UK: Military chief and opposition leader at odds

London:

Jeremy Corbyn was Sunday night engaged in a war of words with Britain’s top military officer as he called for the Chief of the Defence Staff to be investigated for calling into question his ability to lead the country.

Gen Sir Nicholas Houghton said he would “worry” if Corbyn became prime minister because of his stance on Trident, just hours before the Labour leader joined the Queen to lay a poppy wreath at the Cenotaph to celebrate Remembrance Sunday. In response, Corbyn accused Sir Nicholas of political bias and said that he would write a formal letter of complaint to Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, asking him to look at whether the tradition of military neutrality had been compromised.

Sir Nicholas suggested that the Labour leader’s admission that he would not fire nuclear weapons would compromise Britain’s security.

Maria Eagle, Labour’s shadow defence secretary, added to Corbyn’s problems by saying that she could “understand” the concerns raised by Sir Nicholas. Corbyn, an outspoken pacifist, was also criticised for failing to bow deeply enough when laying the wreath and for including a message that paid tribute to the victims of all wars, rather than just Britain’s war dead.

He wrote: “In memory of the fallen in all wars. Let us resolve to create a world of peace.” Earlier in the day Sir Nicholas was asked on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show about Corbyn’s admission in September that he would never fire nuclear weapons to protect Britain because he was “opposed to the use of nuclear weapons”.

Sir Nicholas said: “Well it would worry me if that thought was translated into power as it were. There are a couple of hurdles to cross before we get to that [Jeremy Corbyn winning an election], but the reason I say this, and it is not based on a personal thing at all, it is purely based on the credibility of deterrence.

“The whole thing about deterrence rests on the credibility of its use. When people say, ‘you are never going to use the deterrent’, what I say is you use the deterrent every second, of every minute, of every day.”

Eagle told the programme: “I understand the point that [Gen Houghton] is making and it’s a point that I made myself when Jeremy said what he said.

“I said that there are those who don’t believe deterrence works, I’m not one of them. I think Jeremy’ s point of view is about whether or not he believes in the effectiveness of deterrence.”

She added: “I am not a unilateral disarmer, I don’t believe that that works, I think I would find it difficult but we’re not there yet, we have a big process to go through and I think we should engage in that.” Corbyn complained that the comments by Sir Nicholas breached a constitutional principle that the military did not intervene directly in matters of political dispute.

He said: “It is a matter of serious concern that the Chief of the Defence Staff has today intervened directly in issues of political dispute. It is essential in a democracy that the military remains political neutral at all times.” Later, Corbyn said he wanted Sir Nicholas to realise that it was politicians who made political decisions.

He told The Daily Telegraph: “I would gently say to him with the greatest respect we live in a democracy where politicians are elected to Parliament in order to make political decisions.

“I don’t think it is helpful if they start to make political comments of a partisan political nature. If he is worried then he should talk to me about it.

“I don’t think it is appropriate for serving officers to make political points or engage in political debate.” However, it emerged last night that Corbyn had previously backed comments from Field Marshal Lord Bramall, one of Sir Nicholas’s predecessors, who said in 2009 that Trident should not be renewed. Lord Bramall signed a letter along with other military top brass saying: “Nuclear weapons have shown themselves to be completely useless as a deterrent to the threats and scale of the violence we currently face, or are likely to face — particularly international terrorism.” Corbyn was one of 39 MPs who signed a Commons motion “applauded the forthright views” of Lord Bramall, who was chief of the defence staff between 1982 and 1985. John Woodcock MP, chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party defence committee, said: “Supporters of CND can’t have it both ways.

“Unilateral disarmers have been eager to applaud the occasional member of the Armed Forces who has expressed doubt about Trident renewal so they should welcome these authoritative observations on deterrence by the Chief of the Defence Staff.” A Ministry of Defence source said it was “a convention” that senior military figures do not get into “political argument”.

— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2015