An interesting article from 3i Consulting
In the pursuit of ‘joined up’ government the UK is fortunate that many government departments are closely located in a part of London called Whitehall. Indeed, from the roof of 10 Downing Street the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Ministry of Defence (MoD) are within range of a well batted cricket ball. As it does not take officials long to walk between key departments of state working collaboratively should be relatively simple, yet there are signs that FCO and MoD policies are not only uncoordinated but divergent.
Click here to have a read
I think the Foreign Office does a splendid job representing foreigners.
“Additional overseas interests will demand a different basing strategy and force disposition, new defence collaborations, and sufficient military assets to promote and protect them.”
Hard to argue with that.
It would have to be a very well batted cricket bat. Call me pedantic (and I have the luxury of a conference call to while my time away on Google Earth), but it is 158 metres from No 10 to the nearest corner of the MoD, plus an increase in elevation from 3 floors to 6 floors. In my cricketing days, I’d have been very proud of a whack like that.
Being more serious, the physical distance is not the problem. The mental distance is the problem.
Ref: “Vague concerns about MoD’s ability to meet the uncertainties of tomorrow’s global security environment should be replaced with assessments of which current and emerging national interests must be protected, at what concurrency, and for how long. That informed requirement should then shape the forces necessary to do so. This approach would also help define what the MoD should not be expected to do, a boundary that is currently missing.”
Does that not define the “grand strategy” I keep harping on about ?
As for the comment about “short sighted” – well please show me an aspect of HMG policy, or UK politics in general that is not short sighted, as in it has an horizon past the next general election !
I think the wages of the Foreign Office should be paid for by the Chinese, as it always takes their side over British interests.
I think the main issue between Foreign Office and MOD cooperation is the attitude of the FCO and DFID. It is incredable that we as a country spend more on aid on a per capita basis than any one and are only just behind the usa on an absolute basis but we cannot use a single penny of the money to pay for joint defence capabilities. Italy who only spend 0.15% of GDP on aid can use its aid budget to subsidies items such as aircraft carriers. Meawhile the FCO and the DFID expect the navy to send its vessels free of charge for distaer relief and humanitarian aid of British Over Seas Territories that the are suppose to be the remit of the FCO. If the Navy can charge the Department for Agriculture and fisheries for EEZ patrol why not the FCO for distaer releif and over seas territory support.
@ Martin,
not going to bring my personal politics into this, but it was interesting, and I think forward looking that the Tory manifesto (and previous policy debates) had a view of “Britain in the Wider World”, pulling together FCO, MoD, DFID and a few other policy strands on things like energy security and the impact of global warming (if it exists….err I don’t know, I’m not an expert). They’ve failed to follow through effectively now that they are in power, but at least the initial thought was there and could be resurrected.
If I was ever in possession of a Bill Gates-type wealth, I think I’d like to gift to the British people the costs of building a really souped up hospital / aid delivery ship, manned by the RN but painted bright white with red cross / crescent markings. Perhaps a 500 bed hospital and capacity for a hundred ISOs of tents, water plants, packed rations etc. Operated in peacetime by the FCO and DFID, available in wartime to the MoD as a hospital ship. A couple of billion would pay for that and 4 medium lift helicopters on board (also bright white). 365 Humanitarian disaster relief on call, special tours such as eye clinics for Bangladesh, tents for Haiti, and a replacement in the war role for Britannia.
…last paragraph chopped off by mistake. Should have read:
While under overall command of the ship’s Captain RN, I’d see 3 senior positions in the manner of the embarked air or amphibious commander we are also used to for military operations. Commander Ship’s hospital, Commander Humanitarian Logistics, and Commander National Policy for non war fighting operations, each with the relevant staff. I’m no expert on naval design, but in addition to a flat part of the deck for the 4 helicopters to use, I’d see some form of stern door for 2 landing craft logistics type of small vessel that could be configured either for patient / passenger or ISO transportation into small harbours.
@ Martin – “It is incredible that we as a country spend more on aid on a per capita basis than any one and are only just behind the usa on an absolute basis but we cannot use a single penny of the money to pay for joint defence capabilities.”
It isn’t quite as clear cut as all that, as the populations of western social democracies have contracted out their philanthropy to their governments. America has not.
http://www.hudson.org/files/pdf_upload/Index_of_Global_Philanthropy_and_Remittances_2010.pdf
@ James – I very much agree on the view of having a nice big hospital ship. We would be talking penuts of the DFID budget to do this.
@ Jedi – I agree its not that simple but the British people also give independantly of government and allot of US money goes to the USA. Even British cahrities are involved in bringing healthcare to the USA. I think when comparing governments its only fair to look where they put their own money rather than donations from there people. Our government seems hell bent on bankrupting us to do this.
I’m not sure if I agree with a full on “hospital” ship.
I think a much better use would be a fleet of “clinic” ships.
Bay Class, modular clinic.
GP, Surgeon, someone to do cataracts, ante natal, stuff like that, and of course, accept a lot ofn people, who need “treatment” rather than “cure” we arent going to be able to help.
**** painting them in red cross colours, paint them as a giant union jack!
We have RFA Argus, have we used the hospital facilities in such a way before our medical services got tied up in the recent wars?
Having DfID pay for a hospital ship is exactly the kind of project that I would like to see that budget spent on. Funding a hospital ship won’t pay for some third world dictator’s Paris mansion.
I’m not sure a military vessel would be the way to go though. You might need civilian specialists to provide the whole range of medical services required, and many civilian volunteers may have their own objections to working on a warship, prefering to take their service to an established charity like Mercy Ships. And I would question whether we need greater hospital ship capacity within the navy.
A navy ship, albeit a medical one, may also not have access in countries with poor or openly hostile relations with the UK government.
Argus is not legally a hospital ship because it carries defensive arms, and I wonder if an entirely unarmed Navy ship and crew would be safe in all areas of operation; not every group and faction respects the international protected legal status that a military hospital ship would carry – charity organizations themselves are increasingly a target of attack. Carrying arms aboard would again create issues for many potential civilian volunteers and for access to certain ports.
And yes, great big union flags on the side of any overseas aid project (vehicle, ship, container, bag of grain) please.
@ BB,
I think we could man/woman a hospital and aid ship without suffering too many conscientious objectors. Those whose hearts are so bleeding can find employment elsewhere.
I’m not a legal expert, but medics in the Army at least are permitted sidearms to protect themselves and their patients under the Geneva Convention. A few GPMG and 20mms, even a couple of CIWS on a hospital ship are surely only the same. Not offensive, but purely defensive arms.
I agree we should use available military medics for the provision of non-emergency mobile clinics around the world; and have the means to quickly deploy them to support civilian populations after natural disasters. However, while military forces are good for initial emergency and trauma treatment, they are not generally trained or equipped to provide the same range of treatments, health education, surgical procedures and longer-term healthcare that is currently offered by some charities’ hospital ships.
BB
But we dont want to drive Mercy Ships out of business….
Take a Bay or equivilant.
On it, place, two RM security teams and a containerised clinic suitable for “quick win” medical care, which can include surgery (see clinic for embarrasing diseases on C5)
Start in, say, Morroco.
Pull up on the coast, transfer the containerised clinic onto the shore under the protection of one of the RM security details and any local police/army/militia who turn up. Good chance to network with them, maybe run a few low level training ops, plenty of pics for said locals to take away.
If host nation wishes, run “Stop and Search” drills and the like with their armed forces from the Bay.
Clinic accepts “quick win” patients for about a week, then we pack up, and move 20-40 miles down the coast to repeat the exercise.
You’d need 22 ships to visit everywhere on the african coast once a year.
Can probably improve that by staying less, skipping places with too few or too many people, no point staying for a week in a village with 20 residents, or opening a small clinic in Lagos (which is almost as populace as London).
And if we need them, well, we have a load of ships who can pulled from delivering good will to delivering scary killy people.
I’d personally like to see a handful of TD’s SIMSS concepts fill the roll, Dom. Bought and paid for out of the DfID budget, RFA operated. Tour the coasts of Africa (and other impoverished coastal areas… Blackpool?) taking a clinic, distributing mosquito nets, medicines, dressings, condoms, whatever.
I think a large scale hospital ship would be better provided from an entirely civil set up though.
@ Brian Black
“A navy ship, albeit a medical one, may also not have access in countries with poor or openly hostile relations with the UK government”.
Should we really provide aid to any country who will not allow our warship docking rights in a humanitarian disaster?
I would love to see a fully loaded RN hospital ship. I would park it in the Falkland Islands the wait until Brazil, Uruguay or Argentina had a disaster then run straight up there to offer assistance and see if their Falkland Islands blockade on RN ship’s held.
I think you’re right, martin. Park off the South American coast and see how firm their principles are.
On the access issue, you may find yourself with a closed society that will not allow a RN ship into it’s waters under any circumstances. However, I had in mind non-emergency access. There are a number of countries in Africa where the regime gets it’s income direct from the exploitation of oil and mineral wealth, etc, rather than through taxation of the population; and where no public services are provided to the people. It’s of no consequence to those governments if an eye clinic, for example, doesn’t reach the people.
BB
Yeah but what are they going to do if a clinic turns up and starts treating people?
With 100+ Royal Marines stood around it?
And a Landing Ship with a few 20mm guns close into shore?
Its one thing to refuse permission, its another to chastise after the event.
Wouldnt work everywhere of course, but a lot of places would realise they have little to no capability to throw us out, and certainly no capacity to survive our reaction (my over reaction) to a slaughtered medical team.
I don’t think that kind of scenario would ever get that out of control, Dom. No one in the Navy or Marines is going to escalate a situation to an act of war for the sake of forcing a minor humanitarian mission to treat villagers’ glaucoma.
As a commander, you wouldn’t pin yourself between the two options of either getting your team arrested and held by some uppity tin-pot regime -like that in Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea or some similar sh’t hole- or hosing down the local police with 20mm cannon fire.
I admire your blood-thirsty resolve to push British policy, Dom, but I’m glad you never entered the diplomatic service.
These might be of interest:
http://conflicthealth.com/plans-hospital-ship-and-public-diplomacy/
http://blog.usni.org/2009/06/18/china%E2%80%99s-hospital-ship-in-a-box/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/med-tech/shipping-container-clinics-could-be-the-future-of-mobile-hospitals