United Kingdom - Ministry of Defense

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed former energy chief Grant Shapps as the new defence secretary on 31 August 2023, replacing Ben Wallace, who resigned earlier in the day. “That’s all folks! Been a privilege to serve this great nation,” the former Cabinet member wrote on X (formerly Twitter) as he shared the news. Wallace had announced his intention to leave the job in July. Shapps is a close ally of Sunak and has previously held several Cabinet posts. His replacement as energy secretary is expected to be announced later in the day.

In his letter, Wallace claimed to be leaving the British military “more modern, better funded and more confident” then when he took office in 2019. “The Ministry of Defence is back on the path to being once again world class with world class people,” he said. He reiterated that his decision to step down was due to personal reasons, as he wanted to “invest in the parts of life that I have neglected, and to explore new opportunities.” Wallace previously suggested he could work at a bar after leaving government.

"Outgoing UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace widely trailed his departure over many weeks, stating his desire for a fresh personal challenge," Matthew Gordon-Banks, a former British Conservative MP and senior research fellow at the UK Defence Academy, told Sputnik. "It is well known that his 24/7 on-call job as Defense Secretary cost him his marriage, the Parliamentary Boundary Commissioners in their normal equalization of constituencies by population abolished his seat in Parliament at the next election. Whilst Wallace could have easily been selected for another safe seat, he has chosen to leave Parliament and is expected to take up some well-paid posts outside Parliament."

Grant Shapps is a Tory with a long career who has previously been transport, energy and zero-net secretary. Per the British conservative press, Shapps appears to be "one of the safest pairs of hands": he is loyal to Sunak and has proven to be a "capable" minister.

When it comes to Shapps' defense credentials, the UK media noted that he "conveniently visited Kiev in the past week"; used to briefly serve as the chair of the Ukraine All-Party Parliamentary Group; and has been a member of the National Security Council. British journalists say that Shapps' military expertise is not as impressive as that of his predecessor and that his major merit is that he will do what the premier tells him.

The crux of the matter is that the Sunak government distanced itself from then-Prime Minister Liz Truss' vow to spend a staggering 3% of GDP on defense by 2030. The present government pledged to boost the military funding to 2.5% "in the long term," as inflation still bites, economic growth is slowing and living standards plummeting. According to the Office for National Statistics, as of August 25, around half (51%) of adults across Great Britain have said they are spending more than usual to get what they normally buy when food shopping.

The overall structure of Defence has maintained the existence of three separate Armed Services into which individual Servicemen and women are recruited and to which they belong throughout their military careers. What has changed is the recognition that Defence is increasingly managed on a tri-Service basis. Much development since 1964 has been focused on the central machinery for achieving this through the concentration of policy-making in the MOD Headquarters, with military and civilian staffs working in integrated hierarchies.

Today's MOD is a fusion of old ministries: from 1946 to 1964 there were five Departments of State doing what the unified MOD does now: the Admiralty, the War Office, the Air Ministry, the Ministry of Aviation and the Ministry of Defence itself. In 1964 the first three and the MOD were amalgamated, and the defence functions of the Ministry of Aviation Supply (as it had by then become) were absorbed in 1971, when the MOD took over responsibility for supplying military aircraft and guided weapons.

The MOD produces two different sorts of integration. First, it integrates the political and the military. It links the roles and missions of the Armed Forces to the Government's wider foreign and security policy. In terms of operations, this means dealing with the grand-strategic and military-strategic levels of planning and direction. Second, it brings together the three individual military services to work together.

The Secretary of State for Defence is responsible for the formulation and conduct of defence policy, and for providing the means by which it is conducted. Under current arrangements he is supported by two Ministers of State, one for the Armed Forces, dealing with operational and policy issues, and one for Defence Procurement. There is also a Parliamentary Under Secretary who deals with personnel issues and estate business among other matters.

The Secretary of State has two principal advisers: one civilian, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, or PUS, and one military, the Chief of the Defence Staff or CDS. Under the CDS, each of the three Services has its own Chief of Staff. The CDS is the professional head of the Armed Forces in the United Kingdom and the principal military adviser to the Secretary of State and the Government. The chain of command for the planning and conduct of military operations flows from the Cabinet and the Secretary of State to CDS, and from him down to operational commanders at various levels.

The Chief of Defence Procurement (CDP) is the head of the Procurement Executive which is responsible for the development and acquisition of major weapons systems. The PE is the largest purchasing organisation within the Government.