Chiefs of Marines and Navy at loggerheads

Fears that amphibious force may be diluted after ‘significant falling out’ between head officers

There has been a “significant falling out” between the head of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines chief after the latter resisted attempts to expand his role. Admiral Tony Radakin, the First Sea Lord, was thought to want to move the role of Commandant General Royal Marines to a more senior officer. But the incumbent, Major General Matt Holmes, and defence experts warned this could “dilute” the Marines at a critical time.

‘This is a thoroughly bad idea being done for entirely the wrong reasons. The job of CGRM will disappear in virtually all but name’

‘First Sea Lord is very much of the opinion that you need the right person in the right place at the right time to do the right job’

THERE has been a “significant falling out” between the head of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines chief after the latter resisted attempts to expand his role.

Admiral Tony Radakin, head of the Royal Navy, was thought to be in favour of moving the role of CGRM – Commandant General Royal Marines – to a more senior officer. However, the incumbent, Major General Matt Holmes, and senior Defence experts warned that the planned changes would have meant the attention given to the Royal Marines would be diluted at a time when it was needed to see through a Future Commando Force programme.

The Daily Telegraph understands Gen Holmes “resisted vigorously” and had a “really significant falling out” with the First Sea Lord. The Defence Secretary subsequently rejected the proposal by the Royal Navy to make the role of CGRM three-star, a spokesman confirmed.

The proposal would have seen Gen Holmes moving on from his post 20 months into what was normally a threeyear tenure.

Under part of the Royal Navy Transformation programme, the role of CGRM was to be given to Lieutenant General Rob Magowan, a three-star officer one rank more senior than Gen Holmes.

However, Lt Gen Magowan is soon to take up a post in charge of managing the Mod’s equipment portfolio, a role that would remove him from day-to-day management of the Royal Marines.

Critics said his ability to keep up to date with emerging concepts on amphibious;, warfare, as well as maintaining critical ties to the US Marine Corps, would have been limited.

Three-star officers holding jobs in MOD headquarters with Defence-wide responsibilities are expected to be “service agnostic”. As such, critics claimed, it could have placed Gen Magowan in an awkward position, limiting his ability to champion Royal Marine-specific issues.

The senior Defence source said: “This was a thoroughly bad idea being done for entirely the wrong reasons… at the cost of completely compromising the identity and losing the warfare focus of the Royal Marines. The job of CGRM would have disappeared in virtually all but name. Of course, the Armed Forces should be as managerially efficient as possible, but not at the cost of warfare efficiency. This was a managerial solution to a warfare problem. Under these plans would the Royal Marines be the organisation that today produces 50 per cent of the nation’s Special Forces?”

Many areas of Royal Marines policy have already been folded into other directorates within the Royal Navy, including personnel, equipment acquisition and technology.

Navy sources defended the reorganisation, saying the First Sea Lord wanted Royal Marine officers to compete against naval colleagues for senior twostar jobs previously out of their scope due to their focus on serving in 3 Commando Brigade. It was hoped that in due course Royal Marine officers could be considered for more senior roles such as Fleet Commander, Second Sea

Lord or even head of the Royal Navy. By making some of the responsibilities of CGRM less “stovepiped and siloed, and moving them into wider areas”, the post would become more competitive for senior command of the military, a Navy source said. “This will ensure the Marines remain a distinct but integral part of the Royal Navy. They will keep their core values and ethos.

“First Sea Lord is very much of the opinion that you need the right person in the right place at the right time to do the right job.”

The other heads of fighting arms (Surface Ships, Submarines, Fleet Air Arm, Maritime Reserves, and Royal Fleet Auxiliary) have already gone from two-star to one-star.

“Having a three-star as head of the Royal Marines really enhances their position within the Navy,” the Navy source said.