Defence Review? Tell It To The Men And Women On The Front Line

September 28, 2008

(By Christopher Lee.) Former Lib Dem leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, has produced a timely report suggesting that the military covenant – an agreement between the armed forces and society – could be broken irreparably. Campbell touches upon a subject about which we should all care deeply. If asked, we’re all for supporting sailors, soldiers and airmen and women. We may not agree that they should have been sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, but we support them as service men and women and admire their courage.

It is almost inconceivable that a British government of today would have gone to war in Iraq. Even ignoring the current financial and economic circumstances, the Weapons of Mass Disappearance story would simply not wash now. The government would like to get our troops back asap – especially from Iraq. In some ways, it would be a great pity to withdraw any more British troops from Iraq. At least while they remain there we are reminded of the almost criminal foolishness of the last Prime Minister. We should not tire of quoting Tacitus: ‘We created a wilderness and called it peace.’

The way out armed forces are treated is an emotive issue with which the government has never quite coped. Troops with poor equipment – a problem that just 14 per cent of the 2012 Olympics budget could resolve. Wounded soldiers are not getting the proper care and attention they deserve. Ridiculously mean compensation for service men and women who have been disabled in war.

To be fair the Defence Ministry has taken steps to change this: it has played catch-up on many social issues as well as tried to solve the problems relating to improving the equipment. There are complications in the MOD that are not always understood. While troops are fighting the insurgents ministers have to take on the Treasury. None needs to be told that these are difficult financial times, but that should not matter at all when we are committing ourselves to long term military conflicts.

Campbell says there should be a defence review. What is really needed is an examination of what in the future the British will be using their troops for. Do we need four nuclear missile armed submarines? Does the Royal Navy really need two new aircraft carriers and the submarine, destroyer & frigate escorts that they in turn need for their protection? Does the army need a new main battle tank? Does the RAF need new jets?

If we think of a possible major state-versus-state confrontation then the answer is maybe, but nothing more than that. The further complication is that a defence strategy involves massive long term funding for producing new equipment and adapting new structures within the Services.

Britain cannot simply say that from now on the war is against terrorists so, for example, we’ll get rid of nuclear weapons and tanks. Change takes time and the introduction of change in the ways the armed forces are trained takes at least ten years. So Campbell is only partly right when he calls for a defence review. The major part of any review is to judge what military strategy Britain wants to pursue in the foreseeable future – not what to do with the capability we already have.

The last change of direction came not with the end of the Cold War but in the 1960s with the end of Empire. The then Labour government understood that commitments were changing and so were the ways the resources were used. The then East of Suez withdrawal by the Labour government was not ditching Britain’s responsibilities, as some said at the time. Denis Healey (then Defence Secretary) draw down was intellectually arguable, economically sensible and, above all, it was strategically sound. That’s the sort of review that is now needed. But while it goes on in grand halls and elegant think tanks, let us not forget (to paraphrase Kipling) that it is still Tommy this and it is still Tommy that.

The men and women on the front line don’t do paper strategic reviews. Theirs is a far more dangerous calling – to fight and die on our behalf.

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