Ministerial Bluff,
The thing with this is that the Minister has a point...
{Ducks quickly to avoid blast}
Until those in the Service are prepared to directly criticise the CSR outcome then we must assume that all are happy with it.
With no anouncements of cuts, redundancies or reducing front-line capability this will quickly blow over. Does anyone really understand why Defence Inflation always sits between 5-7%, because I certainly don't know.
Old Soldiers, Sailors and Airman have always done this (apart from the direct attack on one person) so the Public will pass it off as just standard service wingeing.
I think you find that Northern Rock and the HMRC issue (especially when the 7m letters arrive this morning) are far more important to the people.
Si