SRENNAPS stated:
"So why do our lords and masters (and I am talking about Sqn Ldr and above) suck up to them when they are in power!!!"
I think, Sg SRENNAPS, you have answered your question. It's about
power.
Whether we like it or not, we are behoven to be nice to our 'democratically elected and accountable' politicians because the Department of State (MOD) and the forces assembled under it are under 'transparent democrtic control'. There is no option but to be nice to politicians - ultimately they authorise our budget. In recent years I have attended a number of events around the Whitehall village for the MOD and the RAF in particular. Some MPs have been engaging, interested, genuinely concerned about us; others clearly couldn't give a sh!t and were more interested in the whereabouts of the v
ol-au-vents and the free fizzy.
Meeting politicians (of any persuasion, except Sinn Fein, perhaps!) is an opportunity to sell our wares, get our corporate message across, develop engagment opportunities and generally raise the role of the Service(s) in the eyes of people who are primarily interested in remaining re-elected, and in the majority of cases, have few dealings with us.. Clearly, if we were rude and hostile to them, the Services would suffer. There are, however, two points:
- When we engage with politicians, this is an opportunity to raise concerns we have outside the filtered stovepipes of the SofS's office.
- Just because 'senior officers' (not exclusively by the way) appear to 'suck up' to politicians, that doesn't mean they like them!
WP