When Philip Hammond was sent to the Ministry of Defence, his skills as a bean counter were much lauded. Colleagues hoped that he wouldn’t, like other Defence Secretaries, go native. He quite obviously has done that, and quicker than many thought, holding out as the strongest shop steward of the National Union of Ministers in the 2015/16 Spending Review negotiations.
His case may well be boosted by General Sir Peter Wall’s intervention on Jeff Randall’s programme last night – the head of the Army warned that further cuts could damage the force’s ‘professional competence’ – but Hammond’s own interview on the same programme is worth watching as well. When asked by the presenter whether he agreed that the army remained an inefficient, bloated organisation, Hammond said:
‘Well I think if I’m honest, that might have been the mindset that I came to the job with, having looked at the military from the outside when I was Shadow Chief Secretary in Opposition.
‘But what I’ve learned, as I’ve understood more about the organisation, is that effectively there are two components to the military, there’s the fighting force, but there is also this superbly-oiled command and control machinery and it is that machinery that enables the military to take on no matter what task from war-fighting through to dealing with a civil emergency.’
Allies of Osborne will have had a sinking feeling as they listened to this. But others will argue that it’s a good thing that a minister has bothered to listen to those he oversees, rather than blundering on with misconceived ideas about the armed forces. Interestingly, a report by the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee argues today that shadow ministers should receive proper training in the 12 months leading up to an election. That might mean a future Defence Secretary would go native before even entering the MoD.
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