Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Defence (MOD or MoD) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for implementing the defence policy set by the government and serves as the headquarters of the British Armed Forces.

Its principal objectives are to defend the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its interests, promote national interests globally and to strengthen international peace and stability. The MOD also manages day-to-day running of the armed forces, contingency planning and defence procurement.

The expenditure, administration and policy of the MOD are scrutinised by the Defence Select Committee, except for Defence Intelligence which instead falls under the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.

The Ministry of Defence has been involved in commercial activities; an example of which is their 2025 announcement to supply Norway with warships, the UK's largest warship export deal by value.

History

During the 1920s and 1930s, British civil servants and politicians, looking back at the performance of the state during the First World War, concluded that there was a need for greater co-ordination between the three services that made up the armed forces of the United Kingdom: the Royal Navy, the British Army and the Royal Air Force. The formation of a united ministry of defence was rejected by the coalition government of David Lloyd George in 1921, but the Chiefs of Staff Committee was formed in 1923, for the purposes of inter-service co-ordination. As rearmament became a concern during the 1930s, Stanley Baldwin created the position of Minister for Co-ordination of Defence. Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield held the post until the fall of the Chamberlain government in 1940.