Yesterday, Liam Fox vowed to install a tougher procurement system in the Ministry of
Defence and appointed the bureaucracy-busting Bernard Grey as Chief of Defence Materiel. The
Defence Secretary said that it is important to start from first principles if reform is to take place. The ministry, he said, “exists to provide the Armed Forces with what they need”. But
is that right?
The MoD exists, first, to maintain civilian and democratic control of the armed forces; and, second, to support effective operations. Supporting the military is a corollary of the second task, but not the same thing. In desiring to reform the MoD and cut costs, there is a real risk the government loses some of the capabilities the department needs to deliver its core tasks.
The MoD’s first task is understood in theory but has been eroded in practice since the Brown/Dannatt spat a few years ago.
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