Sharpie,
Looking back over the Sec Defs since I joined in 1970 there have been a few good men and a whole heap of plonkers. Those that spring to mind: Carrington - carried the can for Falklands unpreparedness; "Sleepy" Fred Mulley - embarrassment; Pym - Sec Def for a while then sacked as FM; Nott - offered to resign over how the Falklands campaign was going - but told to stay where he was by MT; Hesletine - resigned over Westland Affair; "Buff" Hoon - enough said; Hutton - lasted 6 months then resigned politics altogether; Ainsworth - named as one of the highest spenders in Allowances Scandal; Fox - not bad but then let his best man and friend into defence meetings and had to resign; Hammond - over promoted and with high ideas of further promotion.
So, do we give the guy some room to show himself, and Spiderman is a cool nickname!