The man Dowding was immediately responsible to was the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair. He, in turn, reported to the War Cabinet which ultimately meant to Churchill. Sinclair presented a somewhat old fashioned personality, even in those days. He always wore a stiff high starched wing collar which gave him a somewhat antique appearance. He had been brought in by Churchill in early May, although Chamberlain had invited him to take office in September 1939 but Sinclair had declined. He was and had been in his career a Liberal politician, but before that, he had served in the Army. During the First World War he formed a close friendship with Churchill. And in 1916, when Churchill had temporarily fallen out of the War Cabinet and put on a khaki uniform to take command of a battalion in the trenches, Sinclair had, for a few months, become his number two.

He had a strained relationship with Dowding who blamed him for allowing fighter squadrons to be sent to France in the spring of 1940. The relationship declined further still following the Battle of Britain when Dowding was retired in November 1940.

Sinclair remained in office until 1945.