Minister of State for Defence Procurement

United Kingdom Minister of State for Defence Procurement
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent James Cartlidge since 21 April 2023
Ministry of Defence
Minister
Nominator	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Appointer	The Monarch on advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
First holder	Roy Mason
Website	Official website

The Minister of State for Defence Procurement is, as a Minister of State, a mid-level defence minister in the Ministry of Defence of the British Government. The current incumbent of the post, Conservative MP James Cartlidge, was appointed in April 2023.

Origins

This ministerial post derives from that of two posts; the procurement aspects of this post were the responsibility of the Minister of Defence Procurement (either a Minister of State or the more junior, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State), while still the defence logistic aspects were the brief of the Minister of State for the Armed Forces.

This post was created in 2007 to reflect the establishment of the Defence Equipment and Support organisation of the UK Ministry of Defence. Lord Drayson was appointed as its first incumbent. Whilst Lord Drayson held the role as a Minister of State, all of his successors were Parliamentary Under-Secretaries, the most junior ministerial rank in the British Government, until the appointment of Jeremy Quin in 2020.

The post was retitled in 2010 as Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology. The current title of the post is unclear as it has been announced as both Minister for Defence Procurement and Minister for Defence Equipment, Technology and Support.

Responsibilities

The Minister is responsible for:

• Delivery of the Equipment Plan
• nuclear enterprise
• Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) reform
• defence exports
• innovation
• defence science and technology including DSTL
• information computer technology
• the Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO)
• DIO estates and investment
• environment and sustainability in defence.

List of ministers

Ministers of Defence for Equipment, 1967–1970
Minister			Entered office	Left office	Political party
style="background-color:#DC241f;" width=10px | " |		Roy Mason	7 January 1967	16 April 1968	Labour
style="background-color:#DC241f;" width=10px | " |		John Morris	16 April 1968	19 June 1970
Minister of State for Defence, 1970–1972
Minister			Entered office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Lord Balniel	23 June 1970	5 November 1972	Conservative	Edward Heath
Minister for Defence Procurement, 1971–1972
Name		Portrait	Entered office	Left office	Political party
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Ian Gilmour	7 April 1971	5 November 1972	Conservative
Ministers of State for Defence, 1972–1981
Name		Portrait	Entered office	Left office	Political party
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Ian Gilmour	5 November 1972	8 January 1974	Conservative
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		George Younger	8 January 1974	4 March 1974
style="background-color:#DC241f;" width=10px | " |		William Rodgers	4 March 1974	10 September 1976	Labour
style="background-color:#DC241f;" width=10px | " |		John Gilbert	10 September 1976	4 May 1979
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Euan Howard	6 May 1979	5 January 1981	Conservative
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		The Viscount Trenchard	5 January 1981	29 May 1981
Ministers for Defence Procurement, 1981–2007
Minister			Entered office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		The Viscount Trenchard	29 May 1981	6 January 1983	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Geoffrey Pattie	6 January 1983	11 September 1984
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Adam Butler	11 September 1984	2 September 1985
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Norman Lamont	2 September 1985	21 May 1986
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		The Lord Trefgarne	21 May 1986	24 July 1989
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Alan Clark	24 July 1989	14 April 1992
						John Major
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Jonathan Aitken	14 April 1992	20 July 1994
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Roger Freeman	20 July 1994	6 July 1995
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		James Arbuthnot	6 July 1995	1 May 1997
style="background-color:#DC241f;" width=10px | " |		The Lord Gilbert	2 May 1997	July 1999	Labour	Tony Blair
style="background-color:#DC241f;" width=10px | " |		The Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean	July 1999	8 June 2001
style="background-color:#DC241f;" width=10px | " |		The Lord Bach	8 June 2001	6 May 2005
style="background-color:#DC241f;" width=10px | " |		The Lord Drayson	6 May 2005	6 March 2007
Ministers for Defence Equipment and Support, 2007–2012
Minister			Entered office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color:#DC241f;" width=10px | " |		The Lord Drayson	6 March 2007	7 November 2007	Labour	Tony Blair
						Gordon Brown
style="background-color:#DC241f;" width=10px | " |		The Baroness Taylor of Bolton	7 November 2007	5 October 2008
style="background-color:#DC241f;" width=10px | " |		Quentin Davies	5 October 2008	12 May 2010
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Peter Luff	9 June 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative	David Cameron
Minister for Defence Procurement, 2012–present
Minister			Entered office	Left office	Political party	Prime Minister
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Philip Dunne	4 September 2012	14 July 2016	Conservative	David Cameron
		Harriett Baldwin	18 July 2016	9 January 2018
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |						Theresa May
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Guto Bebb	9 January 2018	16 July 2018
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Stuart Andrew	19 July 2018	27 July 2019
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Anne-Marie Trevelyan	27 July 2019	16 December 2019		Boris Johnson
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		James Heappey	16 December 2019	13 February 2020
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Jeremy Quin	13 February 2020	7 September 2022
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Alec Shelbrooke	7 September 2022	26 October 2022		Liz Truss
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		Alex Chalk	27 October 2022	21 April 2023		Rishi Sunak
style="background-color:#0087DC;" width=10px | " |		James Cartlidge	21 April 2023	Incumbent