Probe ordered as Army puts its diversity targets ahead of security checks
A ‘FURIOUS’ Defence Secretary last night ordered a major review of military diversity policies.
It follows an outcry at plans to relax security checks for overseas Army recruits to help boost ethnic minority representation.
Grant Shapps vowed there would be no ‘lowering of security clearance requirements on my watch’ after a leaked document revealed plans to ‘challenge’ stringent vetting procedures in order to increase diversity.
And fellow Cabinet minister Michael Gove also condemned the proposal yesterday, telling Sky News’ Trevor Phillips that ‘political correctness’ should not ‘impair our ability to defend our borders’.
The paper, titled The British Army’s Race Action Plan, notes the service ‘struggles to attract talent from ethnic minority backgrounds into the officer corps’.
It pinpoints security clearance vetting as the ‘primary barrier to non-UK personnel gaining a commission in the Army’ and outlines a series of actions to boost representation in the intelligence and officer corps, positions which have ‘uncontrolled access to secret
‘Furious about this woke nonsense’
assets’. Speaking after the plan was revealed by the Sunday Telegraph, a source close to Mr Shapps said he was ‘genuinely furious about this woke nonsense’ and was ‘ready to go to battle on it’.
And in a strongly-worded intervention of his own yesterday, the Defence Secretary warned an ‘extremist culture’ had ‘ crept in’ and said it was ‘time for common sense instead of divisiveness’.
While citizens of Commonwealth countries can serve in the Army, the race plan notes that there are only 131 serving ‘non-UK regular officers’. Of these, 28 were from an ethnic minority, with the rest being white Irish or white Commonwealth. Ethnic minorities make up 14 per cent of the Army.
Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, said evidence which apparently ‘prioritises diversity, equality, and inclusion in matters of national security’ was ‘very worrying indeed’.
He told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘The fighting capability of our Armed Forces must not be further compromised by the overapplication of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ideology... We give succour to our enemies if the creation of an effective warrior mentality is not the primary objective of our Army.’
The relaxed vetting policy for applicants from overseas was criticised as ‘wicked’ and ‘nothing short of dangerous madness’ in an open letter to Mr Shapps from 12 former senior military officers.
Announcing his fast track review, Mr Shapps said: ‘This extremist culture has crept in over years and it is time for a proper shake up, designed to refocus the military on its core mission - being a lethal fighting force.’
The Defence Secretary also said he was committed to improving working conditions in the military, which was ‘ key to improving recruitment and retainment’.
The action plan came to light as it emerged the Armed Forces have more than 40 staff working fulltime on improving equality – with more to be recruited soon.
Figures obtained by Conservative MP Sir John Hayes and passed to The Mail on Sunday show that the Army has ‘13 people employed in roles dedicated to diversity and inclusion’, while the Royal Navy has 15. While the RAF has 14 ‘with a further ten positions to be recruited into’.
Meanwhile reports last night revealed that the Ministry of Defence has 93 different diversity networks, including seven for LGBT issues.
The staff forums, open to its civil servants as well as those serving in the Armed Forces, are aimed at discussing issues to do with race, gender and mental health.
SOME elements of war are timeless. George Orwell warned: ‘We sleep soundly because rough men stand ready in the night to do violence on those who would do us harm.’
Yet as the global security situation deteriorates alarmingly, what is it that our defence officials are obsessing about?
Terrifyingly, instead of delivering a fighting force that can protect us, they are prioritising inclusivity and diversity in the ranks.
The Army wants to relax security checks for overseas recruits in order to boost representation from minorities. With Islamism on the rise, this is lunacy.
Meanwhile, soldiers are ordered to remove Christian elements from Acts of Remembrance to attract troops from other cultures – a grotesque insult to many who gave their lives for this country.
The Defence Secretary has ordered a review of this wokery. But how did it infect the Armed Forces in the first place?
It’s hardly surprising that patriotic young people might feel too demoralised to join. When identity dogma has been used to discriminate against them, why would they feel inspired to fight for Britain?
The only goal of the Armed Forces should be to build a well-resourced, capable fighting force that our enemies fear. This can never be achieved by sacrificing national security on the altar of diversity.