MOD on manoeuvres

SIR – Who is this fire-eater Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Defence, who, in the wake of the attempted assassination in Salisbury, told Vladimir Putin to “shut up” – and now, allegedly, has threatened to bring down the Prime Minister if he does not get a huge increase in funds for his department (report, June 25)?

Is he trying to impress the senior uniformed personnel in the Ministry of Defence – or is he for real? Norman Davies

New Milton, Hampshire

SIR – Should we expect a choice at the next general election between a government that will downgrade our defence capabilities and one that will wind them down? Hugh Payne

Hitchin, Hertfordshire

SIR – Future conflicts are indeed hard to predict (Leading Article, June 22).

In 1972 at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, my war studies lecturer said Britain would never again fight without American help, or in the desert. At the time it was difficult to argue with this.

The next war was the Falklands – with no American boots – and the one after that was in the deserts of Iraq. Anthony Trollope-bellew

Crowcombe, Somerset

SIR – Alone among public servants, the armed services are “barred from contact with the media and communicating in public”.

Information is funnelled through politicians who have little knowledge or experience. The public are ignorant of the complexity of defence, and the difficulties of delivery.

It is time to hear from our defence professionals as we do from leaders in the police, along with teachers, doctors and local government employees. We may find that the task they are asked to do is impossible with the resources they have. Christopher Samuel

Haslemere, Surrey