The wrong target

THE timing could not be more ironic – or embarrassing. As International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell visits Nepal to highlight how Britain is helping Ghurka families, his Ministerial colleagues back in London were confirming that 400 Ghurkas will lose their jobs as part of the last cuts to the manpower of the Armed Forces.

More than 4,000 service personnel will be made redundant as the Government looks to fill a £38bn ‘black hole’ in the defence budget. Yet, while Philip Hammond has had the misfortune to inherit this budgetary shortfall, it should be remembered that the Armed Forces – the very people set to lose their jobs – are not responsible for this mess.

It has come about as a consequence of successive Ministers failing to control costs when new equipment was procured, and recruitment policies that have appeared to place greater value on MoD penpushers than the military personnel who have been defending this country’s interests on the front line in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

If a far greater premium had been placed on achieving ‘value for money’, and if there was far greater coherence over Britain’s intended role on the world stage, then these fine men and women would not be paying such a heavy price for failures of political leadership.

Yet, while Mr Hammond stressed the need for the Armed Forces to be “agile, adaptive and effective”, it is still unclear how this can be achieved at a time when one looks at the financial confusion over the two aircraft carriers that have been commissioned to replace HMS Ark Royal. With costs having risen already from an agreed £5.2bn to £7bn, past mistakes will be repeated – and more jobs put at risk – unless Mr Hammond stands firm on procurement and financial controls.