6 Comments
Jun 6, 2022Liked by Dr Robert Lyman MBE

Well said. I lack your professional experience and qualifications to say a great deal. However if the Russian invasion of Ukraine does not force a rapid, root and branch review of defence priorities it will be a serious dereliction of duty. Unfortunately I have no faith in this current government to act with any integrity or alacrity.

Expand full comment
Jun 5, 2022Liked by Dr Robert Lyman MBE

We are told another review in around two years…

Expand full comment

Your article was very interesting Robert, and I immediately thought of the expression “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” On reflection of the past 12 years, it does seemed to have followed Churchill’s 10 year rule which he made the rule permanent in 1928, with the result that each year the ten-year clock would be reset back to year one; the armed forces would never get any closer to the ten-year target, so therefore there was no need to spend money on modernising them. This continued for another 5 years, until the reality of German rearmament hit home, despite Simon and Eden going to Germany to agree an airforces limitation agreement. As you referred the Strategy was the Royal Navy would maintain the Empire, the Royal Airforce under Trenchard to protect the U.K., on the principle of Bomber Command to attack strategic targets, Trenchard’s famous argument was the Army policy was to defeat the enemy Army, ours to defeat the enemy nation.

What is clear, the three services fort each other over the available funding, and when it became available from 1934, arguably the Army was the poor relation. The rest they say is history. However looking over the last 12 years the Services have gone through a similar austerity exercise has they did under Churchill, with again the focus returning to the Royal Navy and Royal Airforce whilst the Army again has been the poor relation.

As we know “We are cutting back on our tanks,” Tobias Ellwood told the PM at the Liaison Committee on 17 November 2021. Johnson dismissed his concerns and responded: “We have to recognise that the old concepts of fighting big tank battles on European land mass are over, and there are other, better things we should be investing in, in FCAS, in the future combat air system, in cyber, this is how warfare in the future is going to be.” That didn’t last long, with a distinct feeling of Déjà vu from the 24th February 2022.

Perhaps the Chancellor needs to find his inner Chamberlain, who has Chancellor, commenced the rearmament of the U.K. from 1934, by moving the budget to a genuine 3% without any fancy accounting.

Expand full comment

Re-read this with a cuppa this morning. This is brilliantly written and the arguments well thought out and informed (obviously). Have you thought of putting it to RUSI or the Wavell Room at all?

Expand full comment