Minister expresses unexpectedly unambiguous support for Tranche 3 Typhoon
Some Government ministers make it their stock in trade to say what they think their audience want to hear, offering vague and extremely qualified assurances in response to questions.
Others simply don't directly awkward questions, answering the question they'd wanted to answer instead, usually by repeating a line from their pre-prepared media brief.
Others are more straightforward (though seldom much more useful).
On being asked how his government would now fulfil the remainder of FRC, and how it would address the 37% shortfall in battlefield helicopter lift identified by the NAO, Labour's Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Quentin Davies, today talked about the order for 12 re-engined Lynx 9s, the eight Chinook HC3s and six ex-Danish Merlins, and denied that this was insufficient. He refused to be drawn on a proper replacement for the Puma, and would not even give a vague hint or an unspecified piece of meaningless reassurance. There obviously isn't any Government policy for such a thing. Or not yet, perhaps?
But he wasn't just going to tell us what we wanted to hear.
But yesterday at Coningsby, after mentioning air defence, after roasting the 'pacifistic and unilateralist' tendencies of the Lib Dems and after and boasting of his government's commitment to giving the forces the kit it needs, he gave unexpectedly clear and unambiguous support when asked about Typhoon Tranche 3.
A journo stood up and said something like: "Nice to hear you speak up for Air Defence, sir, and to criticise the Lib Dems' Unilateralism and Pacifism. They want to cancel Typhoon Tranche 3, are you prepared to express your support for it?"
He was, he said. While the Treasury had questioned and investigated the Tranche 3 proposal, he said that he hoped that "a positive decision will come very quickly", insisting that there was a "definite need" for Typhoon Tranche 3 which "has been a consistent requirement for the UK's future national defence."
This was a more unequivocal statement than I've had from Willie Bach, Brian Burridge, Glenn Torpy or even Paul Drayson - all of whom I've asked to give a similarly clear commitment to Tranche 3 over the years.
And it was more than his words - Davies got fired up and clearly enthusiastic, and said what he said in front of a hangar full of invited guests, BAE personnel, Cottesmore folk, and about a dozen press peeps. He reiterated that support for Tranche 3 at Yeovil, today.
I can't over-stress how shockingly new this was, and what a departure it was from anything I've heard from Ministers before. Had there been any journos there from the Dailies (rather than JDW, Flight, Bloomberg and a rag tag of assorted freelances) I think it might have hit the headlines.
I can only conclude that the Government is now properly committed to Tranche 3, and that any Treasury pressure to go back on it will be firmly resisted.
This is pretty welcome stuff in my view. The Umbrella contract is for 620 Typhoons - 232 for the RAF (eg all three Tranches) and there would be stiff financial
penalties for the UK government if we tried to withdraw, as well as a massive loss of workshare, and at the moment, some 40,000 of the 100,000 Europe-wide jobs on Typhoon are UK jobs (3,400 with BAE).
But Typhoon's not about jobs. It's proving to be a great swing role aircraft, and is getting better and better all the time. Tranche 3 will form the bedrock of future planned capability for the RAF and is vital to the service's long term future.
In combination with what he said about the Lib Dems and Tories (he was a bit embarrassingly party political and "on the attack" at Cottesmore) it made me think that Labour must think that Defence is going to be an election winner this time, and that they can exploit Tory and Lib Dem weakness on the issue. He roasted the Tories for their failure to support the Carrier programme and JSF, and what he called 'the escort ships' (T45, presumably) and promised to hold them to account on this. He insisted that the Tories
would be "a disaster for defence", and said that the Conservative Party should publicly commit to the carrier programme and stop criticising without offering alternative solutions.
At Yeovil today he was also fulsome in his praise of the "very brave men" who put their lives on the line on our behalf, and was keen to express his, the Government's and the country's gratitude to our servicemen. He seemed sincere.