Defence Minister (The Claws of Axos)
The Minister was a Conservative MP and the Defence Minister in the British government during the 1970s.
He was head of the Ministry of Defence and sent one of his secondary ministers, Horatio Chinn, to investigate UNIT. The Minister disliked Chinn and when they talked, the Minister made frequent references to the man about his incompetence and chances of being fired. When the Axos affair started, he granted Chinn special powers to secure Axonite for the UK and not the UN (including arresting UNIT). When this leaked out, the government was embarrassed and he threatened to sack Chinn unless he successfully distributed Axonite worldwide. (TV: The Claws of Axos)
During the escalation of World War III, the Minister spoke over the phone to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart about Sir Reginald Styles and the "ghost" he had apparently encountered in Auderly House. (TV: Day of the Daleks)
Behind the scenes
- The Minister, who appears only on a video screen, may have been intended to represent Peter Carington, the incumbent Minister of Defence at the time of this serial's writing and broadcast. The actor chosen to play the Minister does indeed resemble Carington physically and the Minister is said to be from the Conservative Party, the same party Carington was from.
- In the novelisation of The Claws of Axos, he's replaced with the Minister of Security. Here, the Minister is deliberately trying to undermine UNIT - and hopefully get rid of Chinn - by sending Chinn to investigate them, as their UN status interferes with the new Ministry of Security's attempt to bring all the intelligence agencies under one roof.
