Navy’s irrepressible optimist takes the reins of military strategy
The British public were always going to be well served no matter which candidate got the job of Chief of the Defence Staff. All the front-runners were erudite, resourceful and respected men. (They were all still men, it should be said, but the years of a male-only shortlist are surely numbered.)
However, in what the Defence Secretary likes to call the Game of Thrones, the selection of Adml Sir Tony Radakin, the current First Sea Lord, goes beyond primus inter pares (first among equals).
Britain’s military strategy, for the next decade at least, will focus on the Navy and the “tilt” to the Indo-pacific.
That is not to deny the relative capabilities of the other services. Neither is it a blinkered obeisance to the two new aircraft carriers, impressive as they are. It is, instead, an acknowledgement that Britain now aspires to a greater role in world affairs after two decades pursuing the chimera of liberal intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. That requires a maritime strategy incorporating, but not limited to, the military.
The Government’s recent Integrated Review (IR) of defence, security and foreign policy pointed Britain in this new direction.
Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy in East Asia at King’s College London, said that at its heart the IR sees state-on-state competition as “the fuel behind international relations”.
“Russia and China as the key authoritarian regimes are locked in an adversarial relationship with the West.
“Russia is in our neighbourhood. The long-term challenger is China. The IR says [UK] must move from a reactive posture and shape things so they’re less dangerous,” he said
That matters to the British Government because it is the current thinking in Washington.
“If we’re serious about being forward-leaning, we need to use the maritime space as a launch pad for engaging with others,” Mr Patalano said. “The Navy is part of the broader tools of statecraft. [Sir Tony] is the embodiment of the IR, he ticks all the boxes.”
The Government views the Indopacific region as the key area to shape future global competition, important in resisting China’s attempts to undermine the international rules-based order.
Military power, as a tool of the statecraft needed to meet these challenges, will be designed to bolster the threat from states, not terrorists.
The Navy will play a central role in making Britain’s Armed Forces more mobile, forward-deployed and engaged with allies. It’s about “places not bases” and exercising in new areas. In short, turning up and being seen by allies to care about the region.
Sir Tony’s stewardship of the Royal Navy chimed with the Government’s desire for a renewed British military presence around the world.
The forging of new partnerships through the ongoing deployment of the Carrier Strike Group to the Indo-pacific region is a practical example of Britain’s new military posture.
Sir Tony’s personality is suited to furthering that strategy. In an interview with the Wavell Room, a military think tank, he described himself as inquisitive, keen to learn and curious about the world. He said optimism is “a fundamental trait of leadership”.
These characteristics will be tested by a revanchist and belligerent Russia and a perpetually provoked China.
“It feels to me that it is hard to be a pessimistic leader,” Sir Tony said.
“You can be the sober one that always describes the risks [but] in some of the most difficult situations there is an obligation on the leader to paint a picture that is the most hopeful, and [say] everything is going to be all right.”
He said even if a situation looked grim it was a leader’s responsibility to say “this is a noble and selfless thing to do, and we’re going to do it”. His tenure as Chief of the Defence Staff could well be judged on those words.
‘There is an obligation on the leader to paint a picture that says everything is going to be all right’