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 Alistair Carns since September 2025.
| United Kingdom Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces | |
|---|---|
Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government | |
Incumbent since 6 September 2025Alistair Carns | |
| 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 Subject to formal approval by the King-in-Council |
| Term length | No fixed term |
| Inaugural holder | Peter Blaker |
| Formation | 1981 |
| Website | www.gov.uk |
The office sometimes acts as the deputy to the secretary of state for defence, when it is of Minister of State rank. 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:
- implementation of relevant SDR Vision and Recommendations
- oversight of Military Strategic Headquarters (MSHQ)
- legislation (including Armed Forces Bill)
- Northern Ireland Legacy
- Ukraine support – operations
- autonomy and drones, including Drone Centre of Excellence
- Force Posture and Deployment
- Intelligence
- Global Operational policy and commitments
- North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) operations and planning
- crisis response
- Permanent Joint Operational Bases and Overseas Bases (including Cyprus, Falkland Islands and Gibraltar)
- Military Aid to Civilian Authority (MACA)
- Homeland Defence
- UN Peacekeeping and Human Security Call Out Orders
- Overseas Security and Justice Assistance Reports
List of ministers and under-secretaries
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats
| Minister | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Army | |||||||
| Barney Hayhoe | 6 May 1979 | 5 January 1981 | Conservative | Thatcher I | Pym | ||
| Philip Goodhart | 5 January 1981 | 19 May 1981 | Conservative | ||||
Minister of State for the Armed Forces | |||||||
| Peter Blaker | 29 May 1981 | 13 June 1983 | Conservative | Thatcher I | Nott | ||
| Heseltine | |||||||
| John Stanley | 13 June 1983 | 13 June 1987 | Conservative | Thatcher II | |||
| Younger | |||||||
| Ian Stewart | 13 June 1987 | 25 July 1988 | Conservative | Thatcher III | |||
| Archie Hamilton | 25 July 1988 | 27 May 1993 | Conservative | ||||
| King | |||||||
| Major I | Rifkind | ||||||
| Major II | |||||||
| Jeremy Hanley | 27 May 1993 | 14 June 1994 | Conservative | ||||
| Nicholas Soames | 14 June 1994 | 2 May 1997 | Conservative | ||||
| Portillo | |||||||
| John Reid | 2 May 1997 | 27 July 1998 | Labour | Blair I | Robertson | ||
| Doug Henderson | 27 July 1998 | 29 July 1999 | Labour | ||||
| John Spellar | 29 July 1999 | 7 June 2001 | Labour | Hoon | |||
| Adam Ingram | 7 June 2001 | 29 June 2007 | Labour | Blair II | |||
| Blair III | Reid | ||||||
| Browne | |||||||
| Bob Ainsworth | 29 June 2007 | 5 May 2009 | Labour | Brown | |||
| Hutton | |||||||
| Bill Rammell | 5 May 2009 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | Ainsworth | |||
| Nick Harvey | 13 May 2010 | 4 September 2012 | Liberal Democrats | Cameron-Clegg | Fox | ||
| Hammond | |||||||
| Andrew Robathan | 4 September 2012 | 7 October 2013 | Conservative | ||||
| Mark Francois | 7 October 2013 | 11 May 2015 | Conservative | ||||
| Cameron II | Fallon | ||||||
| Penny Mordaunt | 11 May 2015 | 15 July 2016 | Conservative | ||||
| Mike Penning | 15 July 2016 | 12 June 2017 | Conservative | May I | |||
| Mark Lancaster | 12 July 2017 | 16 December 2019 | Conservative | May II | |||
| Williamson | |||||||
| Mordaunt | |||||||
| Johnson I | Wallace | ||||||
| Anne-Marie Trevelyan | 16 December 2019 | 13 February 2020 | Conservative | Johnson II | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces | |||||||
| James Heappey | 13 February 2020 | 8 July 2022 | Conservative | Johnson II | Wallace | ||
Minister of State for the Armed Forces | |||||||
| James Heappey | 8 July 2022 | 6 September 2022 | Conservative | Johnson II | Wallace | ||
Minister of State for the Armed Forces and Veterans | |||||||
| James Heappey | 6 September 2022 | 25 October 2022 | Conservative | 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 | Shapps | |||
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces | |||||||
| Luke Pollard | 9 July 2024 | 6 September 2025 | Labour | Starmer | Healey | ||
| Alistair Carns | 6 September 2025 | Present | Labour | ||||
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) |
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