Chief of the Defence Staff (United Kingdom)

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Chief of the Defence Staff
MinistryofDefence.svg
Ministry of Defence coat of arms
140px
Flag of the
Chief of the Defence Staff
Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nicholas Houghton GCB, CBE, ADC Gen. MOD 45155682.jpg
Incumbent
General Sir Nick Houghton
since July 2013
Ministry of Defence
Member of Defence Council
Chiefs of Staff Committee
Reports to Secretary of State for Defence
Nominator Recommendation of Secretary of State for Defence to the Prime Minister
Appointer Approved by the Monarch[1]
Formation 1 January 1959
First holder Marshal of the RAF Sir William Dickson
Deputy Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff
Website [1]

The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) is the professional head of the British Armed Forces and the most senior uniformed military adviser to the Secretary of State for Defence and the Prime Minister. The Chief of the Defence Staff is based at the Ministry of Defence and works alongside the Permanent Under Secretary, the Ministry's senior civil servant. The Chief of the Defence Staff is the British equivalent position of what in NATO and the European Union is known as the Chief of Defence.

Constitutionally, the Sovereign is the de jure Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. However, in practice, the British Government de facto exercises the royal prerogative and provides direction of the Armed Forces through the Ministry of Defence's Defence Council of which the Chief of the Defence Staff is a member.

The current Chief of the Defence Staff is General Sir Nick Houghton, who succeeded General Sir David Richards on 18 July 2013. Chiefs of the Defence Staff are appointed on the recommendation of the Secretary of State for Defence to the Prime Minister before being approved by HM The Queen.[1] Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach will be appointed the next Chief of the Defence Staff at some point in 2016.[2]

Supporting and associated posts

The CDS is supported by a deputy, the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, who since 1997 (when the CDS post was downgraded) has been of equivalent rank but is ordinarily from a different service to the CDS. There are also several Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (DCDS) posts who support the VCDS. As of 2010 these are:[3]

  • Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Operations) – the DCDS (Operations) ordinarily reports to the VCDS but also reports directly to the CDS on operational matters
  • Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Personnel and Training)
  • Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Capability)

The CDS maintains a close working relationship with the Ministry of Defence's Permanent Under Secretary, who is the Ministry's senior civil servant, and they both report directly to the Secretary of State for Defence. The CDS focusses on military operations and strategy while the Permanent Under Secretary's remit concerns administrative and financial policy.

History of the post

Admiral
General
Air Chief Marshal

The post was created in 1959 to reflect the new concept of joint operations that had come to the fore in World War II. The first incumbent was Marshal of the RAF Sir William Dickson. Prior to the creation of the post, he had served as the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, from 1956 onwards. Before 1956, although no permanent post of chairman existed, the three service chiefs took it in turn to act as chairman at meetings. From the post's inception until the mid-to-late 1970s, CDS appointments were granted on a strict rotational basis between the three services. The first break in rotational order was precipitated by the unexpected death of Marshal of the RAF Sir Andrew Humphrey. During the 1980s, two Royal Navy officers held the post covering a combined period of six years.

From the creation of the post until 1997, the Chief of the Defence Staff was appointed to the highest rank in the respective branch of the British armed forces to which he belonged, being an Admiral of the Fleet, a Field Marshal or Marshal of the Royal Air Force, (NATO rank code OF-10). However, with the post-Cold War reduction in the manpower strength of the British Armed Forces and the additional reasoning that no new 5-star appointments are to be made in peacetime, since 1997 the Chief of the Defence Staff has kept the rank of Admiral, General or Air Chief Marshal, (NATO OF-9), which he invariably already holds. However, during the 2010s Guthrie, Boyce, Walker and Stirrup were honorarily promoted to their respective services' senior ranks, sometime after they had each stepped down as CDS. Although there is no policy against a Royal Marines officer being appointed, few officers in the Corps attain such a high rank as to be considered (the last time a Royal Marine was promoted to full general was 1977).

List of Chiefs of the Defence Staff 1959–present

Marshal of the RAF Sir William Dickson, the first CDS
Admiral of the Fleet The Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the longest serving CDS
Field Marshal The Lord Inge, formerly Sir Peter Inge, the last CDS to be promoted to five-star rank on appointment
Rank
While in appointment		 Name Branch Date appointed Time in appointment Relinquished appointment
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William Dickson, GCB, KBE, DSO, AFC[4]  Royal Air Force 1 January 1959   Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   12 July 1959  
Admiral of the Fleet The Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO  Royal Navy 13 July 1959   Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   15 July 1965  
Field Marshal Sir Richard Hull, GCB, DSO  British Army 16 July 1965  [5] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   4 August 1967  
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Charles Elworthy, GCB, CBE, DSO, LVO, DFC, AFC[6]  Royal Air Force 4 August 1967  [7] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   8 April 1971  
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Peter Hill-Norton, GCB  Royal Navy 9 April 1971   Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   21 October 1973  
Field Marshal Sir Michael Carver, GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC  British Army 21 October 1973  [8] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   23 October 1976  
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Andrew Humphrey, GCB, OBE, DFC, AFC  Royal Air Force 24 October 1976  [9] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   24 January 1977  
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Ashmore, GCB, DSC  Royal Navy 9 February 1977   Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   30 August 1977  
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Neil Cameron, GCB, CBE, DSO, DFC[10]  Royal Air Force 31 August 1977  [11] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   31 August 1979  
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Terence Lewin, GCB, LVO, DSC  Royal Navy 1 September 1979   Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   30 September 1982  
Field Marshal Sir Edwin Bramall, GCB, OBE, MC  British Army 1 October 1982  [12] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   31 October 1985  
Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Fieldhouse, GCB, GBE  Royal Navy 1 November 1985   Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   9 December 1988  
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir David Craig, GCB, OBE  Royal Air Force 9 December 1988  [13] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   1 April 1991  
Field Marshal Sir Richard Vincent, GBE, KCB, DSO  British Army 2 April 1991  [14] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   31 December 1992  
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Peter Harding, GCB  Royal Air Force 31 December 1992  [15] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   13 March 1994  
Field Marshal Sir Peter Inge, GCB  British Army 15 March 1994  [16] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   1 April 1997  
General Sir Charles Guthrie, GCB, LVO, OBE  British Army 2 April 1997  [17] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   15 February 2001  
Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, GCB, OBE  Royal Navy 16 February 2001  [18] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   2 May 2003  
General Sir Michael Walker, GCB, CMG, CBE  British Army 2 May 2003  [19] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   28 April 2006  
Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, GCB, AFC  Royal Air Force 28 April 2006  [20] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   29 October 2010  
General Sir David Richards, GCB, CBE, DSO  British Army   29 October 2010  [21] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   18 July 2013  
General Sir Nick Houghton, GCB, CBE, ADC  British Army   18 July 2013  [22] Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.   Currently in appointment  

Timeline

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Peerage

Customarily, former Chiefs of Defence Staff receive a life peerage on retirement, sitting in the House of Lords as non-political crossbench peers. Their appointment is recommended not via the House of Lords Appointments Commission as is normal procedure, but is instead nominated directly to Her Majesty The Queen by the Prime Minister, who elects to nominate 'a limited number of distinguished public servants' on retirement for a peerage. Sir Jock Stirrup was introduced to the House of Lords on 1 February 2010 as Baron Stirrup of Marylebone in the City of Westminster.[21][23][24]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Departmental Resource Accounts 2006-7 Ministry of Defence
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Central Top Level Budget Ministry of Defence
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 43712. p. 6717. 13 July 1965. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 44376. p. 8445. 28 July 1967. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  8. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 46109. p. 12551. 23 October 1973. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  9. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 47050. p. 14421. 25 October 1976. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 47311. p. 11141. 26 August 1977. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  12. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 49142. p. 13571. 18 October 1982. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  13. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 51550. p. 13684. 5 December 1988. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  14. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 52489. p. 5083. 28 March 1991. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  15. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 53184. p. 1376. 25 January 1993. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  16. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 53645. p. 5799. 18 April 1994. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  17. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 54726. p. 4170. 7 April 1997. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  18. ↑ MoD announces new Chief of Defence Staff
  19. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 56992. p. 8463. 8 July 2003. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  20. ↑ SBAC RAF Chief becomes the new Chief of Defence Staff
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ House of Lords Business, February 1, 2011
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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