When Philip Hammond was sent to the Ministry of Defence, his skills as a bean counter were much lauded. Colleagues hoped that he wouldn’t, like other Defence Secretaries, go native. He quite obviously has done that, and quicker than many thought, holding out as the strongest shop steward of the National Union of Ministers in the 2015/16 Spending Review negotiations.
His case may well be boosted by General Sir Peter Wall’s intervention on Jeff Randall’s programme last night – the head of the Army warned that further cuts could damage the force’s ‘professional competence’ – but Hammond’s own interview on the same programme is worth watching as well. When asked by the presenter whether he agreed that the army remained an inefficient, bloated organisation, Hammond said:
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