Wave of anger at ‘astonishing’ firing of Navy carrier captain
THE Royal Navy’s decision to strip a captain of his command of HMS Queen Elizabeth after he “misused” an official car has triggered an angry backlash amid claims Armed Forces chiefs have become “absurdly bureaucratic”.
Cdre Nick Cooke-priest was removed as captain of the aircraft carrier after apparently using a Ford Galaxy for personal journeys at weekends.
In a statement, the Royal Navy said the 50-year-old commodore had been “reassigned” to a new role, with sources insisting senior officers must be “whiter than white” because they expect servicemen to follow their orders.
Cdre Cooke-priest, who joined the Royal Navy in 1990, was removed from his command of the 65,000-ton carrier and its crew of 700 seamen in the past few days.
It is understood he felt he was not informed he would be in breach of rules if he used the official car for personal journeys. The captain is believed to be “gutted” and believes he made an “innocent mistake”.
Julian Lewis, the Conservative chairman of the Commons defence select committee, said he was “astonished” the captain had been removed from his post for a “minor infraction”, adding that he feared the Royal Navy had “very warped values”.
“If he has been relieved of his command as a result of an alleged misuse of an official car, I am simply astonished,” the MP said.
“Are we really going to write off the skills of a highly qualified officer in whom this country has invested enormous resources for him to reach the position of being able to command the queen of warships.
“The idea he should be removed rather than receiving an informal ticking off or formal reprimand is suggestive of some very warped values in the administrative arm of the Royal Navy.
“It isn’t only taking bureaucratic platinum plating to absurd lengths, it’s also a criminal waste of all we’ve invested in this man’s career and skills.”
Other supporters took to social media yesterday claiming they would start a petition calling for the commodore to be reinstated. The captain was only in
‘The idea he should be removed rather than receiving a ticking off ... is suggestive of some very warped values in the Royal Navy’
his post for just over six months after joining the ship in New York while it was deployed in the Atlantic Ocean in October last year.
An investigation found he had made an “error of judgment” in using the car.
A military source insisted there was no suggestion any other misdemeanour had been uncovered that contributed to his dismissal from that role.
He added that the commodore had also paid for his own petrol on any trips deemed personal.
A Royal Navy spokesman said:
“We can confirm
Captain Nick Cooke-priest has been reassigned to a new role.
“We can only say that management action is ongoing and it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further.”
Although Admiral Lord West, former first sea lord, refused to comment on the specific case, he said: “The Navy has very high values and standards and ensures these are maintained at all times.”
Cdre Cookepriest had specialised as a Lynx helicopter observer after joining the Royal
Navy 29 years ago. He was promoted to commander in 2009 shortly before escorting the Queen on a royal tour while aboard HMS Kent.
On HMS Iron Duke, he was deployed to the Arabian Gulf, and in 2011 joined Operation Ellamy, the coalition military intervention in Libya which enforced a Un-backed no-fly zone during the civil war.
His continued success in the Royal Navy saw him assume command of HMS Bulwark, the Fleet Flag Ship, in January 2015 before leading the UK’S contribution to the Gallipoli centenary commemorations in the same year.
He is a married father of three sons and was awarded an OBE in 2016.
What to make of Commodore Nick Cooke-priest, forced to walk the career plank for crimes against – well, that’s the sticking point. A popular naval officer who took charge of HMS Queen Elizabeth last October, Cooke-priest has been stripped of his command for “misusing” the vessel’s official car at weekends.
There is no suggestion of fraud. He paid for his own petrol. He claims nobody told him that driving the car off-duty was a sackable offence. And, boy, does his defence hold water. Why? Because in this instance the Royal Navy’s official car was a Ford Galaxy. You heard.
We know, in recent years, the defence budget has been squeezed until the pips squeak. But surely a fellow sporting the Commodore’s insignia could have been treated to something a little more glamorous than a seven-seater people carrier with 17-inch alloys? I can only conclude that when your day job is captaining a 280m, 65,000-ton vessel, described by the Royal Navy as an “aweinspiring warship” and capable of carrying up to 40 aircraft, you’d prefer something a little less bombastic, with a touchscreen infotainment system and outstanding fuel economy, in your downtime.
Heated front seats are not to be sniffed at on any mode of transport, given our unreliable weather, and the Galaxy certainly has its place – on the school run, for example, and it must be a dream for trips to the garden centre.
However, when it comes to the Navy, this ostentatiously ordinary choice of “official” vehicle appears to be another dreary example of democratisation. We want our sea captains to radiate Hornblower heroism with a jaunty dash of Drake and the strategic nous of Nelson, do we not? By rights, Cooke-priest ought to have been motoring along country lanes in an open-topped Morgan, cutlass rattling in the footwell. By wrongs, he came a-cropper for his unwelcome reminder that social mobility, like the gold doubloon index and sea shanties, can go down as well as up.
But when did displaying one’s status become something shameful? Possibly somewhere around the time our young royals started speaking Estuary English. A Ford Galaxy here, a dropped aitch there, cleavage at Ascot, Wowcher offers for Glyndebourne; Britain is in grave danger of losing what made it Great, which is to say a class system riddled with subtle signifiers. If naval commodores can be made to drive in Ford Galaxies, what’s to stop the Army trading in their Challenger tanks for a fleet of Vauxhall Corsas? Don’t knock ’em; what they lack in firepower, they’ll more than make up for in battlefield agility.
Having said that, I believe the top brass came down far too hard on Commodore Cooke-priest, whose only misdemeanour was poor judgment; he really ought to have upgraded to the Renault Grand Scenic.