The heads of the Armed Forces cannot escape their share of the blame if soldiers do not have the right equipment, writes Vernon Bogdanor in today's edition of The Times. He is not popular for saying so if the limited number of comments are any guide, but he is right. And it is about time somebody said it in a mainstream newspaper and, despite other calls on my time, I felt impelled to post an analysis.Writing under the headline, "Generals must keep their noses out of politics", Bogdanor is responding to that "disingenuous" remark from Lord Guthrie on 6 March that sparked off a major row, culminating in the jibe from David Cameron last Wednesday during PMQs.In an attempt to explain the background, however, Bogdanor displays the usual MSM trait of carrying out shoddy research and only...

There are some of us, Mr Chairman, who have always known that Labour MPs are a bunch of unilaterist humbugsI've seen the Major angry before, but never like this. "How dare they? How dare they! Those lowlife communist scum... how dare they say the top brass are only complaining about the lack of kit because they're Tories! Where were those yellow-bellied vermin when we were standing up to the Ruskies and the IRA? I'll tell you where - supporting the Queen's enemies! CND, Troops Out... oh yes... while our boys were dying for us, that traitor Foot even worked for the KGB - a known fact. And our current Defence Secretary - that ridiculous little town councillor chappie - started out as a Marxist - A MARXIST! Scum - scum from the sewer.""Well Major, they were young and...

There are several things I try to do with this blog. In bringing you a diet of posts each day, one of my aims is to avoid being derivative. My preference is to bring genuine, new or little-known information to the table, or to add fresh thinking or analysis to current topics.Despite that, there is value in repeating existing material, and spreading the word – and it is done exceedingly well by a large number of blogs. But, in many areas where there is a narrative up and running, it is either wrong or heavily distorted, either by act or omission. In this case, mere repetition or commentary which takes the baseline facts as read simply perpetuates the errors and the distortions, helping to lock in the narrative to the point where it achieves the aura of truth, irrespective of the...

Gordon Brown sunk to a new lows this week (if that is possible). Calling our Generals liars over Defence funding is a disgrace, but to then fly out to Afghanistan for a photo op with the troops is beneath contempt. I hope the people get rid of this despicable...

In the comments section of this post, Braveheart stated that defence spending has increased above inflation year after year as a response to my criticism of Gordon Brown. While true it hides a number of important facts. Standard inflation isn't a relevant measure in the defence sector as the increasingly technological nature of military equipment means that defence inflation runs well above...

Are the cameras rolling?Even by his own shameful standards, Brown's performance yesterday at the Chilcot enquiry was a shocker:“Every request that the military commanders made to us for equipment was answered. No request was ever turned down. We had a rising defence budget... The spending review of 2004 was welcomed by the chiefs of our defence staff. They were satisfied at the end of the review that they had the resources they needed.” Unsurprisingly, our retired military leaders beg to differ. Lord Guthrie, ex-chief of the defence staff, says:“He cannot get away with saying I gave them everything they asked for, that is simply disingenuous... To say the outcome of that process was ‘welcome’ is frankly hyperbole.” Former head of the Army General Sir Richard Dannatt...

North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell has today highlighted his concern at the news that a third of service personnel are not currently registered to vote. For those who are registered, a short election campaign may mean they do not have enough time to use a postal vote. Commenting, Sir Menzies said: “It is unfortunate but not surprising that so many of our serving personnel are not registered to vote. Many will have joined the Forces before they were eligible to vote and regular deployments overseas or to different parts of the UK make it hard for servicemen and women to make sure they are on the electoral register at any given point. Some may be unaware that they can use a postal vote, register as a ‘service voter’ or to nominate someone to vote in their place by proxy. “For...

There has been much talk in recent months of the need to cut public spending and regular readers will know that I support Conservative plans to reduce the deficit faster than Labour plans to do. However, I am concerned at suggestions that the axe could fall heavily on defence spending whoever wins the next General Election. There are two aspects that need to be differentiated. One is the level of defence spending itself and the second is the fact that under this Government commitments have been made that greatly exceed the currently planned defence budget. Just to deal with the second issue there will have to be some painful decisions and adjustment in programmes. These will be manageable without damaging Britains defence capabilities as long as the defence budget is not cut in the coming...

The Tories have just put a press release out* that contains the following quote from Liam Fox and little more, "At Prime Minister’s Questions today Gordon Brown repeatedly made the allegation that the Conservatives pledged to cut defence spending at the 2005 election, when our manifesto was committed to a £2.7bn increase in frontline spending. Gordon Brown must apologise for misleading the House. Another day, another figure, same wrong Gordon Brown."Just did a quick Google search to check and page 25 of the Tory 2005 manifesto seems clear as it says,A Conservative Government will strengthen our Armed Forces within NATO by spending £2.7 billion more than Labour on the front line by 2007-08.No doubt there is some hypothecated way that can be called a "cut", after all, Brown say's...

The news that medics from 612 Squadron at RAF Leuchars will be among the 1000 Scottish troops soon to be deployed in Afghanistan “underlines the extent to which reserve forces are contributing”, according to North East Fife MP and member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Sir Menzies Campbell. “This announcement underlines the extent to which reserve forces are contributing to the effort in Afghanistan, and also points up the folly of the previous proposal from the government to cut the training hours of the Territorial Army”, said Sir Menzies. “The public will want to be assured that both regulars and reservists alike are fully trained and properly equipped. “The whole community will wish them godspeed and a safe......

An army is made up of many different elements; tanks, artillery, engineers, logisticians, medics etc. But the oldest and some would argue most fundamental element of any army is the infantry, the foot soldiers, the grunts, the PBI.The infantry's role is "to seek out and close with the enemy, to kill or capture him, to seize and hold ground and to repel attack". This cannot be done with the...

The last Strategic Defence Review (SDR) was undertaken in 1998 and the die is now cast for the remaining months of this government. As the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said in his last speech on the subject of defence, ‘The nation must debate and decide what we want our country to do in the world and then fund it, so that it does not slip by default into the second division’. A major decision with respect to foreign and defence policies and their funding awaits the next Prime Minister and this decision can no longer be fudged. We could decide to continue with our current liberal interventionist, expeditionary and proactive foreign and defence policies, working and if necessary fighting alongside the United States, but then we must fund them adequately. This funding would have to...

The more I look at the government's defence cuts the more angry I get.We have not had a proper Strategic Defence Review for over a decade and the world has changed quite a bit since then. Our forces are being asked to operate well outside the SDR planning assumptions and the childishly optimistic political assumptions about the campaign in Afghanistan added to the pressure on our troops and...

From the debate in Parliament today, this exchange between Crawley’s MP, Laura Moffatt, and the Prime Minister: Laura Moffatt (Crawley, Labour) My right hon. Friend rightly focused on the issue of first-class equipment for our brave troops in Afghanistan. At the recent opening of the £100-million Thales plant in Crawley the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and I saw the fantastic work being done there, and how much pride our workers feel in the fact that they are producing first-class equipment for our troops. A lot of this sort of information could be put out to our constituents without putting our troops at risk; if we did that, would that not let the public know that we have confidence in our troops and that we are giving them the very best of equipment,...

Regular readers will know that I have never had a particularly high regard for Des Browne in his capacity of Defence Secretary. I have little doubt that he is a good man, probably filled wit the best of intentions, but hopeless at Defence. The news that he plans to stand down at the next election triggers little emotion, I have to confess. I wish him well in the future and have written this...

Figures showing that the UK Armed Forces are currently just under 98 per cent of their full time trained strength requirement have been released today by the MOD. This is up from 96.8 per cent a year ago and shows a continued upward trend in both recruitment and retention. As at 1 October 2009, the full time trained strength of the UK Armed Forces was 174, 890 against a target of 178,490. This comprises 170,050 UK Regular Forces, 1,320 full time reserve service personnel and 3,520 Gurkhas. The statistics show that the number of people leaving the trained strength of the UK Regular Forces in the 12 months to 30 September 2009 has fallen by 21.9 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. Overall, the number of people leaving is at its lowest in five years. A total of 24,230 new...

As we move closer to the General Election the shape of the likely Conservative Government’s defence policy is becoming clearer. Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox has already set out his intention to hold a comprehensive defence review to look at the structure and composition of our armed forces. However, even before that reports, a number of key planks of the Conservative approach are now clear. At the Manchester Conservative party conference Liam Fox stated his intention to cut the number of MOD Civil Servants. At around 88,000, the total is very high compared to an Army of 100,000 and an Air Force of 40,000. However, the review will need to look at exactly where these cuts should fall. There are many MOD Civil Servants doing essential jobs that used to be done by service men and...

The biggest and most powerful attack submarine ever built for the Royal Navy – Astute – took to the seas this weekend. Astute set sail from Barrow-in-Furness to start her first set of sea trials and is now heading to her homeport of Faslane on the Clyde in Scotland. Measuring nearly one hundred metres from bow to stern, Astute is longer than ten London buses. When fully stored, she will displace 7,800 tonnes of sea water, equivalent to 65 blue whales. The Astute submarine has the latest stealth technology, a world-beating sonar system and is armed with 38 torpedoes and missiles – more than any previous Royal Navy submarine. She will be able to circumnavigate the entire globe while submerged and advanced nuclear technology means that she will never need to be refuelled....

As a not infrequent commentator on the state of the Ministry of Defence, it might be thought that I would welcome the considerable media scrutiny to which this lacklustre department is being exposed. However, the current focus on the bonus issue does nothing but fill one with despair, as the media chases after the wrong issue, firmly grabbing the wrong end of the stick.Highlighted, of course, was £47 million paid so far to MoD civil servants as bonuses, but the other side of the coin is put in a letter today from their union, Prospect.Written by their National Secretary (Defence), Steve Jary, it tells us that the bonuses represent 2.8 percent of the pay bill, "removed from basic pay over the last eight years". This, Jary continues "is in line with 20 years of government policy to...

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech today about Afghanistan, Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Sir Menzies Campbell MP said: “The weakness in the Prime Minister’s case is that it depends not only on President Karzai’s good faith but also his competence, neither of which have been much in evidence in recent times. “To succeed with Karzai, the allies will have to be willing to “hold his feet to the fire”. The position is most certainly not helped by President Obama’s long deliberations on a new strategy. He has left a vacuum at a time when decisiveness is......

The first RAF Merlin helicopter crews are ready to deploy to Afghanistan following pre-deployment training in the United States. The Merlins, from RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, will deploy soon and will provide vital support to ground operations and increase the capacity of UK helicopter lift in Afghanistan by a further 25 per cent. El Centro Naval Base in California is the US Navy’s main training base and has played host to crews from 28 and 78 Squadrons. They have been training for the unique challenges of the Afghan environment: the hot, high and dusty conditions. The entire fleet is undergoing a £45M upgrade programme that will allow the helicopters to improve performance in the harsh conditions and protect against threats. Modifications include new rotor blades for ‘hot...

All killed by government failure"We are working hard to ensure we capture lessons from incidents and inquiries to improve our safety. As an organisation the MOD is changing its culture and approach to put safety first."So says the lamentable Bob Ainsworth.How many times have we heard that? How many times have we heard some government minister telling us that lessons have been learned and changes made? And how many times have we been let down? And before we go any further, just take a moment to imagine it was your partner, your son, your brother, or your father who went down with the plane.I haven't read the whole of the 587 page Haddon-Cave Review of the 2006 Nimrod crash, but what I have read tells a familiar story of bungling, complacency, and denial:"If the Nimrod Safety Case had been...

Sir Menzies Campbell MP has today welcomed the launch the Top Level Group, a cross party effort to promote multilateral nuclear disarmament which Sir Menzies co-founded. Other members include the former Defence Secretary Des Browne MP, Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP and Margaret Beckett MP. The Group share the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons and have come together on a cross party basis to work towards that end. Commenting on the launch of the Group, Sir Menzies said: “The opportunity for multilateral nuclear disarmament has never been greater. A number of events have brought this about, not least President Obama’s decision to make multilateral disarmament a priority and the focus provided by the 2010 Review Conference for the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty....

"Order, counter-order, disorder" is an old saying in the army, you only really understand its significance when you are put into a position of command are are trying to get soldiers to the right place, at the right time, with the right kit. If you keep changing their instructions chaos will ensue.This is a lesson the current government could do with learning. The TA have been told to train...

Commenting on the news that the British Government has scaled back planned cuts to the Territorial Army budget, North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell said: “Some common sense shown but more needed. “The Government’s hasty retreat was almost inevitable, cheese paring of the Territorials made absolutely no tactical or strategic sense. The TA could have been irretrievably damaged. What they need is investment, not......

I see my favourite comedian Jimmy Carr is in the firing line from politicians after telling a joke about the Armed Forces. Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth along with Liam Fox and Nick Harvey are "outraged" about his joke. Oddly, the reporting says there were "audible gasps" when Carr said, "Say what you like about the servicemen amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan, we are going to have a fucking good Paralympics team in 2012."Audible gasps at a Jimmy Carr gig? Surely not. That never happens!Frankly I think the joke is classic Carr and actually quite funny, and I bet quite a lot of servicemen would laugh at it too. Carr's USP is to push the line of taste as far as he...

Sometimes in spite of whatever planning you might attempt, visitors do have a habit of coming all at once.  So it was this week.  I realized at the end of it, that in the space of seven days, I didn’t have a single normal breakfast to myself, I managed one lunch at home and ate every dinner out or with guests at home.  But it was all worth while. The visitors were first the British Ambassador from Pyongyang, Peter Hughes.  He’s been there for over a year now and this was his first opportunity to get to Seoul to exchange views and information about the DPRK, in a way that is hardly possible in Pyongyang.  So he saw a good mix of governmental, military, academic and diplomatic contacts in a crowded three-day programme. Overlapping with him was Mr Quentin...

In a magnificent colonial ceremony Seventeen Gun Salutes were exchanged between the Royal Gibraltar Regiment and HMS Sutherland today as Lt Gen Fulton handed back the Keys of Gibraltar on relinquishing his post as the Governor of Gibraltar. The Governor inspected a Guard of Honour drawn up from B Company of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment before handing the Keys of Gibraltar to the Port Sergeant for the last time. After saying his farewells to senior military officers and Gibraltar’s dignitaries, he bade farewell to the Chief Minister, the Hon Peter Caruana and Mrs Caruana at the ship’s gangway. In uncharacteristically wet weather, HMS Sutherland, a Type 23 (Duke Class) frigate, was then escorted out of the Naval Base by patrol boats of the Gibraltar Squadron and the Gibraltar Services...

Thousands turned out on the banks of the Clyde today to cheer on the latest ship to make up the Royal Navy’s formidable new Type 45 destroyer class. Defender was launched amid a cloud of balloons and fireworks by Lady Julie Massey, wife of the Deputy Head of the Navy Second Sea Lord Sir Alan Massey, to the fanfare of the Band of the Royal Marines. Defender is the fifth ship of six in the Type 45 destroyer class. Good progress is being made on the programme: HMS Daring (ship one) has been commissioned into the Royal Navy and is on her final trials prior to her entering service, planned for February 2010. Dauntless (ship two) has recently completed two very successful sets of sea trials while Diamond (ship three) has just begun her sea trials. Dragon (ship four) was launched in...

It's a good rule in a democracy that generals should keep their noses out of politics. So what should we make of today's extraordinary intervention by a group of very senior retired generals (among their number the Conservatives' worryingly loose cannon Richard Dannatt, but also the hitherto exemplary Lord Guthrie) who wrote a joint letter condemning the influence of the BNP? A public-spirited attempt to disassociate the army from neo-fascism? A statement of the obvious, destined merely to give Nick Griffin yet more publicity in advance of his appearance on Question Time this week? Or, as Griffin himself claimed, a Tory plot?Here's what the braid-bedizened quartet wrote:We call on all those who seek to hijack the good name of Britain’s military for their own advantage to cease and...

Sir Menzies Campbell MP has today added his support to a parliamentary motion calling on the Government to reverse its decision to freeze funding for the Territorial Army. It emerged last week that Territorial Army units such as the 71 Engineer Regiment at RAF Leuchars and the C Squadron Yeomanry based in Cupar will be forced to stop training as a result of cuts to this years Army budget. Commenting, Sir Menzies said: “Pressure must be maintained on the Government to reverse its short-sighted decision to freeze TA funding if long-term damage to Britain’s military capabilities is to be avoided. “For the thousands of volunteers, including many from North East Fife, who sacrifice so much to be part of the Territorial Army, the message from the Government is clear: money...

Senior Liberal Democrat MP Sir Menzies Campbell questioned Gordon Brown today during the Prime Minister’s statement on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the House of Commons. Sir Menzies asked: “After eight years, what confidence can we have that the strategy announced today by the Prime Minister has any better chance of success than the strategies previously announced by this Government?” In his response the Prime Minister said that unless you have a strategy for Afghan people taking responsibility for their own affairs “you cannot see a way through this that doesn’t involve British or other troops there for many, many years”. He added, “The importance of what we are saying today is supported by NATO itself. It is very much in-tune to what General McChrystal is saying. He has...

News that Territorial Army units such as the 71 Engineer Regiment at RAF Leuchars and the C Squadron Yeomanry based in Cupar will be forced to stop training as a result of cuts to this years Army budget is “profoundly significant” according to North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell and “has implications not just for the Territorial Army but for the regular army as well”. Sir Menzies said: “This announcement slipped out by the Government is profoundly significant, not only at a national level but also in my North East Fife constituency which has a long tradition of supporting Territorial Army units such as the 71 Engineer Regiment at RAF Leuchars and the C Squadron Yeomanry based in Cupar. “It has implications not just for the Territorial Army but for the regular army...

Commenting on David Cameron’s confirmation that Sir Richard Dannatt would join a Conservative Government, former Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: “It is understandable that Sir Richard Dannatt as a non-politician may not appreciated the consequences of his actions, but there is no excuse for David Cameron. He must surely have known that an appointment of this kind so soon after Sir Richard left the Ministry of Defence was not only bound to be controversial but was wholly contrary to the conventions and the spirit in which senior military officers operate, whose duty is to the crown not to any particular party or to themselves. “The constitutional implications of this appointment will reverberate for a long time. From this point on everything that senior...

Good stuff from the Liberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber:"We have this little piece of Yorkshire that is totally out of our control and indeed our national government and parliament's control. I this (sic) we need to make a statement every so often and ask some probing questions." More on the BBC News...

Following news of the upgrade to the RAF’s fleet of Chinook helicopters operating in Afghanistan, the MoD has now announced that the RAF’s fleet of Puma helicopters will receive a £300M upgrade that will enhance performance and enable it to operate in the toughest and most demanding conditions. The RAF currently operates a fleet of Puma support helicopters in two operational squadrons, 33 Squadron based at RAF Benson and 230 Squadron based at RAF Aldergrove. The Pumas are used as battlefield helicopters within the Joint Helicopter Command. Twenty-eight Pumas, which can each carry up to 16 infantrymen, are to be updated with new and more powerful engines, new flight control equipment and modern cockpit and communications technology and the MOD has options to add two further...

Since Mad King Gordo reeled off his latest shopping list of new public spending commitments, we've been treated to a succession of Labour politicos thrashing around trying to explain how it will all be paid for.The much-hyped Millipede (Ed) was particularly ludicrous on Newsnight, coming across as an earnest 16 year old Young Socialist who doesn't have the faintest idea how the real world works. Most ludicrously of all, he's the one in charge of Labour's election manifesto.All we've been given is the tedious mantra that Labour will not shy away from "tough decisions".But what decisions?The only specific we got yesterday was that ID cards will not be compulsory. But we already knew that, and anyway it will save virtually nothing (we estimated £55m in 2010-11 - see this blog).Tinkering...

A faster, leaner and greener HMS Ark Royal (R07) took to the seas again today for the first time since February. The aircraft carrier has just undergone a £12m upgrade in her home port of Portsmouth and embarked today on two weeks of post-maintenance tests. She is heading to the Royal Navy’s training areas off the south west of England for marine and weapon engineering trials. During the upgrade her hull was painted with new ‘intersleek’ paint – allowing her to cut through the seas more quickly – which will cut fuel costs and emissions by nine percent. It will also increase her top speed by two knots to 30 knots. The work, carried out by BVT Surface Fleet, also included new exhaust systems, an updated IT network and improvements to sewage treatment plants. Her gearboxes,...

The MOD announced today that RAF Chinook helicopters operating in Afghanistan will receive a £408m upgrade to deliver more powerful engines and more advanced, digitised cockpits. The upgrade will include a £128m contract which will give the whole Chinook fleet a significant boost by fitting a more powerful engine, enabling the Chinooks to operate more effectively in the hot summers and high altitudes of Afghanistan. The new modern, fuel efficient engines also mean that despite being more powerful, the fleet will be able to fly further without refuelling and spend longer supporting the front line, before needing re-servicing. The new engines will be the more powerful Honeywell T55-L-714A engine, which develops 3,750 Shaft horsepower at 4,000ft – a 16-20 per cent increase over the...

Queen Beatrix and Prince Philip were at Nijmegen on Sunday, marking the liberation of the city by the British and US forces as part of Operation Market Garden in September 1944.I spent the weekend in Arnhem, Oosterbeek and Driel at a series of events commemorating the heroic efforts of British and Polish paratroopers to take and hold the bridge at Arnhem (the “bridge too far”), the most ambitious and dangerous element of Market Garden. I was expecting a sombre occasion recalling the failure of the operation with British, Polish and Dutch survivors. It was indeed a moving and emotional weekend,  but alongside the solemnity, painful recollections and tributes to fallen comrades, I found a festive atmosphere with an astonishing number of World War 2 vehicles, “reenacters” in WW2...