From Nimrods to men with binoculars . . .

“We are paying a high price for lacklustre

performance in Whitehall.”

THURSDAY’S RESCUE of the missing Inverbervie fishermen was a story none of us in the press saw coming. It was greeted with jaw-dropping incredulity by reporters used to tragic endings to sea searches. Stories don’t get better than this, but as the day wore on, this one did.

Jim Reid (75) and his grandson David Irvine (35) had got lost in fog after setting out from Gourdon in their 16-foot boat.

A surface and air search was stood down and that would have been the end of the story until they were picked up by the scallop dredger Sylvia Bowers 50 miles from the shore, long after hope had faded.

As the Montrose lifeboat, Moonbeam, steamed out to pick them up, photographers from across the UK gathered on the quayside to record their homecoming.

We wondered what condition they would arrive home in. Bedraggled, emaciated, shocked, emotional? A wave from Jim and a thumbs up from David answered that. The pair bounded ashore like they were heading for a pint on a Saturday afternoon. Tanned, relaxed and smiling, they spent time with reporters, downplaying their ordeal with modesty and humour. What a happy story.

All the lifeboats betweenArbroath and Aberdeen, commercial vessels and an RAF helicopter had searched for Jim and David.

What could have made the difference would have been the assistance of a maritime patrol aircraft, something like a Nimrod that used to patrol Scottish waters to detect prowling submarines of foreign powers. But since 2011, the UK has had no maritime air patrols.

The UK’s replacement Nimrod fleet was due to come in to service in 2012. Taxpayers had spent £4 billion on the project but at an advanced stage, the government decided to scrap the nine new aircraft. It spent another £200 million breaking up the new planes. All this expense and effort to save an estimated £2 billion over 10 years.

Not all the blame can be levelled at politicians. The Nimrod project was nine years behind schedule and £800 million over budget. This is the reality the current government inherited in 2010 at the height of the financial crisis.

Rather, questions should be asked of the permanent Ministry of Defence staff and the previous Government, whose lax control on cost and deadline is now imperilling our national security and the lives safety of those who go to sea.

While these civil servants are insulated from frontline danger and the harsh environment of commercial pressure, our dwindling number of service personnel experience overstretch and our waters remain unpatrolled.

Almost exactly one year ago, 70 civil servants shared a £700,000 bonus on the day 4,480 troops were made redundant. They were rewarded for cutting waste. Surely that is their job as managers? Why do we have to pay bonuses? Last week, during the international search for four missing British yachtsmen, the UK sent a Hercules aircraft crewed by men with binoculars. We are paying a high price for lacklustre performance in Whitehall. Read more by Chris Ferguson at From The Archives at the courier.co.uk or follow on Twitter @C_CFerguso