Paras facing drop
‘Cummings behind the cuts’
THE Parachute Regiment could be scrapped – with soldiers replaced by robots and computers.
Boris Johnson’s top advisor Dominic Cummings, inset, is said to question why the Paras still exist when they have not dropped into battle for almost 70 years.
He has taken personal interest in restructuring defence spending, and senior commanders fear the elite regiment may be sacrificed.
An alternative could see the 80-year-old unit being cut from two battalions to one – around 550 men. But special forces will get an extra 300 personnel, and there will be more funding for cyber units, such as the newly formed 13th Signal Regiment. One senior Paras source said: “Our best hope is that we still have one battalion at the end of this and retain control of the Special
Forces Support
Group. There is a feeling within the regiment that we have been living on borrowed time, despite what we achieved in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
The defence budget shake-up will form part of what the MoD calls the Integrated Review. An MoD spokesman said “no final plans have been drawn up”.
The Government is likely to face opposition to any cuts. Ex-forces chief Lord West said: “I’m quite happy to face someone down in a field if I’ve got a machine gun and he’s got a laptop.”
MOST of our readers will react to the revelation that the Paras are under threat with disbelief.
These are some of the finest soldiers that Britain has.
They have served with distinction in Afghanistan and Iraq. And their heroics on the frontline are in no doubt.
Yet there are plans being formulated that would result in the Parachute Regiment losing an entire battalion – some 550 personnel.
Most worrying of all, the man behind the cuts is the Prime Minister’s creepy right-hand man, Dominic Cummings.
Yes, the bloke whose excuse for flouting lockdown regulations was that he was driving to Barnard Castle to test out his eyesight. Hmmm.
He reckons we don’t need the Paras any more because our soldiers don’t drop out of aircraft using parachutes much these days.
That may be true, but it appears to be a deliberate misunderstanding about what the Paras do.
These are elite troops, superbly trained to be ready and adaptable to modern challenges.
We have no doubt that the Ministry of Defence could spend its massive budget more efficiently.
And we understand that today’s Army has to harness the opportunities of the latest technologies.
But putting the Paras in the firing line is not the answer to the problems.
And if we need an expert opinion on our forces, Mr Cummings should be at the back of the queue.
STAR Trek legend Sir Patrick Stewart turns 80 tomorrow. But how much do you know about the actor behind Captain Jean-Luc Picard and X-Men’s Professor Xavier?
JAMES MOORE has 12 fascinating facts about his life and career…
Patrick credits his English teacher with his love of acting after he “put a copy of Shakespeare in my hand and said, ‘Get up on your feet and perform’.” Patrick also trained as a boxer.
Patrick got the part of Picard on TV’s Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 after he was spotted at a reading.
He had never seen the original series. Patrick admitted “it was a fluke” and even after joining the show he was so sure he’d get the boot he didn’t unpack his suitcases for six weeks. But he went on to star in the show for seven years, becoming famous for his catchphrase: “Make it so!” He also appeared in four Star Trek movies and the new Star Trek: Picard TV series.