Save our army! Four top generals band together to demand Boris Johnson calls a halt to troop cuts… as they warn that ploughing ahead will damage Britain’s standing in the world _ Hieuuk
Four generals have issued an unprecedented plea to Boris Johnson to withdraw plans to axe 10,000 soldiers from the Army.
The commanders, with decades of frontline service behind them, say the UK will no longer be taken seriously as a military power if the numbers are cut.
The Army is widely expected to be reduced to 72,000 regular troops over the next decade as the Ministry of Defence looks to cut its manpower budget so it can afford the latest battlefield technology.
Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force commanders are under pressure to make budget savings, hence the concerns over troop reductions
But, speaking exclusively to the Mail, Lord Dannatt, Lord Richards, Lieutenant-General Jonathon Riley and Major-General Tim Cross say a reduction would damage Britain’s relationship with the United States and our position in Nato.
Their dramatic intervention came as this newspaper learned of further reductions to the size of the Armed Forces set to be announced next month.
They include the early retirement of four Type 23 frigates and the accelerated withdrawal from service of 53 Typhoon fighter jets. It is also understood that commanders have agreed cuts to the RAF Regiment, a 1,900-strong specialist unit founded in 1942 which protects aircraft and airbases from attacks by ground forces.
According to the MoD, next month’s Integrated Review will ‘define the Government’s vision for the UK’s role in the world over the next decade’.
It will cover all aspects of international and national security policy, such as defence, diplomacy, development and national resilience.
![The commanders, with decades of frontline service behind them, say the UK will no longer be taken seriously as a military power if the numbers are cut [File photo]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/02/21/21/4826896-9284543-Hundreds_of_British_troops_will_be_sent_to_Iraq_in_the_biggest_i-a-2_1613943420506.jpg)
The commanders, with decades of frontline service behind them, say the UK will no longer be taken seriously as a military power if the numbers are cut [File photo]
It comes after the Prime Minister announced in November that he was increasing defence spending by £16.5 billion over the next four years, a windfall which represents the largest boost to the MoD’s budget since Margaret Thatcher’s premiership.
In spite of this, Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force commanders are under pressure to make budget savings, hence the concerns over troop reductions.
Lord Dannatt, who led the Army from 2006 to 2009, said: ‘As post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’ chairs the G7, is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and aspires to remain as the leading European partner in Nato, our principal ally the US worries in public about our diminished war fighting capability and our principal foe Russia cannot believe its luck.
‘The threshold below which our Army must not fall is our ability to field a single division into a new major conventional conflict. We could do this in the Gulf wars of 1991 and 2003 but we cannot today. If this remains the case the US will ignore the UK as a land partner in future. Is that what Prime Minister Johnson wants?’
Lord Dannatt’s successor as Chief of the General Staff, Lord Richards, said the planned cuts to the Army would result in the UK losing influence within Nato and with the US at the very time when it was seeking to achieve the opposite.
He added: ‘This is not the time to cut the size of our ground forces yet again. To retain clout militarily and politically, numbers matter. Mass matters.’
Regular troop numbers have fallen from 100,000 in 2012 to almost 80,000 in 2020. Further cuts would mean the UK was ‘effectively out of the game’, according to Major-General Cross, who commanded forces in Iraq until 2007.
Lord Dannatt, who led the Army from 2006 to 2009, said: ‘As post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’ chairs the G7, is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and aspires to remain as the leading European partner in Nato, our principal ally the US worries in public about our diminished war fighting capability and our principal foe Russia cannot believe its luck
Lieutenant-General Riley, the former deputy commander of international forces in Afghanistan, added: ‘An army of 72,000 is barely an army at all. And it is very well saying technology will fill the gap but there comes a time when ground must be taken and held. The prospect of these cuts poses the question: Is the Government actually serious about defence at all?’
Professor Malcolm Chalmers, from the RUSI defence think-tank, said: ‘All three services have some very hard choices to make on running costs, and that includes numbers of personnel. It looks likely that the size of the regular Army will be reduced by around 10,000, most likely a phased reduction over several years as new technology comes on stream.’
Last night the MoD said: ‘Last November the Prime Minister announced the biggest increase to defence spending since the Cold War. This will underpin the modernisation of the Armed Forces following the conclusions of the Integrated Review.
‘As the threat changes, our Armed Forces must change. They are being redesigned to confront future threats, not re-fight old wars.’
