The minister of state for veterans' affairs is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office in the British government, currently held by Johnny Mercer who took the office on 25 October 2022. Earlier, it was jointly with the Ministry of Defence.[3] The officeholder has attended cabinet since 7 July 2022.
| United Kingdom Minister of State for Veterans' Affairs | |
|---|---|
_(2022).svg) | |
| Cabinet Office | |
| Style | Veterans Minister (informal) The Right Honourable (within the UK and Commonwealth) |
| Type | Minister of the Crown |
| Status | Minister of State |
| Member of |
|
| Reports to | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |
| Seat | Westminster |
| Nominator | Prime Minister |
| Appointer | The Monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister) |
| Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure |
| Formation |
|
| First holder | Earl of Arran (as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence) |
| Salary | £115,824 per annum (2022)[1] (including £86,584 MP salary)[2] |
| Website | Official website |
History edit
It was formerly known as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence from 1989 to 2005 and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Veterans, Reserves and Personnel under Tobias Ellwood.[citation needed] 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.[4] 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.[5][6] 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.[7][8]
Responsibilities edit
The minister has the following ministerial responsibilities:[9]
- 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 and Ministerial 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
List of ministers edit
| Name | Portrait | Entered office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence | |||||||
| The Earl of Arran | 
|
25 July 1989 | 26 July 1990 | Conservative | Margaret Thatcher | ||
| Kenneth Carlisle | October 1990 | March 1992 | Conservative | John Major | |||
| The Earl of Arran |
|
28 November 1990 | 15 April 1992 | Conservative | John Major | ||
| Viscount Cranborne | 
|
22 April 1992 | 20 July 1994 | Conservative | John Major | ||
| The Lord Henley | 
|
20 July 1994 | 5 July 1995 | Conservative | John Major | ||
| The Earl Howe | 
|
5 July 1995 | 2 May 1997 | Conservative | John Major | ||
| John Spellar | 
|
6 May 1997 | 28 July 1999 | Labour | Tony Blair | ||
| Peter Kilfoyle | 28 July 1999 | 30 January 2000 | Labour | Tony Blair | |||
| Lewis Moonie | 31 January 2001 | 13 June 2003 | Labour | Tony Blair | |||
| Ivor Caplin | 13 June 2003 | 11 May 2005 | Labour | Tony Blair | |||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Veterans | |||||||
| Don Touhig | 
|
11 May 2005 | 5 May 2006 | Labour | Tony Blair | ||
| Tom Watson | 
|
5 May 2006 | 6 September 2006 | Labour | Tony Blair | ||
| Derek Twigg | 
|
6 September 2006 | 5 October 2008 | Labour | |||
| Kevan Jones | 
|
5 October 2008 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | Gordon Brown | ||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Welfare and Veterans | |||||||
| Andrew Robathan | 
|
13 May 2010 | 4 September 2012 | Conservative | David Cameron | ||
| Minister of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans | |||||||
| Mark Francois | 
|
4 September 2012 | 7 October 2013 | Conservative | David Cameron | ||
| Anna Soubry | 
|
7 October 2013 | 11 May 2015 | Conservative | David Cameron | ||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Veterans, Reserves and Personnel | |||||||
| Mark Lancaster | 
|
12 May 2015 | 13 June 2017 | Conservative | |||
| Tobias Ellwood | .jpg)
|
14 June 2017 | 26 July 2019 | Conservative | Theresa May | ||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Veterans | |||||||
| Johnny Mercer | .jpg)
|
28 July 2019 | 20 April 2021 | Conservative | Boris Johnson | ||
| Leo Docherty | 
|
20 April 2021 | 7 July 2022 | Conservative | Boris Johnson | ||
| Minister of State for Veterans' Affairs | |||||||
| Johnny Mercer |
|
7 July 2022 | 6 September 2022[10] | Conservative | Boris Johnson | ||
| 25 October 2022 | Incumbent | Rishi Sunak | |||||
References edit
- ^ "Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23" (PDF). 15 December 2022.
- ^ "Pay and expenses for MPs". parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Defence People and Veterans) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
- ^ "Johnny Mercer: Sacked minister attacks 'distrustful' government". BBC News. 2021-04-21. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- ^ "Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament". bills.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- ^ Johnny Mercer [@JohnnyMercerUK] (April 20, 2021). "I'm sorry to have been relieved of my responsibilities in Government tonight" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Johnny Mercer: Tory MP resigns as defence minister". BBC News. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
- ^ "Defence minister Johnny Mercer resigns from government". The Guardian. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
- ^ "Minister of State (Minister for Veterans' Affairs) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
- ^ "Johnny Mercer twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-09-06.