Secretary of State for Air

Air Council in session at the Air Ministry in July 1940.

The Secretary of State for Air was a cabinet-level British position. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. It was created on 10 January 1919 to manage the Royal Air Force. On 1 April 1964, the Air Ministry was incorporated into the Ministry of Defence, and the position of Secretary of State for Air was abolished.

Chairmen of the Joint War Air Committee, 1916

Portrait Name Term of office Political party
The Right Honourable
Edward Stanley
17th Earl of Derby

KG CB GCVO TD PC
February
1916
February
1916[1]
Conservative

Presidents of the Air Board, 1916–1917

Portrait Name Term of office Political party
The Right Honourable
George Curzon
1st Earl Curzon of Kedleston

KG GCSI GCIE PC
15 May
1916
3 January
1917
Conservative
The Right Honourable
Weetman Pearson
1st Viscount Cowdray

PC
3 January
1917
26 November
1917
Liberal

Presidents of the Air Council, 1917–1919

Portrait Name Term of office Political party
The Right Honourable
Harold Harmsworth
1st Baron Rothermere

PC
26 November
1917
26 April
1918
The Right Honourable
William Weir
1st Baron Weir

PC
26 April
1918
10 January
1919
The Right Honourable
J. E. B. Seely
CB CMG DSO TD DL
MP for Ilkeston
January
1919
November
1919[2]

Secretaries of State for Air, 1919–1964

Portrait Name Term of office Political party
The Right Honourable
Winston Churchill[3]
MP for Dundee
10 January
1919
1 April
1921
Liberal
The Right Honourable
Frederick Edward Guest
DSO
MP for East Dorset
1 April
1921
19 October
1922
Liberal
The Right Honourable
Sir Samuel Hoare
Bt CMG JP
MP for Chelsea
31 October
1922
22 January
1924
Conservative
The Right Honourable
Christopher Thomson
1st Baron Thomson

PC
22 January
1924
3 November
1924
Labour
The Right Honourable
Sir Samuel Hoare
Bt CMG JP
MP for Chelsea
6 November
1924
4 June
1929
Conservative
The Right Honourable
Christopher Thomson
1st Baron Thomson

PC
7 June
1929
5 October
1930
Labour
The Right Honourable
William Mackenzie
1st Baron Amulree

GBE PC KC
14 October
1930
5 November
1931
Labour
The Most Honourable
Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart
7th Marquess of Londonderry

KG MVO PC
5 November
1931
7 June
1935
Conservative
The Right Honourable
Philip Cunliffe-Lister
1st Viscount Swinton

GBE MC PC
7 June
1935
16 May
1938
Conservative
The Right Honourable
Sir Kingsley Wood
MP for Woolwich West
16 May
1938
3 April
1940
Conservative
The Right Honourable
Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt
Bt GCSI GBE CMG JP
MP for Chelsea
3 April
1940
11 May
1940
Conservative
The Right Honourable
Sir Archibald Sinclair
Bt KT CMG
MP for Caithness and Sutherland
11 May
1940
23 May
1945
Liberal
The Right Honourable
Harold Macmillan
MP for Stockton-on-Tees
25 May
1945
26 July
1945
Conservative
The Right Honourable
William Wedgwood Benn
1st Viscount Stansgate

DSO DFC PC
3 August
1945
4 October
1946
Labour
The Right Honourable
Philip Noel-Baker
MP for Derby
4 October
1946
7 October
1947
Labour
The Right Honourable
Arthur Henderson
MP for Kingswinford before 1950
MP for Rowley Regis and Tipton after 1950
7 October
1947
26 October
1951
Labour
The Right Honourable
William Sidney
6th Baron De L'Isle and Dudley

VC PC
31 October
1951
20 December
1955
Conservative
The Right Honourable
Nigel Birch
OBE
MP for West Flintshire
20 December
1955
16 January
1957
Conservative
The Right Honourable
George Ward
MP for Worcester
16 January
1957
28 October
1960
Conservative
The Right Honourable
Julian Amery
MP for Preston North
28 October
1960
16 July
1962
Conservative
The Right Honourable
Hugh Fraser
MBE
MP for Stafford and Stone
16 July
1962
1 April
1964
Conservative

Notes

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