Originally Posted by THE_EDITOR

Integrity ? His direction to Project BORONA ?

QUE?

Well Queensman certainly makes a damn good point!

General Sir Richard has obviously cast his civilian future into the abyss by virtue of this moderately under par performance. I'm surprised any of you remember his name or indeed what he actually said at that time of the morning. Personally I thought he had played a moderately straight bat on the "partisan while in office issue" with no cover drives or reverse sweeps but the scoreboard ticked along - just as he did at the weekend and in the paper last week. Apparently I have completely misheard what was said and then foolishly left it several hours to post a misrepresentation of that...

In the finest ARRSE tradition, Gen Dannett has been hoisted onto a pedestal, and now the hoistees are doing their best to topple him into the mire below.

I personally thought he answered every question honestly (although I did have a bit of jamming from the rugrats so may have missed the finer nuances). He even gave grudging credit to Brown for "Finally getting it", to paraphrase.

I have more time for Gen Dannett than any politician I can think of.

Queensman: "Chasing the dollar". Eh? Please expand.

the times intrepretation

I listened to the interview and I thought that maybe, just maybe, he is conserving his ammunition for a big bang off when his position is much more tenable and his backup is definite (Cue Dave and his cohorts).

It appears as if I'm not entirely alone.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8407190.stm

Whilst I think Lord Paddy Pantsdown is the last person to be pontificating on this subject, or indeed any other, I think he has a point.

General Dannett is clearly a 'good' man and well intentioned but he compromised himself in the summer when news of his new 'job' was leaked out. It's too late now, but he should have put some clear blue water between being CGS and jumping in the sack with Cameron and his merry men. Sadly his spending so long in the sheltered military world and latterly in an environment where everyone around him leapt to attention and said 'Yes Sir, Good idea, Sir' to everything he said and did cannot have and did not prepare him for the 'real world'.

Originally Posted by Queensman

It appears as if I'm not entirely alone.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8407190.stm

Whilst I think Lord Paddy Pantsdown is the last person to be pontificating on this subject, or indeed any other, I think he has a point.

General Dannett is clearly a 'good' man and well intentioned but he compromised himself in the summer when news of his new 'job' was leaked out. It's too late now, but he should have put some clear blue water between being CGS and jumping in the sack with Cameron and his merry men. Sadly his spending so long in the sheltered military world and latterly in an environment where everyone around him leapt to attention and said 'Yes Sir, Good idea, Sir' to everything he said and did cannot have and did not prepare him for the 'real world'.

True I fear. I suspect GSRD's political career will be short and inglorious. He will either make an arrse of himself and get sidelined pretty rapidly, or get fed up with Cameron et al and walk off into the sunset to find something better to do. Either way, he will have got a peerage out of it, which perhaps makes up for not getting the CDS job.

Surely he has his job at the Tower to fall back on if it all goes pear shaped?

Originally Posted by Resurgam

Originally Posted by THE_EDITOR

Integrity ? His direction to Project BORONA ?

QUE?

Project Borona
The Minister for the Armed Forces (Mr. Bob Ainsworth): On 24 July 2006, Official Report, columns 71-72WS, my predecessor announced the establishment of a project team to examine in detail opportunities for further rationalisation of our basing arrangements in Germany, through the exploitation of UK defence estate opportunities, including the possible relocation to the UK of Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (HQ ARRC), 102 Logistic Brigade (102 Log Bde) and 1 Signal Brigade (1 Sig Bde) over the period 2008-2012. This followed on from the earlier announcement by the then Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Airdrie and Shotts (John Reid), of the move of 4 Mechanised Brigade (4 Mech Bde) to the UK from Germany and our intention to take the opportunity to make further adjustments to our forces in Germany, where it made sense to do so. My predecessor also announced a series of minor moves which, in addition to the move of 4 Mech Bde, will enable the closure of Osnabr�1/4ck Station (one of two stations that comprise Osnabr�1/4ck Garrison). He explained that the project team would examine the feasibility of further moves which would enable the closure of M�1/4nster Station—the other element of Osnabr�1/4ck Garrison—and thereby Osnabr�1/4ck Garrison as a whole. The relocation of HQ ARRC, 102 Log Bde and 1 Sig Bde would also enable us to close Rhine Garrison in the period 2010-2014, concentrating our Germany-based forces in Bergen-Hohne, Paderborn and G�1/4tersloh Garrisons.

Today, I am announcing that, having examined the findings of the project team’s initial review, I have decided that Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction
12 Sep 2007 : Column 123WS
Corps (HQ ARRC), 102 Logistic Brigade (102 Log Bde) and 1 Signal Brigade (1 Sig Bde) should move to the UK over the period 2009-2014. This initial decision will need to be confirmed following scrutiny of the detailed plans for the moves. The site currently occupied by the RAF at Innsworth in Gloucestershire has been selected as the most suitable for HQ ARRC and its supporting elements, and RAF Cosford in Shropshire is the project team’s recommended site for 1 Sig Bde and 102 Log Bde. We will continue to assess other sites for the two brigades until such a time as Cosford’s future defence use has been decided. Securing the final approval for this work will also mean that a series of other moves will take place within Germany, which would lead to the closure of Rhine Garrison and M�1/4nster Station, the latter completing the closure of Osnabr�1/4ck Garrison, by 2014.

The project team’s work will now focus on drawing up detailed plans for all the moves, including additional infrastructure requirements at the selected UK sites and a clear timetable. This work will start with the proposed move of HQ ARRC. The team will consult with all interested parties, including local county councils, health and education providers and trades unions. In Germany, we will continue to engage with the relevant authorities and employee representatives at national and local levels.

Our NATO allies have been notified of this decision, including the German Government as host nation.

Although we may make further modest adjustments to our force levels in Germany, our plan remains to base UK forces there in the form of HQ 1 (UK) Armoured Division and the majority of its formations and supporting units, some 15,000 service personnel, for many years to come. These moves and the work of
12 Sep 2007 : Column 124WS
the project team in no way signal a change in either our commitment to the NATO Alliance or in our overall defence policy, nor do they in any way devalue the continued close bilateral defence relationship between the UK and Germany.