Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Veterans

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Veterans is a junior position in the Ministry of Defence in the British government. It is currently held by Leo Docherty, who took the office on 20 April 2021.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Veterans
Royal Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent
Leo Docherty
since 20 April 2021
Ministry of Defence
StyleMinister
NominatorPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
AppointerThe Monarch
on advice of the Prime Minister
Term lengthAt Her Majesty's pleasure
WebsiteOfficial website

It was formerly known as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence from 1989 to 2005. It was known as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Veterans, Reserves and Personnel under Tobias Ellwood.

History

Johnny Mercer was appointed minister in July 2019 to the new government by incoming Prime Minister Boris Johnson. On 20 April 2021, Mercer was "sacked by text" after offering to resign at the end of Wednesday 21 April, but refusing to go earlier.[1] In a tweet, Mercer said he was "relieved of [his] responsibilities in Government" because of his disagreements with the scope of the proposed Overseas Operations Bill.[2][3] This new government law is designed to protect veterans from unfounded prosecutions. However, Mercer said it was a "red line" for him that British soldiers who served in Northern Ireland are excluded.[4][5] He told BBC News that he thought the Second Johnson ministry was "the most distrustful, awful environment I've ever worked in".[6]

Responsibilities

The minister has the following ministerial responsibilities:[7]

  • civilian and service personnel policy
  • armed forces pay, pensions and compensation
  • Armed Forces Covenant
  • welfare and service families
  • community engagement
  • equality, diversity and inclusion
  • veterans (including resettlement, transition, defence charities andMinisterial Covenant and Veterans Board, and Office of Veteran Affairs)
  • legacy issues and non-operational public inquiries and inquests
  • mental health
  • Defence Medical Services
  • the people programme (Flexible Engagement Strategy, Future Accommodation Model and Enterprise Approach)
  • estates service family accommodation policy and engagement with welfare

Minister for Veterans
Name Portrait Entered office Left office Political party Notes
The Earl of Arran 25 July 1989 26 July 1990 Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
Kenneth Carlisle October 1990 March 1992 Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
The Earl of Arran 28 November 1990 15 April 1992 Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
Viscount Cranborne 22 April 1992 20 July 1994 Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
The Lord Henley 20 July 1994 5 July 1995 Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
The Earl Howe 5 July 1995 2 May 1997 Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
John Spellar 6 May 1997 28 July 1999 Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
Peter Kilfoyle 28 July 1999 30 January 2000 Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
Lewis Moonie 31 January 2001 13 June 2003 Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
Ivor Caplin 13 June 2003 11 May 2005 Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
Don Touhig 11 May 2005 5 May 2006 Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Veterans
Tom Watson 5 May 2006 6 September 2006 Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Veterans
Derek Twigg 6 September 2006 5 October 2008 Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Veterans
Kevan Jones 5 October 2008 11 May 2010 Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Veterans
Andrew Robathan 13 May 2010 4 September 2012 Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Welfare and Veterans
Mark Francois 4 September 2012 7 October 2013 Conservative Minister of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans
Anna Soubry 7 October 2013 11 May 2015 Conservative Minister of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans
Mark Lancaster 12 May 2015 13 June 2017 Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Veterans, Reserves and Personnel
Tobias Ellwood 14 June 2017 26 July 2019 Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Veterans, Reserves and Personnel
Johnny Mercer 28 July 2019 20 April 2021 Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Veterans
Leo Docherty 20 April 2021 Incumbent Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Veterans

References
  1. "Johnny Mercer: Sacked minister attacks 'distrustful' government". BBC News. 2021-04-21. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  2. "Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament". bills.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  3. Johnny Mercer [@JohnnyMercerUK] (April 20, 2021). "I'm sorry to have been relieved of my responsibilities in Government tonight" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. "Johnny Mercer: Tory MP resigns as defence minister". BBC News. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  5. "Defence minister Johnny Mercer resigns from government". The Guardian. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  6. "Johnny Mercer: Sacked minister attacks 'distrustful' government". BBC News. 2021-04-21. Retrieved 2021-04-22.
  7. "Minister of State - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 December 2020. Text was copied from this source, which is available under an Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.
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