MoD purge was about politics and incompetence

Defence chief Sir Jock Stirrup will step down in the Autumn (Photo: PA)

Dr Liam Fox denies he sacked Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup and MoD Permanent Secretary Sir Bill Jeffrey, but in No10 they have no doubt a purge of the MoD high command was needed pour encourager les autres. Team Dave learned one thing in Opposition, and discovered another on taking office. In Opposition they concluded that, if elected, they would not tolerate the kind of political briefing the top brass specialised in under Labour. While it suited the Tories to see their enemies done in by attacks from the men in uniform, they have no intention of suffering the same fate. The defenestration of Sir Jock is above all a message to the guys with the gold braid: stick to following orders – the civilians are in charge now. The removal of Sir Bill tells us something about what the new guys discovered when they took over. To Dr Fox’s horror, the MoD had done little or no credible preparation for the spending review ahead. His initial conversations with the MoD convinced him that its leadership was not serious about the challenges ahead, in particular the cuts to MoD admin costs that will be expected (more civilians than soldiers, etc). That helped convince them that the SDR and its implementation would have to be produced and implemented by a new generation of leadership. So, no, they weren’t sacked. It was worse than that. More like summary justice on the battlefield.