Hey-who is stabbing us in the back??
Dirty war opens on Marines' new chief
By Sean Rayment
(Filed: 26/05/2002)
The new commander of the Royal Marines' operation in Afghanistan has become the victim of a dirty tricks campaign, with opponents within the Ministry of Defence attempting to blacken his name even before he takes up his command.
Brig James Dutton is due to take charge of 3 Commando Brigade in the next few weeks from Roger Lane, the brigadier whose removal from the post after a series of military setbacks caused controversy last week.
Brig Dutton, a Falklands veteran with an impeccable military curriculum vitae, was chosen to succeed Brig Lane because, according to the MoD, he is equipped with "highly sensitive political antennae and will not stray from the MoD party line".
Last week, however, a senior MoD official contacted The Telegraph to accuse Brig Dutton of being a second-rate officer.
The official said Brig Dutton's professional capability was open to question because he had failed to pass the officer selection course to join the British Army and had joined the Royal Marines instead.
The official said: "Dutton tried to join the Army in 1972 but couldn't pass the Regular Commissions Board. Lane isn't a particularly nice person but he is a relatively competent officer; the reverse is true of Dutton.
"He joined the Royal Marines because he wasn't good enough to pass selection for the Army. He was accepted by the Royal Marines at a time when the quality of their officers was very poor. It was an open secret that their officers were poor but the soldiers were very good."
The revelation is further evidence that Geoff Hoon's defence ministry is a Government department at war with itself. A week ago Mr Hoon, the Defence Secretary, was forced to back Brig Lane publicly after The Telegraph revealed that senior defence officials believed that he should be sacked for overstating the success of the Afghan operation.
Mr Hoon said he had total confidence in Brig Lane just hours before it emerged that the brigadier had already been told that he was being removed early from his job as commander of the Marines in Afghanistan.
A MoD spokesman confirmed yesterday that Brig Dutton had failed to pass the Regular Commissions Board but added that he was a highly capable senior officer. "You don't get to be a brigadier by being a nitwit.
"He may have failed the Army board 30 years ago but his CV places it all in perspective. We would certainly prefer not to see Brig Dutton's profile raised just as a tool for courting further controversy."
The spokesman said that the brigadier would not be available to comment and added: "It's not in anybody's interest to speak to Brig Dutton at the moment because it would undermine Brig Lane even further."
Bernard Jenkin, the shadow defence secretary, said: "There has been a huge failure of ministerial leadership in the Ministry of Defence.
"Labour thinks Government departments are simply there for their own aggrandisement. Hoon is turning out to be the new Byers."