An admiral is the perfect choice to reinforce Global Britain agenda
The announcement that Adml Sir Tony Radakin, the current First Sea Lord, is to become the next Chief of Defence Staff is splendid news for defence and the nation. He is a highly competent and experienced officer who has shown a willingness to challenge shibboleths within the Navy and defence establishment.
It is also timely, as the Senior Service has not held the post for almost 20 years. More importantly, a naval officer is appropriate in the context of the Government shifting defence back to a primarily maritime strategy; implementing “Global Britain”.
For the first two decades of this century, we have involved ourselves in nation-building in central and western Asia, so one could argue that the preponderance of Army Chiefs of Defence made sense. Such a strategy, however, was out of our comfort zone and has not been a happy story.
We often forget as a nation that we still run global shipping from London.
We rely on the 95 per cent of trade that enters and leaves our country by sea. We remain the largest European investor in South Asia, South-east Asia and the Pacific Rim, with huge benefits to our balance of payments.
We are responsible for the defence and security of 14 dependencies worldwide and have only recently established some of the world’s largest nature conservancy zones around them. Global stability is crucial not just for our wealth but that of nations worldwide and the Royal Navy has a history of providing that stability.
The decision to base our defence and security on a maritime strategy was correct and welcome. It was music to have the Prime Minister say: “If there is one policy that strengthens the UK in every possible sense, it is building more ships for the Royal Navy” and that we should become the “foremost naval power” in Europe.
If that is our nation’s aim then a naval officer is best placed to ensure it happens. The shipbuilding strategy needs to be refined and pursued. The UK still has a shortage of frigates. Radakin is willing to challenge the procurement processes and has been at the forefront of trialling and developing radical unmanned systems.
He has cut the number of admirals and restructured manpower so that more men and women are serving at sea, which is where naval personnel should be. He has been a driving force behind the Carrier Battlegroup deployment to the Pacific. Our allies in the region are delighted to see such a concrete example of commitment to freedom of passage and regional stability. The Americans are pleased that such an old ally is operating alongside them in the region and have bent over backwards to support the group. The ships have exercised and operated with Nato and other allies in the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Pacific.
In strategic foreign policy terms it has quietly reaffirmed the right of all nations to exercise innocent passage through such areas as the Taiwan Straits and South China Sea.
The group is now heading back into the Indian Ocean and will soon be in Nato’s backyard available for a multitude of tasks. Such tasks could range from patrolling north of the Greenland-iceland-uk gaps to confront Russian sabre rattling, countering drug and people smuggling in the Caribbean, and combating piracy in the Gulf of Guinea or reassuring the Falkland Islands.
The UK remains a global power, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the fifth richest country in the world, is responsible for a vast tract of ocean and seabed and is a focus for global shipping. The need for a powerful navy and UK shipbuilding is recognised by Government and Opposition alike and at this crucial time a first-class naval officer is just what is needed to head up defence. Adml Radakin is just such a man.
‘If there is one policy that strengthens the UK in every sense, it is building more ships for the Royal Navy’