Letters: Rishi’s ‘road tour’ is not a good idea

Navy to the fore

Sir: In Eliot Wilson’s stimulating article highlighting the lack of capability within our armed forces (‘Losing battle’, 17 February), he comments on the reduced size of the army and the fact that it would be pressed to contribute a brigade to any conflict in the near future. This reminded me of the strategic debate before the first world war and Professor Julian Corbett’s well-argued view that, as an island nation dependent ultimately on the sea lanes, the British role in a European conflict should be to keep maritime supply lines open for the Allies.

British resources should therefore focus on the navy. The land battle should be left to the armies of our more numerous continental allies. In the modern context this surely makes even more sense with the role of the army to be concentrated on an ability to operate flexibly on the fringes of any conflict.