Defence Weakness

Published Letter The Times 29 February

Sir, Your report (Feb 28) that Admiral Sir Tony Radakin has reprimanded General Sir Patrick Sanders for making a speech warning that the army was at risk of becoming static and domestically focused raises important points. It is a fact that the British Army can no longer deploy a fully supported mechanised division abroad. It is a concern to serving and retired officers that our politicians are failing in their duty to ensure that our army has sufficient resources to deter our enemies, secure our borders, assist the civil power in an emergency, support our allies and to honour our treaty obligations. The US has made its concerns about our diminished defence capabilities clear several times but with no substantive response from our ministers. There is little hope that next week’s budget will do anything but reinforce the fact that our politicians are in denial in failing to acknowledge or meet the new challenges we and our allies face, and the manifest implications this has for the resourcing of our armed services.
Patrick Watson
Former Black Watch officer