Senior Officers Threaten to Resign

[Roland Pulfrew]

Has anyone else heard anything more about this?

In tonight's "London Lite" (I know not a heavyweight) there is an article that the 3 service chiefs have gone into battle with No 10 over next years £1.1B savings that are due to come out of the EP. The paper says that 2 senior officers 'believed to be generals' have threatened to resign. :ooh:

I can't find any other news on it any where else.

[Wrathmonk]

That'll be the 2 generals who have been told they're not going to make it to CGS or CDS then!

Pension safe - tick. Board appointment at BAe / Westlands / Vickers or any other military supplier in the bag - tick. Knighthood - tick. Sorry, but if they really want to make an 'impact' the headline should have read "Senior Officers Resign" not "Senior Officers Threaten to Resign" - now that would catch some peoples attention. A bit like when some individuals threaten to PVR unless they get the posting they want. All talk and no action!

Of course I may be wrong .... maybe our own CINCAIR has decided to get off the train ....

[wg13_dummy]

No, if they wanted to make a headline, it should read 'Senior Officers storm No10 and execute the entire cabinet with a big bag of automatic weapons'.

[Not_a_boffin]

Surely not a headline, more a national sustained round of applause, followed by a trip to Buck House for tea and medals........

[In Tor Wot]

The story:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=539588&in_page_id=1770

Believed when seen. :cool:

Interesting, though not surprising, to note that the carriers have become the sacred cow - wouldn't have anything to do with them being built in Scotland would it? :ugh:

[dallas]

Pension safe - tick. Board appointment at BAe / Westlands / Vickers or any other military supplier in the bag - tick. Knighthood - tick. Sorry, but if they really want to make an 'impact' the headline should have read "Senior Officers Resign" not "Senior Officers Threaten to Resign" - now that would catch some peoples attention. A bit like when some individuals threaten to PVR unless they get the posting they want. All talk and no action!
Brave words when it's not your job on the line Wrathmonk. If this rumour is true and if these individuals can force change and keep their jobs, why not? Just jumping is pretty pointless and while it might grab a couple of headlines it's the end of the debate.

The disparity between battles and wars springs to mind and getting killed (albeit bravely) in round one doesn't ultimately help the team, does it?

[LFFC]

The Mail (http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=539588&in_page_id=1770)- 19 Mar 08


Two important meetings at the end of February and in the first week of this month brought no agreement - so the chiefs explained to Defence Secretary Des Browne that they were being asked to do the impossible.

A senior defence industrialist said: "The programmes were being looked at on purely financial grounds with little regard to their relevance to current operations and future strategy."

Frustrated at the lack of progress, the chiefs invoked their constitutional right for a personal interview with the Prime Minister, for which they usually put on uniform, to underline the gravity of the occasion.

It was after this meeting last week that Mr Brown said he was prepared to consider a defence capability review which would report by June.


If the bit in bold is true, then this certainly underlines the level of the crisis; this sort of thing only happens once in a blue moon!

[Al R]

Frustrated at the lack of progress, the chiefs invoked their constitutional right for a personal interview with the Prime Minister, for which they usually put on uniform, to underline the gravity of the occasion.

I wonder if c/s Jobshare Jock was invited along - that gives the impression he was sidelined. Strange that. Normally, he seems so on the ball.

[sycamore]

Does Swiss Des get paid for both jobs,with incentive bonuses ?.Be nice to see a few Officers in uniform in London,with sharpened swords.!!

[Pontius Navigator]

And from the same fount of all knowledge

Plans to send a new fighter-bomber variant of Typhoon into action in Afghanistan this summer have been shelved because this type of plane is not even in production yet.

So which aircraft dropped paveways in Cardigan Bay? Which aircraft dropped a stick of 1000lbs in the Wash?

PS

Bit slow there Jacko.

[Jackonicko]

Daily Mail F*ckwittery at its best:

"the £23 billion procurement of the Typhoon-Eurofighter for the RAF, which is 15 years late and still suffering problems. Plans to send a new fighter-bomber variant of Typhoon into action in Afghanistan this summer have been shelved because this type of plane is not even in production yet."

[Dan Gerous]

Interesting, though not surprising, to note that the carriers have become the sacred cow - wouldn't have anything to do with them being built in Scotland would it?

I believe bits of the carriers are being built at various sites and then assembled at one location, so it is not all going to Scotland. If it makes you feel any better, the Eurofighter/Typhoon isn't assembled in Scotland. :zzz:

[buoy15]

Enter the Spin Doctors
I suspect Sourpuss Prudence is miffed and is devising to twist it around to read, a "(General) Capability Study" - so look out MOD!
A pat on the back is usually a recce for a knife - no problem if you've managed to borrow some body armour, which should be widely available?, even from a mate out there in the sand:uhoh:
'Love Many, Trust a Few, Always paddle your own canoe'

[LFFC]

Dan G,

True, but Brown showed his true colours back in 2004:

Brown blocks Halliburton's carrier plan (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20041216/ai_n12825387)

GORDON BROWN has intervened to prevent the American company Halliburton from switching final assembly of the Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers away from the Rosyth yard in Scotland - a move which would have threatened 1,000 jobs in the Chancellor's constituency.

[High_lander]

carriers have become the sacred cow


Well, if you read the lastest Jane's. Quite early on- pg 10 or so the article saying how "UK Troops 'never so better' supplied..." is saying that the UORs may cause programmes like Dave and CVF to be knocked back due to costs.

[olderbloke]

...maybe our own CINCAIR has decided to get off the train
CINCAIR stick his head above the parapet? Do be brief!:rolleyes:

Actually that is unfair. There may be a few people out there who do not know he is a Harrier pilot and it is only right that we should all know...

[Beatriz Fontana]

LFFC,

And it's stories like that which the UK population needs to be reminded of...

I'm afraid retired CDSs and CGSs whinging to the media don't cut it with me. Happier to note that those seniors still serving have something to say. I'd be even happier if they had the courage to name themselves.

[Wrathmonk]

Dallas

Fair Point.

However ....

The disparity between battles and wars springs to mind and getting killed (albeit bravely) in round one doesn't ultimately help the team, does it?

By that of course you're assuming that they are fighting the battles. Granted, they're are talking good battles but that is as far as it goes. All I'm seeing is that what is good for defence actually means "as long as it doen't affect my stovepipe [Service] on my watch". And all 3 chiefs, IMHO, are as guilty as each other.:(

[Dan Gerous]

LFFC, Rosyth received a royal shafting from the conservative government many years ago, when its contract to carry out work on subs was taken away and given to Portsmouth, a conservative constituancy, in order to garner votes. You may not be a fan of Labour, but please don't think this is a ploy that is exclusive to the Labour party. Politicians of any party will only look after their partys intrests first, whatever the best solution may be. I'm sure when the present shower are beaten in an election, that the same will be true of whatever government replaces them.

[Not_a_boffin]

Get your facts right Dan.

Portsmouth has never refitted a nuclear submarine. You'll be thinking of Plymouth, which historically is either Lab or Lib or both. Just for once Brown was right (you won't hear me say that more than once a decade) in this case, as the Halliburton plan was to try and re-open the Nigg offshore yard to assemble the ships. The slight flaws in the plan were :

1. It has been shut for over ten years
2. It was in the middle of nowhere (even in Scotland!)
3. It had no real facilities

Come to think of it, I'm surprised Liebour didn't think it was a cracking idea.....

[airborne_artist]

Portsmouth, a conservative constituancy

Portsmouth South MP is Mike Hancock, Liberal (since 1997), and Portsmouth North is Sarah McCarthy-Fry, Labour, since 2005, previously Syd Rapson, Labour from 1997. Both were Conservative before the 97 election.

[Early Stacker]

"The programmes were being looked at on purely financial grounds with little regard to their relevance to current operations and future strategy."

Typical Broon! Yet more proof that he knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing!:ugh: