Trust me, I try not to be cynical. I know that annoys some readers on occasion. But this one could bring out the cynic in anyone. The FT has reported that:
The British armed forces face a funding crisis that threatens to ground aircraft and restrict deployments of support vessels, amid increasing concerns about operational commitments as spending constraints bite.
Gen Nick Carter, chief of the defence staff, summoned the heads of the army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy to an urgent meeting this week to discuss a critical shortfall in next year's defence budget. The gap, which one military official said was equivalent to £1bn in the next financial year, is exacerbated by financial commitments such as the F35 fighter jets, the world's most expensive warplanes, and the new fleet of Astute-class submarines.
What is the chance this was only noticed and leaked to the press a week after the Tories won an election campaign?
I'd say it's precisely zero. I would go lower if I could.
To suggest that this is the armed forces playing game to prevent a Labour government would seem to me to be entirely fair. After all, it is more than nine years of Tory governments that have created this situation. But that's who they would still prefer even though it is the Tories who clearly have really threatened them. So yes, I am deeply cynical. And I would call it gross misconduct to behave in this way.
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What I (always) find strange is the subjects that are publicised and those that are ignored by our media. Funding for the armed services has been terrible for years – they are cut to the bone. But the criminal justice system (in England anyway) is in absolutely dire straights through lack of funding, but no one seems to mention it, Boris even quoted (plagiarised?) some of the SecretBarrister’s output, someone who made it clear that the Tory ‘tough on crime’ pledges were nonsense – but the problems seem to be mostly ignored. Look at the SecretBarrister Twitter account for comments on the issues affecting courts and the system as a whole: https://mobile.twitter.com/BarristerSecret
Agreed
Good point
If the military want to close any financial shortfall i’d suggest they slash the amount of top-brass (most of whom have never fired a shot in anger) living like millionaires in Whitehall penthouses
It’s a standing joke within the US military how top-heavy with high-ranking officers the British forces are, most of whom appear to do very little apart from wine and dine foreign guests.
I believe there are many more admirals than ships
They literally can’t have a flagship each
A friend’s husband is a retired rear admiral, so I now know there are five rear admirals and three admirals in RN. Prob likely then, that they could have a ship each. Could be quite little ships.
🙂
Some false news here. Part of the spending crisis has been caused by the Labour order for 2 aircraft carriers at a cost of £6.2 billion and rising. Cameron and Clegg were unable to cancel the order due to punitive clauses inserted into the contract.
But yes, the timing was there because defence does better under the Tories. It’s a fact in the same way that the welfare state does better under Labour.
Actually, defence does worse under Tories
Data to follow