New Defence Secretary

[Bluntend]

It would appear Nu Labour are reshuffling and Dr Reid is the new Home Secretary. No news yet on who will replace him.

[Joe90]

It's the Rt Hon Des Brown

[Bluntend]

Hah ! Ex Chief Sec to the Treasury?? Talk about ironic! So having presided over some of the biggest cuts in defence spending since WW2, he now has the job of making UK Defence sustainable with the pitance we get to play with. Good luck to him - he'll need it.

:PDT_Xtremez_42:

[HansBwix]

Given that the rt Hon Reid had half a ton of weed in his house it explains an awful lot!:PDT_Xtremez_28:

[Bluntend]

From Defence Net:

On 5 May 2006, the Prime Minister announced that the Rt Hon Des Browne MP is to be the new Secretary of State for Defence. In addition, Tom Watson MP has been appointed as the Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans.


Rt Hon Adam Ingram MP and Lord Drayson remain Minister of State for the Armed Forces, and Under Secretary of State and Minister for Defence Procurement, respectively.

Mr Browne has sent the following message to all staff in the Department, both Service and Civilian:

"It is a huge privilege for me to be asked to take on the role of Defence Secretary.

"I am honoured that the Prime Minister should have asked me so to do, and I am looking forward to it. It is a huge job, not least because of the responsibility of leading the defence community, the men and women of the armed forces and those within the MOD who support them and their role in defending Britain and its interests.

"I would also like to pay tribute to my predecessor, John Reid, for the outstanding work he did in his twelve months at MOD. He believed passionately in what we do here, and he was a formidable advocate of our achievements.

"It has been a sombre start, though. The terrible events in Basra over the weekend have demonstrated clearly to me, indeed to all of us, the courage and dedication of those who serve their country in uniform, and the risks they face every day. I know everyone in Defence will want to offer our deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives.

"It is hard, at times like this, to think ahead, but I have already been impressed enormously by those of you, both civilian and military, who have told me in the last two days that you have a job to do and you intend to get on and do it. I know that you will. We face challenges together in the months ahead dealing with operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and across the world, in implementing the Defence Industrial Strategy, in meeting the policy challenges of NATO's changing role and the emerging EU defence capability and in continuing to improve the way we look after and train our people at home and abroad.

"There is much I can't say in this brief introduction, of course. I have worked with a few of you before during my time in Northern Ireland and in some cases at the Home Office and Treasury. I very much look forward to meeting and working with as many of you as possible in the future."