Defence disgrace

The lack of sensitivity displayed by the sending out of redundancy notices in this manner to fighting men who have displayed courage in the service and protection of this country over the course of decades is nothing short of shameful.

An apology has been made, and it is no less than these soldiers deserve, yet the hand-wringing and obvious embarrassment of Ministers will do little to reassure the men and women of the armed services that this is a Government which is on their side.

In opposition, the Conservatives were quick to criticise Labour’s handling and funding of defence, choosing to single out Gordon Brown’s parsimony in providing the necessary resources for the campaigns pursued by Tony Blair.

Such criticism seemed to hit the mark, and there was much lofty talk from Mr Cameron and his cohorts about the need to renew the covenant that demands the services are respected and cared for by the civil society in whose name they risk their lives.

Laudable though that intention was, there has so far been precious little evidence of it being translated into reality. Indeed, since coming to office, the Government has done little for defence but cut budgets, admittedly to plug an £8bn black hole that was the legacy of the Labour years. However, incidents like the botched handling of redundancies leave an unsettling sense that the reality of attitudes within the Government towards the services may fall short of the rhetoric. It is up to Mr Cameron to persuade both services and country that this is not the case.