Defence Secretary

The Secretary of State for Defence, shortened to Defence Secretary and sometimes nicknamed the Defence Minister, was in charge of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence.

Defence Secretary Stephen Mulryne was assassinated in November 1963, following a scandal involving him, a prostitute, and a Soviet agent. Sir Francis White replaced him. The assassination, and White, were a plot by the Light to control the Earth; White himself was shot by Ian Gilmore. (AUDIO: 1963: The Assassination Games)

In the 1970s, the Defence Minister during the Axos affair had sent Horatio Chinn, a man he loathed, to investigate UNIT and ensure they were following MoD guidelines. When Britain had the chance to have a monopoly on Axonite, he granted Chinn the powers to arrest UNIT and was left politically embarrassed when this was leaked to the United Nations. (TV: The Claws of Axos)

In 1999, Jennifer Hamilton was Defence Secretary. She colluded with the Prime Minister's Voracian scheme and was murdered when she tried to back out. (PROSE: Millennium Shock)

In 2005, a panicked Defence Minister called MI6 to report the activation codes for the nuclear arsenal had been wiped. (COMIC: The Flood)

In 2009, a Defence Secretary was part of the attempt to cut a deal with the the 456 (TV: Children of Earth: Day Three, Day Four) and ultimately ordered the British Army to kidnap children and deliver them to the aliens. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Five)

Behind the scenes

• Mulryne's scandal in The Assassination Games is a reference to the real-life Prufomo affair. The real scandal went public under the Macmillan government rather than under Douglas-Home (and was one of the reasons Macmillan resigned).

• The minister in The Claws of Axos strongly resembles Peter Carington, the incumbent Defence Secretary in 1971.