Liam Fox rows back on carrier sharing
Peter Hoskin 4:15pm
For a while then, it looked as though Britain and France really were going to share aircraft carriers as a mesure d'austérité. But, today, Liam Fox seems to have put
a block on the idea, describing it in Paris as "utterly unrealistic". He did, though, add
that we could pool some of our transport planes and helicopters with the French (which sounds like the military equivalent of hitching a lift, if we happen to be going in the same direction). And
Fox's spokesman has since said that there still might be "strategic co-operation across the maritime domain," whatever
that means. So some sort of link-up with the French should be expected.
Fiscally speaking, ruling out carrier sharing could leave the MoD struggling to find more savings as it scrabbles to fund a nuclear deterrent. But, politically speaking, it could make the coalition's life a little easier. As George Eaton says over at the New Statesman blog, Nigel Farage's entry into Ukip leadership race reminds us of how the coalition might be exposed on its right. Sharing our flagships with the French would have done little to limit that exposure.
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TrevorsDen
September 3rd, 2010 5:58pm Report this commentAre you totally devoid of any sense of self awareness?
There was NEVER any chance of carrier sharing, especially in the sense of say Britain relying on French carriers and ergo sum French planes to help us 'retake' the Falklands.
Put an unpalatable idea to the civil service and they will readily come up with a range of totally unacceptable options to therefore preserve their status and this is clearly one such leak.
Of course there might be strategic co-operation. Its called NATO.
I fail to see how NOT carrier sharing should be a problem. The plain fact is we do not need these carriers or the planes which are supposed to fly off them.
We need a different navy to that.
The Laughing Cavalier
September 3rd, 2010 6:40pm Report this commentTime to get rid of that dimwit Fox. Anyone who thought, for a moment, that we could share an Aircraft Carrier with France has to be Dagenham (two stops beyond barking).
Rhoda Klapp
September 3rd, 2010 6:58pm Report this commentApparently the sticking point was the Mers-el-Kebir problem, what to do with the ships when the French changed sides.
John David Barnett
September 3rd, 2010 7:15pm Report this commentIt's good to see this archetypically Silly Season story given the Last Rites.
stephen bennetts
September 3rd, 2010 7:58pm Report this commentI,ve obviously misunderstood the purpose of the strategic defence review, I thought the idea was to establish future threats to the country and its interests and then calculate the level of forces needed.What we appear to have is nothing more than a cost cutting exercise. So much for the governments overriding priority, the defence of our country.
Peter Smith 1
September 3rd, 2010 8:33pm Report this commentthe real reason this hasn't gone ahead is revealed here..
http://blog.procurement-excellence.com/exclusive-anglo-french-aircraft-carrier-cancelled-the-real-story/
Noa Zrk
September 3rd, 2010 8:59pm Report this commentFox has obviously taken due note of the salutory advice provided to him in this weeks CH posts.
In2minds
September 3rd, 2010 9:35pm Report this comment"Nigel Farage's entry into Ukip leadership race" -
Did he ever leave? Many people wonder if getting the UK out of the EU is as difficult as getting Farage out of UKIP!
Yow Min Lye
September 3rd, 2010 10:19pm Report this commentIf the Tories ditched their ludicrous 'protection' of Britain's overseas aid budget then the Royal Navy could quite easily afford a carrier or two.
Archie
September 5th, 2010 7:49am Report this commentIf this Brokeback coalition did the right thing and pulled out of the EU thus denying them of however many billions a year it happens to be, refused to dole out any more foreign aid to Swiss bank accounts and THEN undertook some real social security reform, I dare say that would buy several Tridents, aircraft carriers, schools and hospitals!
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