We have been waiting for something solid to come from the Conservatives in the defence realm. So far they have delivered a half baked ill thought through collection of announcements mostly about ‘slashing civil servant numbers’
With General Sir Richard Dannatt on the team it is hoped that a number of solid policies would start trickling out.
Oh dear, how naive we have all been.
Plumbing new depths is the announcement that the Conservatives would award a university scholarship to all children of service personnel killed whilst on active duty.
Hold on you say, what is so bad about that?
On face value nothing, but what about the children of those service personnel who have the damned poor grace to not get killed, back in line for you I am afraid.
What about the children of police officers, fire fighters or lifeboat crew, are they not deserving, have they not given their life in the service of their country?
Do service personnel who die in a range accident or car crash qualify, suppose someone who has done half a dozen active duty tours, comes home and dies in a car accident?
All this assumes the child wants to go to University, what if they want to be a plumber?
George Osborne estimates the cost will be £1.5m per year, Liam Fox talks of a duty of care to our service personnel.
Interestingly, the Conservatives, who obviously have a duty of care to Indian service personnel as well, have also recently announced that only NHS and Overseas Aid budgets would be ring fenced.
India receives around £40million per year in aid, a nuclear capable nation with record growth, a navy that is larger than ours and ambitious spending plans for all three of their services.
The Conservatives have even floated the idea of providing aid vouchers to third world recipients so they can shop around for the best schools and other services.
So if you are in a third world country you can get, off a Conservative government, a voucher for private education but in this country, your mother or father has to be killed on a front line.
What service personnel in this country need are sound defence policies not gimmicks.
Bandwagon jumping of the worse kind.
C-
Must try harder
Now I know the estimated £1.5 million a year is a drop in ocean of the defence budget, but wouldn’t it be better spent on trying to make sure the troops don’t die in the first place? That way it is equally unfair to all forces’ children rather than just those with parents who die. Just to put it in perspective, that money could fully buy and kit out a Mastiff with change, which could well mean the difference between life and death (or horrific injury) for 3-9 men who drive over an IED.
An a note on India, whilst they do have a bigger (and becoming well equipped) armed force than us, they also have a nice little space program. That’s all well and good, who are we to say not to do that, but we shouldn’t be giving them money to handle the rampant poverty still present in that nation when they clearly have the means to help themselves now.
/rant.
Grim, I am with you on this. I am sick of watching the adverts on TV showing this little Asian/African or other third world boy/girl having to carry water x miles, not being able to go to school or afraid of being killed etc. The first thing that springs to mind is why isn’t their government fixing the problem! No because the money they could be spending solving the problem is going on to arms sales or in to corrupt politician’s pockets.
Getting back to the Tory Defence thinking (now there’s an oxymoron!!). I have no faith in the other lot doing any better that the NULIABOUR! In fact the Tory’s track record on defence (think back to John Nott 1982 Falklands). As for Mr Dannett, well I am not sure he could organise the proverbial P1ss Up in a Brewery. This is probably about the extent of his Defence thinking!!!
Were Doomed I tell you Doomed!!!
Apart from wondering why anyone thought Dannat would improve things, I cant argue.
C – my arse, this deserves an F or an “unclassified” based on:
“India receives around £40million per year in aid, a nuclear capable nation with record growth, a navy that is larger than ours and ambitious spending plans for all three of their services.”
How about India spend $40m of its own cash on its citizens !
This recent announcement is a gimmick in my opinion but not really surprising. The problem with the next election is anything announced now is pretty much not worth the paper it’s written on. The Conservatives are yet again going to inherit a country in bits perhaps more so economically than ever before. I don’t presume there are many fans of Labour amongst the readers of this blog but that facts are plain and I would add I don’t expect any Conservative government to be much better but they cannot be anywhere as bad. Although I would like to hear what they plan to do in detail I cannot and do not expect to hear detailed plans as even they have no idea of the true mess that they are inheriting, that is of course presuming they do win.
In defence it will be a few years at least before they can truly understand what has been done over the past 12 years. Every bit of small print in every contract signed will most likely yield horror that will make blood run cold and could make them wish that they had never run in the election. When we add to that the commitment to stay in Afghanistan as well as any future operations initiated under a Conservative Government justified or not the future is bleak. Furthermore the defence budget is a prime target for cuts although the armed forces have already been cut to such extend that we cannot even keep Brize Norton open when it snows.
I feel that I will use my vote as a protest against the status quo of the Lib Lab Con, frankly they are all too similar and nobody will speak the truth or speak about their intentions. Change is needed perhaps radical change however my one vote will make little difference as most of the population are sheeple.
Euan said: “Change is needed perhaps radical change”
So, are we back to my suggestion of a military Coupe and re-instating the Monarchy ??? At least Prince Charles always said what was on his mind, even if people thought he was loopy (and lets face it, on green stuff and agriculture, he has been proved right….)
Our ‘inability; to fund defence shall doubless be the Tories’ excuse to extend EU integration.
I think a military coup could be one way of getting rid of the current government and possibly making change happen although it depends who is in charge of it all and the specifics. The thing that I don’t like is the current Government have essentially bought votes in a way that I’ve not noticed other Governments do and that is creating Jobs, I mean vast numbers of public sectors jobs. So something like a coup might be needed to make change happen if all of these people care more about saving their own jobs that worrying about the nation’s future as a whole.
I like the Monarchy they are a national symbol and have always been a constant within the country through Labour or Tory Governments and through various crises. I think they should have more power to do things as they are likely to stick to something rather than looking at the short term and being stupid enough to bugger things up so badly. However in a way they failed as the Queen in my opinion should have called a general election after several scandals. For instance when no WMD’s were found in Iraq, when we were not given our EU referendum when so many wanted and still want it, or possibly when Gordon Brown went off the rails and said he saved the world while borrowing frankly obscene amounts of money or from a wider public viewpoint when the expenses scandal broke.
Politicians and the political system are held so lowly here in the UK they only way to go is up and the only way to do so and restore trust is pretty radical change. For instance making politicians and Governments legally responsible for their actions, for what they say and promise during time in Government or during election campaigns.
“Britain might have to “give up some specific capabilities”, that could possibly mean major projects such as the new aircraft carriers, in order to “remain a serious contributor” in other areas. ”
I took this quotation from a Telegraph article by Harding focusing on the report by the RUSI. It supports my previous post. They are preparing the ground for an absorbtion of our military into a pan-European joke.
Euan: the only way to solve this is to go back to the pre-1910 or 1915 situation when those on the public payroll were not allowed to vote. Chances of that? Nil