Army head appointed Chief of Defence Staff

The head of the Army, General Sir David Richards, is to be the next Chief of the Defence Staff, it was announced yesterday.

Gen Richards, 58, will replace Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup who is standing down as the professional head of the armed forces and the Government's chief military adviser in October following the strategic defence and security review.

His appointment will be seen as recognition of the Government's priority of achieving a successful outcome to the long-running Afghan campaign.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Gen Richards has previously served as the commander of Nato forces in the country and recently called for negotiations with the Taliban .

"If you look at any counter-insurgency campaign throughout history there's always a point at which you start to negotiate with each other, probably through proxies in the first instance," he told the BBC.

"From my own, and this is a purely private view, I think there's no reason why we shouldn't be looking at that sort of thing pretty soon."

Downing Street has refused to comment on reports that David Cameron effectively took charge of the appointments process.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It followed reports of irritation within No 10 at the way that Defence Secretary Liam Fox used an interview with a Sunday newspaper to announce that Air Chief Marshal Stirrup would be standing down earlier than expected.