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| Britain | |
| British Defence spending is lowest since the 1930s | |
| 2007-01-22 | |
| Britain spends less of its wealth on defence than Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey despite the constant demands placed on its Armed Forces, official figures show. According to the Conservatives, defence spending as a proportion of the UK's gross domestic product is at its lowest since 1930, before the UK recognised the rising threat of Nazi Germany. Cost-cutting imposed by the Ministry of Defence is now threatening the Navy's warship-building programme and leading to unprecedented levels of disaffection among senior serving and recently retired officers. Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, will be challenged in the Commons today over reports of further cutbacks in the programme for new Type 45 destroyers and growing doubts on whether the Government will fulfil its promise to build two new aircraft carriers. Julian Lewis, a Conservative defence spokesman, said last night that the Royal Navy was "bloodied, battered and on the ropes", with a "palpable feeling of betrayal" at the top as a result of a catalogue of cuts Ministers have ordered defence chiefs to stop the leaks about equipment shortages and cutbacks to front line capability which are hitting morale. The leaks have also infuriated the Chancellor Gordon Brown, who is being blamed for the squeeze as he prepares to take over as Prime Minister.
Government figures show that 2.5 per cent of the UK's GDP — or around £32 billion — was likely to be spent on defence in 2005/6 compared with 4.4 per cent in 1987/88. The MoD has been forced to borrow from private companies through the Private Finance Initiative to ensure that the Armed Forces are prepared for the 21st century. Despite the apparent lower level of spending, the Government has presided over a big increase in operational commitments since coming to power in 1997: Operation Desert Fox aimed at destroying Saddam Hussein's capability to produce weapons of mass destruction (1998), Kosovo (1999 ongoing), Sierra Leone (2000 ongoing), Afghanistan (2001 ongoing) and Operation Telic in Iraq (2003 ongoing). Figures obtained by the Conservatives show that troop numbers have fallen from 101,360 full-time personnel in 1997 to 99,460 in 2007 while the Royal Air Force has seen offensive squadrons fall from 16 to 11, and the Navy has lost eight destroyers and six frigates. Soldiers' leave and training has also been squeezed. Last November the government spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, said the Armed Forces were 5,170 below a total strength of 180,690 and since 2001 have operated at or above predicted deployment levels. The MoD agreed operating at this level meant "additional strains" on staff, but denied forces were overstretched. The NAO report found that, for the past five years, they had "consistently operated at or above the most demanding combination of operations envisaged" by defence planners. More at the link. | |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #15 #9 That's why it worked for so long, JFM. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-01-22 23:49 |
| #14 I like what GEORGE WILL + KRAUTHAMMER, etal. said or inferred about the AIRBUS vs BOEING controversy - AIRBUS hurt itself by arguing for, and winning, a bad contract which it knew wasn't in its best interests; and then made matters worse for itself by building a costs-heavy, oversized, mostly poorly-made/supplied passenger plane whose commercial strstegy was outdated before it even made its first flight. THE ONLY COMPANIES THAT MADE OUT WERE THOSE ENGAGED IN CONCRETE/CEMENT RECONSTRUX OF A380-damaged RUNWAYS-TAXIWAYS-APRONS. You know its not good when even dedic anti-Dubya/USA USLefty critics criticize Airbus on TV. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-01-22 21:48 |
| #13 The Battle Hymn of the Republic? That one who speaks of men dying for settibg other free and who was a marching song of the Union during the Civil war? Are you sure? Yes, boys choir sang it with candles and everything. Damn moving and a little scary. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-01-22 18:15 |
| #12 "In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me: As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on." Julia Ward Howe JFM I am not sure about the being sung at Churchill's funeral but that last verse is a doozy. Sure to make a liberal squirm and an aclu lawyer wet himself. I have never heard about HRH singing but I sure find it touching. Even the Southerners sang that tune during the war and as a result became one of the most famous songs and poems to come out of the war between the states next to Dixie, of course. |
| Posted by: SCpatriot 2007-01-22 17:57 |
| #11 Pity is, there is no one like Winston Churchill in either major party today. Hell, you would be lucky to find a politician even worth half of Winston in all of Western Europe. What is weird is that the Royal Family may be the only hope for the UK : Prince Harry becomes King, invokes his right to dissolve Parliament and call new elections, and forces the British choose a decent government. Unfortunately, there is a greater chance of Harry Potter becoming a Labour PM than that happening. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2007-01-22 17:16 |
| #10 The Queen stood and sang the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic? The Battle Hymn of the Republic? That one who speaks of men dying for settibg other free and who was a marching song of the Union during the Civil war? Are you sure? |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-01-22 16:41 |
| #9 Excalibur Britain does not have a democracy. What it has is a system designed to give as little power to the people as possible and give it to the parties instead. Conider this: it is the party who sekects the candidates without you having anything to say about it. You donb't have the equivalent of primary elections like in America. In addition you don't even have a second round like in France who at least gives some possibilities to the people for picking the guy who will bear the colors of the left and the right in second round. Then the Prlaiment meets (or more xactly the leading party and picvks the Prime Minister without asking you anything. In fact it can demote it, without asking you anything and without going to elections. Oh, and the whips are there to ensure that your reprtesentative votes go along party line ainstead of about defending the interests of his constintuency. That is why you don't have to feel guilty about your representatives. You have any. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-01-22 16:35 |
| #8 Definitely not their finest hour. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2007-01-22 16:03 |
| #7 What is all this bloody caterwauling about funding and troop levels? Don't you know that we have achieved Peace In Our Time? |
| Posted by: Neville Chamberlain 2007-01-22 15:16 |
| #6 Britain seems to be further down the road to the New World Order envisioned by its leftists (and those of the USA). The country has taken leave of its senses, but may yet recover. Prince Harry, son of the beloved princess Diana, will be on the line in Iraq in May. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-01-22 15:05 |
| #5 It seems time for all those retired military people to stand for Parliament on a platform of supporting the troops. I'm silling to bet that they'd garner enough votes to get the attention of the two pacifist parties -- Liberal and Tory, I mean -- even if it was the Conservative Shadow Defence Minister who brought this up to discomfit the government. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-01-22 14:52 |
| #4 Appeasement bordering on abject surrender was a major theme of British politics in the 1930's. A lone voice in the wilderness called for an extraordinary military build up, but his voice was rejected until it was almost too late. His voice was persistant. Thank you Mr. Churchill. Today England appears to be very much in tune with the appeasers from the 1930's. Actually, it's worse. There are more islamists entrenched in GB today than there were entrenched Nazi sympathizers at any period of the 1930's. Why should anyone be surprised to learn that England is abdicating it's duty to defend from without that which it will not defend from within. I recall from Mark Steyn's book (Face of the Tiger) the story of Queen Elizabeth several days after 9/11. Her Majesty was the first British monarch in the history of her once magnificent Empire to STAND and SING the anthem of a foreign country (albeit one her relatives played a hand in establishing). Steyn records that tears welled in her eyes when she sang the WORDS of the song written by an unheralded lawyer in the bay outside the City of Baltimore during the last time the eastern seaboard of the US came under sustained attack (compliments of the Royal Navy). Steyn engaged in conjecture. He wrote that her tears at St. Paul's Cathedral were most sincere in no small part because the Grand Old Lady got it. Her majesty understood something many (most)of her subjects did not: That the true guarantor of the continued freedom of her entire Empire rest squarely on the shoulders of the unruly cousins for whom she was in mourning. It's further recorded (by Steyn) that the great organ of St. Paul's Cathedral bellowed the strains of the American cousin's CALL to WAR. The Queen stood and sang the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic, the words of which were last heard in that Great Cathedral during the internment ceremony for a giant and the Greatest British Prime Minister of the 20th century. Dear Great Britain: You have cousins here who will stand with you but you must first be prepared to stand on your own. It may not be too late. |
| Posted by: Mark Z 2007-01-22 14:48 |
| #3 UK has had to find funds to house all these muslim immigrants who dont want to work!!!! Thanks Tony!!! |
| Posted by: Ebbolump Glomotle9608 2007-01-22 12:34 |
| #2 The entire Cabinet should be arrested for this. If things get as bad as they are likely to get, we may see a return to rule by Her/His Majesty's Privy Cabinet. Clearly, the people - and I include myself - have shown ourselves to be incompetent to elect a Parliament capable of defending the Realm. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-01-22 12:11 |
| #1 And we all remember what happened to Briton when the world was going nuts and they cut their funding this low. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-01-22 11:32 |