| Rt Hon Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill | 11 May 1940 | 26 July 1945 |
| Rt Hon Clement Richard Attlee | 27 July 1945 | 20 December 1946 |
| Rt Hon Albert Victor Alexander | 20 December 1946 | 28 February 1950 |
| Rt Hon Emanuel Shinwell | 28 February 1950 | 26 October 1951 |
| Rt Hon Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill | 26 October 1951 | 1 March 1952 |
| Harold Rupert Leofric Alexander, Viscount Alexander of Tunis | 1 March 1952 | 18 October 1954 |
| Rt Hon Maurice Harold Macmillan | 18 October 1954 | 7 April 1955 |
| Rt Hon John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd | 7 April 1955 | 20 December 1955 |
| Rt Hon Sir Walter Turner Monckton | 20 December 1955 | 18 October 1956 |
| Rt Hon Antony Henry Head | 18 October 1956 | 9 January 1957 |
| Rt Hon Edwin Duncan Sandys | 13 January 1957 | 14 October 1959 |
| Rt Hon Harold Arthur Watkinson | 14 October 1959 | 13 July 1962 |
| Rt Hon George Edward Peter Thorneycroft | 13 July 1962 | 1 April 1964 |