Minister of Defence (United Kingdom) Minister of Defence (United Kingdom) The post of Minister of Defence was responsible for co-ordination of defence and security from its creation in 1940 until its abolition in 1964. The post was a Cabinet-level post and generally ranked above the three service ministers, some of whom, however, continued to also serve in Cabinet. Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, concerns about British forces being understrength led in 1936 to the creation of the post of Minister for Coordination of Defence by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. The post was abolished by Baldwin's successor Neville Chamberlain in April 1940.
Oliver Baldwin, 2nd Earl Baldwin of Bewdley two terms as a Labour Member of Parliament between 1929 and 1947. Baldwin never achieved ministerial office in Britain. His last post was as Governor of the Leeward Islands, from 1948 to 1950. Baldwin was born at Astley Hall, Worcestershire, the elder son of the businessman Stanley Baldwin and his wife Lucy, "née" Ridsdale. Baldwin senior was elected a Conservative MP in 1908, and rose within fifteen years to become prime minister. He sent his son to Eton College, where the boy failed to fit in. He hated what he saw as the school's snobbery and cruelty, and to his