Lack of experience for Defence?

A lot of interest has been made in the lowly status of the new Secretary of State for Defence. This is his first job in Cabinet, and therefore bound to be a but junior in Cabinet.

He’s not alone in being a defence secretary in his first cabinet job. Of his 18 predecessors, from Peter Thorneycroft to John Hutton, 4 of them have made their Cabinet debut in that position. An average ratio for a cabinet post. Denis Healey and George Robertson took the job after their party had been out of office for some time, and after being a ‘big beast’ on their front bench in opposition.

Ian Gilmour had climbed the ladder in defence, from Parliamentary Secretary at the start of Heath’s government to Secretary of State for the last few months of that government, via the MoS post at Defence. Geoff Hoon by contrast had no experience in the Defence department, and his most senior position prior to his first Cabinet post had been 6 months as a minister of State at the Foreign Office.

So Bob Ainsworth may be very inexperienced for the defence post, but he does have the odd rival to be the least experienced, and Geoff Hoon is probably the victor.