Keir Starmer has vowed to create a ‘squaddies tsar’ if he wins the election. This ‘Armed Forces Commissioner’ would represent the military and their families and sit outside the military chain of command. But it’s here that the problems start.
The Labour leader says this issue is personal to him because his uncle served aboard HMS Antelope in the Falklands War. But Starmer could do with turning to another military reference point – the 1998 film, Saving Private Ryan – to appreciate why such a ‘tsar’ could cause trouble.
‘I don’t gripe to you, Reiben,’ captain Miller explains as his soldiers traipse through the French bocage. ‘I’m a captain. There’s a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up.’
The exchange in Spielberg’s World War II epic illustrates the importance of the military command structure and why it only works when there is trust and good leadership.
Such an overseer creates a moral hazard for military leadership
This relationship would be left exceedingly vulnerable if Starmer’s plans for a ‘Squaddies Tsar’ come to pass.
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