Sir Jock Stirrup Axed, U.K. Troops Next?

Defence Chief to be Axed – Michael Smith and Jonathan Oliver, The Times.

Britain’s most senior military officer is to be axed as the new government seeks to draw a line under past failures in Afghanistan. Liam Fox, the defence secretary, told The Sunday Times the chief of the defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, would resign in the autumn before the end of his term.

Sir Bill Jeffrey, the top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence (MoD), will go at the same time. The clean sweep at the top is intended to improve the military’s performance on the Afghan front line, as well as cutting Whitehall waste. In an interview Fox indicated that Stirrup and Jeffrey, both close to the old Labour regime, would be replaced at the conclusion of a strategic defence review (SDR).

Fox said he wanted “the best people to be in the appropriate posts” once the review was over. “We have to be able to maintain full stability and the full confidence of the people who work for us, not least because we’re in a very dangerous armed conflict,” he said.

Stirrup has been criticised for not doing enough to support frontline troops. The decision to replace them coincides with one of the worst weeks for Nato forces since the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001. Thirty-two Nato troops, including three Britons, have been killed since last Sunday. The latest Briton to die was a soldier in the 1st Battalion, the Mercian Regiment, who was killed in an explosion in Helmand province yesterday…

More at The Times.

Troops Could be Cut as Fox Sharpens his Axe – Michael Smith and Jonathan Oliver, The Times.

The number of Britain’s soldiers, sailors and airmen could be cut as part of the government’s new security review. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Liam Fox, the defence secretary, said nothing had been been ruled out — even cuts to the numbers of uniformed personnel.

“Every single bit of the operation must come under scrutiny. Every single thing must be justified,” Fox said. Until now the coalition government has insisted that savings would come principally from cuts in the bloated bureaucracy and over-budget equipment programmes of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Fox conceded last week that there might not be as much “fat in the system” as he had previously thought. While the overall defence budget would be protected, dramatic savings would still have to be made, he said.

More at The Times.