Defence Secretary accused of phoney war over £2bn cuts
Chancellor’s allies hit out over ‘bogus rebellion by Private Pike’
ALLIES of Chancellor Philip Hammond have accused Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson of stirring up a ‘bogus’ war on defence cuts to win over Armed Forces chiefs.
In an extraordinary attack – just days before the two meet to discuss the defence budget – they blamed Mr Williamson for a backbench rebellion, which they said was designed to distract attention from the row over his fast-track promotion to the Cabinet.
One source ridiculed Mr Williamson’s lack of defence experience, saying: ‘ When Williamson is in with all these grizzled old Forces types he just sits there looking like Private Pike from Dad’s Army.’
But last night a friend of Mr Williamson hit back, saying Mr Hammond had left the Forces in a ‘parlous state’ during his own time as Defence Secretary.
Mr Williamson is due to hold talks with Mr Hammond and Theresa May later this week to thrash out how to fill a £2 billion hole in the Ministry of Defence budget.
It comes against the backdrop of a rebellion by Tory MPs, led by former Army Captain Johnny Mercer, over claims that the next defence review could lead to Army numbers falling below 70,000 soldiers. This has led to reports that Mr Williamson, a former Chief Whip, was ‘fighting to quell a mounting Tory rebellion’.
But Mr Hammond’s allies believe that the Defence Secretary is exaggerating the financial pressures so he can claim a ‘win’ if the cuts fail to materialise. They even accuse him of being in cahoots with the rebels.
One Hammond ally said yesterday: ‘Once a whip, always a whip. It’s bogus. We think Williamson is manipulating the party to put pressure on us by encouraging backbenchers to protest – so he can claim victory and win the respect of the Forces chiefs.
‘All he is doing at the MoD is going around asking, “What would [former Defence Secretary] Michael Fallon have done?” He knows nothing about how to run a big-spending department, and sweet FA about defence. But he does know his way around the MPs.’ Another source was even blunter, saying: ‘ That boy doesn’t know one end of a rifle from another.’
The Treasury was particularly irritated last week when Mr Williamson publicly argued that Nato’s target for two per cent of GDP to be spent on defence should be a ‘base not a ceiling’.
But Mr Williamson’s friend said: ‘ When Hammond was Defence Secretary, he oversaw damaging cuts to the Armed Forces, leaving them in a parlous state.
‘He is now rightly nervous that a light is about to be shone on his poor record.’
The Prime Minister’s decision to parachute Mr Williamson into the job last month, when Sir Michael Fallon was forced out during the sex harassment scandal, caused fury among Tory MPs. They accused her of promoting a member of her inner circle ahead of better candidates.
Last week, Tory MP James Gray urged Mr Williamson to lobby Mr Hammond to ‘ dig deep in his pockets’ or risk ‘a very substantial rebellion’.
And veteran Minister Tobias Ellwood, a former captain in the Royal Green Jackets, has privately threatened to resign if there are severe cuts.