Scandal in UK Defense Ministry

     
     

The British military police are going to investigate how the content of a letter by Defense Secretary Liam Fox to Prime Minister David Cameron could have leaked to the media.

The inquiry into the case was launched right after Liam Fox himself confirmed the information leak. Referring to the incident as an “internal investigation”, the British Defense Ministry decided to get the country’s military police involved. At present, specialists are ransacking the ministry’s building.

It should be noted that the reduction of the British Defense Ministry’s 37-billion-pound annual defense budget by 10-20 percent has been stipulated in the government’s new austerity strategy.

Referring to these cuts as “draconian” in his letter to Mr. Cameron, Liam Fox said they are “likely to have grave political consequences, destroying much of the reputation and capital we have built up in recent years”, especially amid the ongoing military operations in Afghanistan. The Defense Secretary also said that military spending cuts will apparently force Britain’s naval forces to withdraw from areas such as the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean. Fox expressed his deep concern that Britain would probably no longer be able to maintain its naval presence in the Falkland Islands. As the Defense Secretary said himself, he was “appalled” by the leak of this confidential information, especially given the ministry’s almost complete secrecy.

Liam Fox’s letter was printed in the Daily Telegraph a couple of hours before the beginning of a session of the National Security Council, called to focus on budget amendments. According to leaked information, there wasn’t any particular decision made during the meeting. At the same time, David Cameron was reported to have said that the final decision on the issue should be made in terms of strategic, not financial considerations. This statement may have caused the Defense Secretary’s notorious letter.

Meanwhile, some government officials dubbed Mr. Fox’s letter a political game, in view of his earlier statements that the Defense Ministry must resign itself to the cuts. One also cannot rule out that the letter followed the Defense Minister’s recent visit to the United States, where he assured his counterpart Robert Gates that Britain is honoring its commitments before NATO in the security sphere. Liam Fox also said that the U.S. should not be that concerned over defense cuts in the UK, since London intends to maintain its program of producing multi-functional strike-fighters to be used on the two planned British aircraft carriers. Mr. Fox thus made it clear that these vessels will be built in the long run, notwithstanding any upcoming military budget cuts. So, this problem is not worth any trouble in Washington.

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Great Britain, Society