Armed Forces hire 42 diversity chiefs... just as troop levels hit new low

THE Armed Forces are employing growing numbers of diversity and inclusion officers at a time when troop numbers have reached dangerously low levels.

The British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force (RAF) have more than 40 staff working fulltime on improving equality, with more to be recruited soon – even though Ministers have vowed to crack down on ‘woke non-jobs’.

It comes after a report by the Defence Select Committee warned that the overstretched military may be unable to wage an all-out war.

Last night former Minister Sir John Hayes, who obtained details of the diversity schemes in a series of parliamentary written questions, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Taxpayers care about whether the soldiers are up to the job, and frankly the Ministry of Defence should be focusing on just that.’

The figures from the MoD show that the Army has ‘13 people employed in roles dedicated to diversity and inclusion’, while the Royal Navy has 15. The RAF has 14, ‘with a further ten positions to be recruited into’.

Sir John also learned how much the RAF has spent on diversity recruitment campaigns. Defence Minister Dr Andrew Murrison said: ‘In the financial years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22, the RAF spent £473,690, £168,283 and £921,110 respectively, funding ethnic minority and women campaigns and initiatives.’

However, in 2022 the RAF’s head of recruitment, Group Captain Lizzie

Nicholl, quit after refusing to follow an order to prioritise women and ethnic minority candidates over white men, believing it to be unlawful positive discrimination. She is in line for a £1 million payout after a report last June backed her allegations of bias.

An MoD spokesman said: ‘Our priority is protecting national security. These [diversity] roles are not new.

‘For the Armed Forces to be effective we must be able to recruit and retain the best people from the broadest crosssection of society, so the small number of colleagues who conduct these responsibilities use their practical experience to help improve training and working culture.’