Nigel Hastilow asks: Why is defence a casualty?
Do we need an army, navy and air force any more? Apart from a few military marching bands and chaps in antiquated uniforms on horseback at Royal weddings, is there much point in a real defensive capability?
Wouldn’t it be more sensible to admit our days as a world power are over and we’re better off spending our spare cash on David Cameron’s great legacy to the world, the British foreign aid budget?
It certainly seems the Government is happy to abandon the idea of Britain as a world power.
As things stand, it’s unlikely we could defend our island if we were ever again forced to do so.
Defence cuts are easy and they’ve been going on since the mid-1980s.
A gradual erosion of military spending doesn’t bring demonstrations on the streets. The unions are rarely up in arms about the loss of a regiment or two. There’s no shroud-waving by angry nurses. There’s indifference from the peace-mongering Labour Party.
At the very worst, a few retired generals emerge from the woodwork to warn our military capability is in terminal decline, we couldn’t re-gain the Falklands if the Argies had another bash and Gibraltar is at the mercy of the Spanish.
As for an amphibious landing on enemy shores or maintaining patrol boats in the Persian Gulf, let alone buying aircraft for our shiny new, ultra-expensive aircraft carrier, forget it.
Since the Second World War, Britain’s armed forces have always played second fiddle to the Americans. They are generally of more symbolic than actual use.
When the Yanks let fly with half a dozen squadrons and thousands of boots on the ground, we can spare a couple of fighter-bombers and a few hundred troops. This shows we are playing our part in the special relationship though in reality our contribution is negligible.
Meanwhile, Ministers try to defend the incompetence of a civil service which couldn’t shoot dead a rip-off merchant at point-blank range.
The Ministry of Defence’s record at buying the equipment our armed forces need is utterly shameful, squandering billions on ships that won’t sail in hot seas, helicopters that won’t fly, aircraft carriers with no aircraft and so on.
In the face of such world-class wastefulness, it’s not a shock that politicians try to tighten their grip on military profligacy and starve it of funds.
But, despite such incompetence, there comes a point where we face the question of whether Britain really wants a viable military capability.
Defending this country is one part of it. There’s also the question of taking action abroad. We all too often end up fighting small wars in far-off places which may, or may not, have a direct bearing on our own security.
If we believe we must continue to exert an influence in the world, then we need the military strength to support that ambition.
But while defence spending, at £44 billion, is the second highest in NATO, it has been cut by half since 1982 as a share of the country’s wealth.
By contrast, foreign aid keeps on rising. In a fatuous bid to win over left-wing ‘Guardian’ readers, David Cameron declared we would spend 0.7 per cent of the nation’s wealth on it.
Last year we spent £13.3bn on schemes like an EU programme boosting the coconut sector in the Caribbean, teaching yoga in India and conserving eels in the Philippines.
An entire industry has grown rich on the back of our foreign aid generosity. Some of it will keep Robert Mugabe comfortable in his retirement while closer to home there are do-gooding charity bosses paying themselves huge salaries at the taxpayer’s expense.
Our foreign aid budget is so bloated they can’t spend the money fast enough – though when it’s really needed, for instance after devastating hurricanes in the West Indies, it’s slow to arrive.
New Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson faces a Tory revolt over military cuts and says he will fight his corner. We all know money is tight but if we really do want to maintain some sort of respectable military standing, it’s clear we can’t see more cuts.
There’s talk the Government will axe 12,000 soldiers, 1,000 Royal Marines and two amphibious assault ships.
The only extra money available seems to be going on cyber-defence which is undoubtedly needed but is scarcely a substitute for the ‘boots on the ground’ that wars in the future will require, as they have done in the past.
A ‘defence review’ is taking place but that’s camouflage for another round of cuts, with former commando turned MP Johnny Mercer saying we don’t want to see the UK’s armed forces ‘the size of Belgium’s’. In 1987, the Tories scored a direct hit with a poster of a soldier with his hands in the air, surrendering, with the slogan: ‘Labour’s policy on arms.’
As we prepare to leave the EU and debate Britain’s role in the world, do the Conservatives really want to keep the white flag flying here?
