Incumbentsince:	9 July 2024
Department:	Ministry of Defence
Member Of:	Defence Council Admiralty Board Army Board Air Force Board
Reports To:	Secretary of State for Defence
Nominator:	Secretary of State for Defence
Appointer:	Prime Minister
Appointer Qualified:	Subject to formal approval by the King-in-Council
Termlength:	No fixed term
Inaugural:	Peter Blaker
Formation:	1981
Website:	www.mod.uk

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces is a mid-level ministerial position at the Ministry of Defence in the Government of the United Kingdom. It has been held by Luke Pollard since 2024.^[1]

The office sometimes acts as the deputy to the Secretary of State for Defence, when it is of Minister of State rank.^[2] In July 2024, the appointment of Luke Pollard reverted the minister’s title to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.

The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow minister for the armed forces.

Roles

The responsibilities of the minister of state for the armed forces are:

• Operations and operational legal policy
• Force generation (including exercises)
• Military recruitment and retention policy (regulars and reserves)
• Cyber
• Permanent Joint Operating bases
• International defence engagement strategy
• Lead for defence engagement in Africa and Latin America
• Human security
• Operational public inquiries, inquests
• Youth and cadets
• Commemorations, ceremonial duties, medallic recognition and protocol policy and casework

List of ministers and under-secretaries

Colour key (for political parties):

Minister			Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister		Defence Secretary
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Army
		Barney Hayhoe	6 May 1979	5 January 1981	Conservative		Thatcher	Pym
	Philip Goodhart	5 January 1981	19 May 1981
Minister of State for the Armed Forces
		Peter Blaker	29 May 1981	13 June 1983	Conservative		Thatcher	Nott
Heseltine
			John Stanley	13 June 1983		13 June 1987
Younger
			Ian Stewart	13 June 1987		25 July 1988
			Archie Hamilton	25 July 1988		27 May 1993
King
Conservative					Major		Rifkind
			height=100 width=120	Jeremy Hanley		27 May 1993		14 June 1994
			Nicholas Soames	14 June 1994		2 May 1997
	Portillo
		height=100 width=120	John Reid	2 May 1997	27 July 1998	Labour		Blair	Robertson
		height=100 width=120	Doug Henderson	27 July 1998	29 July 1999
		height=100 width=120	John Spellar	29 July 1999	7 June 2001		Hoon
		Adam Ingram	7 June 2001	29 June 2007
Reid
Browne
			Bob Ainsworth	29 June 2007	5 May 2009	Labour		Brown
Hutton
		Bill Rammell	5 May 2009	11 May 2010	Ainsworth
		Nick Harvey	13 May 2010	4 September 2012	Liberal Democrats		Cameron	Fox
Hammond
			Andrew Robathan	4 September 2012	7 October 2013	Conservative
			Mark Francois	7 October 2013	11 May 2015
Fallon
			Penny Mordaunt	11 May 2015	15 July 2016			Cameron
			Mike Penning	15 July 2016	12 June 2017		May
			Mark Lancaster	12 July 2017	16 December 2019
Williamson
Mordaunt
Johnson	Wallace
			Anne-Marie Trevelyan	16 December 2019	13 February 2020
Minister of State for the Armed Forces and Veterans Sept to Oct 2022
		James Heappey	13 February 2020	25 October 2022	Conservative		Johnson Truss	Wallace
Minister of State for the Armed Forces
		James Heappey	25 October 2022	26 March 2024	Conservative		Sunak	Wallace
		Leo Docherty	26 March 2024	5 July 2024	Conservative		Sunak	Shapps
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces
		Luke Pollard	9 July 2024	Present	Labour		Starmer	Healey

Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces

Member of Parliament
Kevan Jones (2015 to 2016)
Kate Hollern (2016)
Wayne David (2016 to 2020)
Stephen Morgan (2020 to 2021)
Stephen Kinnock (2021 to 2022)
Luke Pollard (2022 to 2024)

External links

• www.mod.uk

Notes and References

1. Web site: Luke Pollard on X . 2024-07-09 . www.x.com.
2. Web site: Ministry of Defence. 2021-04-12. GOV.UK. en.