British Army, 'Be The Best' - Time to give our armed forces everything they need to keep us safe
Be The Best. The three-word slogan used by the British Army for years as a pithy, punchy, powerful summary of a fighting force that prides itself from top to bottom on world-leading excellence.
From recruitment campaigns to television broadcasts, it became synonymous with British armed forces, and their battle theatre capabilities, around the world; instilling pride in troops whilst presenting a useful reminder for drill instructors to lean on should anyone dare to let their standards slip.
Yet, for more defence secretaries – that have come and gone – than you can shake a pace stick at, there has been a dearth of investment in British fighting forces that has, understandably, caused concern amongst military experts.
Weapons - the SA-80 assault rifle has barely evolved since the 1980s - equipment, even living quarters have been found to be inadequate. Just last year a House of Lords report, led by Lord de Mauley, found that Britain’s military is too small to even contemplate sustained conflict, is inadequately prepared militarily and struggles with recruitment and retention.
On top of that, again, just last year, then-defence minister Alistair Carns revealed, whilst answering a Parliamentary question, that more than 13,000 armed forces personnel are not fit for deployment.
It is little wonder, then, that attempts were made previously to shift the army away from that ‘be the best’ slogan; little doubt that as time wore on the gap between the ambition and the reality would increase further, placing Britain’s armed forces at risk of international ridicule.
All of this is why Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP is a welcome one, though questions remain as to whether this will prove enough, for these are truly dangerous times for western, democratic allies.