Women in Army ‘feel unsafe’ after Shapps diversity remarks

WOMEN in the Armed Forces have been made to feel “unsafe” in the wake of the Defence Secretary’s comments over the diversity row engulfing the military.

Grant Shapps warned that a “woke” and “extremist culture” had infiltrated the Army after it was revealed that the military was considering ways to relax checks to promote ethnic diversity among officers.

The Daily Telegraph understands Mr Shapps spoke to Adml Sir Tony Radakin, the Chief of the Defence Staff, on Monday about how to conduct a review of ethnicity, diversity and inclusivity policies in the Ministry of Defence.

A defence source said: “The review aims to ensure that vital defence resources and personnel are not being unnecessarily used to enact controversial inclusivity policies.”

However, serving female personnel and military charities have said Mr Shapps’s response was “dangerous”, while others said they felt they would have little choice but to leave the forces if such a hard approach was adopted.

One RAF sergeant said: “It’s really dangerous that he thinks it OK to make such flippant remarks without qualifying them. The military had only just started to make progress in moving away from being an old boys’ club and it feels that as soon as that has happened people from that generation are now afraid to embrace the changes.”

Another defence source revealed that numerous minority, non-heterosexual and female personnel had been in touch since Mr Shapps made his comments, stating that “this campaign makes them feel unsafe in the military and they now feel the lack of leadership pushback makes them look to leave”.

The military is suffering a recruitment crisis and has repeatedly failed to meet its targets, including boosting women and ethnic minority numbers.

Last month, Mr Shapps told The Telegraph that women were the solution to the recruitment crisis. He said he was concerned that the make-up of the military did not reflect wider society and that more should be done to attract and retain women.

A source close to Mr Shapps said that he “believes everybody should be respected, encouraged in their careers and he abhors bullying”.

The MOD said: “We are committed to stamping out inappropriate sexual behaviour in our Armed Forces. This work is a priority and is continuing.

“The review announced this weekend is separate and focused on ensuring that time and resources are not being squandered on unnecessary initiatives.”

‘It’s really dangerous that he thinks it OK to make such flippant remarks without qualifying them’