Unforgivable to ‘hollow out’ Army
IT’S THE “sit rep” or briefing no military commander would want to hear. Your army has shrunk to a size that wouldn’t fill Twickenham stadium and if weapons are deployed at the normal rate in combat you’ll be out of ammo in a week. A truly nightmare scenario that makes Operation Market Garden, the assault on Arnhem in the Second World War, look like a military triumph.
And as frightening as it is unbelievable, as you read this it is the reality facing the British armed forces today.
The looming crisis was blown open last week after rumours started to swirl that no extra funding has been earmarked for the military in next month’s Budget.
Facing fiscal pressure from every conceivable angle, unresolved pay demands across much of the public sector and debt payments that each month represent more than the gross domestic output of many developed nations, there’s precious little for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to work with.
However, what he either needs to remember or must be reminded of is the following: there is no more important role for any government to fulfil than to protect the nation and its citizens.
So when a retired senior British Army and Nato officer sounds the alarm, it is well worth listening. General Sir Richard Shirreff was Nato’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe and he left little room for doubt last week when he said “our Army has been hollowed out”, which means “Britain is more vulnerable than it has been at any time since the 1930s”.
Sir Richard added: “As it stands we no longer have the troops, the kit or the ammunition to defend ourselves. It is a truly perilous and unforgivable situation.”
A study of the facts and figures only serves to underscore the General’s claims.
On the ground, the number of troops has slipped to 73,000, the lowest since Waterloo. At the time of the Falklands War it was a more healthy 163,200. The number of tanks at their disposal is 227, although that is to be cut to 148 and from that depleted total 14 have been promised to the Ukrainian army. In 1990 there was a far more impressive 1,200 tanks.
To the skies, and the number of active aircraft has nose-dived from 998 in 2006 to just 479 today, and the picture on the high seas is little better.
In 1982 the number of the overall fleet, comprising aircraft carriers, destroyers and frigates, and other vessels stood at 164.
AT FIRST my heart soared – as I’m sure many of yours did too. The utterly brilliant comedic gem from the latter half of the last century was to return to TV. Not only had it been voted best comedy show in history, one Bafta survey even had Fawlty Towers as the finest television programme of all time!
Co-creator John Cleese revealed he was teaming up with actress daughter Camilla to bring the show back, with Cleese reprising the Basil Fawlty role, but in a totally different setting and coping with the challenges of our time.
But as reality dawned my smile began to fade... there could be no more gags about Germans and the war, incompetent Irish builders or ridiculing a Spanish waiter.
Beating a broken down car with a branch could upset domestic violence campaigners and some of the Major’s language about ethnic minorities would probably lead to questions being asked in Parliament.
It’s remarkable how TV comedy has changed in a little over 40 years. The problem is, virtually all of that change has been no laughing matter. Literally.
Today it has sunk to just 72. Our generosity towards Ukraine has been exemplary and Britain is the largest military donor, having spent £2.3billion last year and on track to spend the same if not more this year. This support has without doubt been crucial and it’s not unreasonable to suggest Russian tanks would be on the streets of Kyiv without it. But this largesse also adds to the holes being left on the home front.
Nevertheless, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s request for fighter jets, featured on this page last week, must be granted.
ANUMBER of military experts concur that with the exception of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the world has never been a more dangerous place. Russia is led by a brutal dictator who has readily sacrificed thousands of his own citizens on a doomed dream of expansion. China continues to assert itself, has covetous eyes on Taiwan and is brazen enough to fly spy balloons over the US. North Korea is controlled by a posturing madman and Iran continues to fund terror groups across the world.
And that’s not to mention cyber warfare. It’s often been said “there’s no votes in buying bullets”, but Rishi Sunak must instruct the Chancellor to find the cash.
We might have some of the best trained and most effective soldiers, sailors, airmen and women on the globe. But denying them the kit they need is nothing short of a governmental dereliction of duty.