“The absolute mother of horrors of a spending review.”
This is Defence Secretary Liam Fox’s view of the current Strategic Defence and Security Review, due in October.
It’s a sobering statement.
It should be remembered that our forces, in one form or another, have been on active service for virtually every year since the end of the Second World War. And who’s to say what lies ahead in the future.
China’s military might grows almost daily as she continues to seek out and protect the resources she needs to feed her expanding economy.
And of course there are the ever present threats from countries like North Korea and Iran.
Add to these climate change, a dramatic rise in the world’s population and the growing threat of terrorism and you have the potential for conflict.
Terrorism alone has seen thousands of our brave men and women fighting in Iraq and now Afghanistan.
So, if we are to protect our island, its people and our interests around the world, how on earth can we cut our armed services when we are already struggling to meet our commitments.
There is no doubt in my mind that our country needs a fully operational navy, army and airforce.
We are an island nation and trade is our lifeblood. To ignore history would be a crime.
Our interests extend around the world and we need to be militarily independent should the need arise to protect them. The Falkland Islands spring to mind immediately.
So we need a properly equipped Royal Navy.
We shall always need boots on the ground and the lack of them in Afghanistan is undermining the military aim.
In addition, operational tours come round far too often, putting immense pressures on units and of course families.
However, in the air, an expectation to man and run 150 Typhoon fighters is, I believe, unrealistic, unaffordable and unnecessary.
Our nuclear deterrent, though, should be sacrosanct.
Further savings can and must be made in procurement. For example, we must be more prepared to buy off the shelf.
So there is scope to make savings, but not to the detriment of our freedom, which is always defended at such cost in human lives.