Armed Forces

My Lords, it is indeed good to see the indestructible noble Baroness, Lady Park of Monmouth, in her place. These debates are simply not the same without her. Like everybody else, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord King of Bridgwater, for having introduced this debate and for the very reasonable, balanced and thoughtful contribution he made in opening it, which has set the tone for all our deliberations today. Of course he was right to emphasise the tribute which all of us should pay to the men and women of our armed services and to their families. I was especially glad that he remembered the wounded and maimed, who may never enjoy full health and 100 per cent physique again. I was particularly impressed by his telling references to mental illness, resulting from the experiences service people are expected to endure. It is too easy to sweep that under the carpet. We owe it to all these people that our armed services are properly resourced, both in the numbers of people available to undertake a task and also the equipment at their disposal. None of us can have been happy with the Nimrod story or the stories about getting right the patrol vehicles our infantry are expected to use. I am glad it has been stressed in the debate that what is most important of all is that is absolutely clear to servicemen and women and their families what the objective of the engagement and the undertaking is. It must clearly be legally and morally justified. It is quite wrong to expect servicemen to undertake a task on our behalf unless we are certain that it is justified in international law and that it has the cause of morality fully behind it. It is also important—again, we owe this to those involved—that we have thought through the implications and consequences of what we are doing. It is one thing to have the resources to fight the war, but the resources must be available to build the peace. Otherwise, we will have betrayed all those who have served and died in the cause. This brings us to the central issue of facing up to the real threat. It has been put that we must decide what we want to do and then make available what is necessary to do it. Of course I relate to that argument, but I remember thinking many years ago, when I had the privilege of being a service Minister, that it was important all the time to be clear about what the real existing and future threat is, and not be operating on what was appropriate for a threat which may no longer be relevant in the form it took in previous years. When one is analysing that, one has to recognise that, characteristic of what we face, is the unorthodox nature of warfare now—although it has become so usual that it is probably not right to refer to it as unorthodox because, in a paradoxical sort of way, it has become the orthodox. In this our Special Forces are clearly particularly well designed to meet the needs that confront us. It is good to see that the Government are concentrating on the future of our Special Forces in the way our services are organised. It is also important to recognise, in this context, the contribution made by organisations such as the Royal Air Force Regiment or the distinguished Royal Marines. When I was the Minister responsible for the Navy—a privilege I have always greatly savoured and regarded myself as extremely fortunate to have had—I was never anything but inspired by the commitment and esprit de corps of the Royal Marines, who have been making a very important contribution. Then there are the reserves, and it is again good to see the way the Government are thinking through now how we need to integrate the reserves more completely in the total task in a way that is appropriate to the present situation. The noble and gallant Lord, Lord Bramall, made some observations about the Royal Navy. I am not sure that I am totally with him in his doubts about carriers. It seems to me that, facing the kind of threat I described, carriers can be invaluable in enabling us to have flexibility and the ability to deploy our forces across the world. Where I think he is right is in questioning the whole context of the deterrent, a point also raised by the right reverend Prelate. I am not convinced that, with the pressures and demands being made on our fighting forces at present, we can see the renewal of Trident as an inescapable priority. That argument has not yet been proved. Finally, in the nature of the task with which we are confronted, two things are true: the services are becoming more and more integrated, and increasingly we are required to operate in an international context. I would find it invaluable if, when my noble friend replies, she could tell us about how we are preparing our officers and men and women to serve in an international context and in an integrated context together with the other services. The quintessence of a high-flying officer today should be the ability to serve internationally but also to serve in the centre. I am sometimes a little fearful that we have not yet moved away from the tradition in which the person who has served in the centre comes back to their service as a bit suspect, with a doubt about how far they are really still part of the service, the Army, Navy or Air Force, to which their loyalty should be primary. Loyalty should be seen to the effectiveness of the integrated task. The challenges are huge. All I can say is that we all owe a debt of gratitude to my noble friend and her colleagues for the tremendous responsibilities that they accept on our behalf.