That is the headline story from a wide-ranging interview with the Shadow Defence Secretary in today's Daily Telegraph: British forces will pull out of Germany for good, nearly 70 years after the Allied victory in World War Two, as part of a Tory defence "revolution" being drawn up by Dr Liam Fox. The Shadow Defence Secretary told The Daily Telegraph that ending Britain’s 25,000 strong...
Tributes paid to flood victim policeman I would like to pay my respects to Workington PC Bill Barker who lost his life whilst protecting the public. Our thoughts are with his family and colleagues. He died a Hero and will be sorely missed by all , RIP. Bells toll for a grim milestone I fear I will saying this for years to come buts thanks to the people of Wooton Bassatt, RIP our brave soldiers. Warthog...
British troops could be withdrawn from Germany for good if the Tories win the next General Election, the Daily Mail reports. Conservative defence spokesman Liam Fox said it was no longer necessary to maintain the presence of more than 20,000 military personnel. Ending the commitment would free forces to carry out vital NATO operations outside Europe, he added. Generations of squaddies and their families...
Liam Fox is preparing a Green Paper on “sovereign capability” to determine what defence equipment has to be made in Britain or whether it can be bought from other countries, reports the Telegraph . It's my view those of us arguing for an end to the ruinous, protectionist racket known as the Defence Industrial Strategy are winning the argument. "Off the shelf" looks more compelling...
ToryDiary: Liam Fox wants to pull British forces out of Germany as part of a Tory defence "revolution" Also on ToryDiary: William Hague accuses Brown over deal with France on EU jobs which will sell out the City of London...
Hearing David Cameron’s speech at the Conservative Party conference, I felt the urge to liberate the avant-garde, existentialist poem that lay behind the surface, a hidden subtext: I want to get straight To the point. We all know What I want to talk about. Don’t get me wrong, I’m ready for that But I tell you this. I know that. I know about Liam Fox. We [...]
One reason Afghan villagers prefer to deal with the Taliban rather than the government security forces is that the latter have a habit of seizing their sons at checkpoints and sodomizing them. Soldiers of the 205th Afghan National Army Corps. Photo taken in 2005. Just when President Barack Obama looked as if he might be railroaded into sending tens of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan the American...
By Stephen Newton On Tuesday, Margaret Thatcher honoured Dr Henry Kissinger with her eponymous Medal of Freedom somewhere in Knightsbridge , the exact location having been kept secret for security reasons. In return, Kissinger delivered the second Margaret Thatcher Lecture. Baroness Thatcher, the charity’s patron, endowed the Medal of Freedom, along with a lecture in her name, to the Atlantic...
Given the revelations that surfaced yesterday , TB was interested to see Chris Grayling was having a very quiet drink in the Slug and Lettuce on Victoria Street with Liam Fox's former Chief of Staff last night. Seems competition to get on "The List" is hotting up. Ben Brogan is chasing this one too, but get in touch with the bear with what you know. Who has made it so far?
Just when President Barack Obama looked as if he might be railroaded into sending tens of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan, the American envoy to Kabul has warned him not to do so.
• Johnson says jobs are 'difficult and sometimes dangerous' • Families of war dead criticise bonuses totalling £47m The government today defended the Ministry of Defence payment system after it emerged that its civil servants shared £47m bonuses in seven months, to the outrage of families of soldiers killed in action recently. The awards for exceptional performance were called...
Military Police Association - Isle of Man Sub Group (Free subscription) | 12/11/2009
The MoD said the bonuses were paid for “exceptional performance” but the disclosure came as the Government faced increasing pressure over the lack of equipment for troops serving in Afghanistan. There are 85,000 civil servants at the MoD — one for every two active soldiers, the highest level among the Allied nations — and about 50,000 will get a performance bonus this year....
The families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan condemned the Ministry of Defence last night for awarding its civil servants bonuses totalling £47m in the first seven months of this financial year. The awards for exceptional performance were called "obscene" by Hazel Hunt whose son, Richard, died fighting with the 2nd Battalion the Royal Welsh in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in August....
The party tipped to be the next British government is split on familiar lines: Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, and Michael Gove, the education spokesman, are staunch Atlanticists and supporters of military intervention — “neocons” to their critics, although...
You said on Friday that Gordon Brown was right to say that we cannot walk away from Afghanistan? But how can it possibly be right to stay? David Phillips, Canterbury We are in Afghanistan as part of a UN-approved international mission. We cannot afford further destabilisation of Pakistan and the region, or the re-emergence of terror groups using a failed state as their base. We need to understand that...
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