In today's defence-related news there's more on potential military action against ISIL in Syria and levels of political support.
Syria strikes
The Financial Times claims ministers believe that enough opposition MPs would support military action in Syria for the Government to secure narrow approval in parliament for the expansion of RAF air strikes against ISIL. The newspaper reports that a senior Government source said they were “cautiously optimistic” the votes of Labour MPs in the House of Commons would outweigh those of Conservative rebels, who helped defeat David Cameron on military action in Syria two years ago.
Meanwhile a US attempt to relaunch its training programme for Syrian moderate opposition faced a setback yesterday, the Times reports, when a second batch of western-trained fighters were detained by other rebel groups in northern Syria. About 70 fighters from the US-trained group, called the 30th Division, had reached the Bab al-Salama border crossing north of Aleppo in a heavily armed convoy of 12 vehicles with US air cover, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Jeremy Corbyn
The Independent and ‘i’ splash on the reaction to comments made by an unnamed serving general, carried in yesterday’s Sunday Times, in which he suggested Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would face “a mutiny” by the armed forces were he elected as Prime Minister. The general was quoted: “The General Staff would not allow a Prime Minister to jeopardise the security of this country and people would use whatever means possible, fair or foul, to prevent that. You can’t put a maverick in charge of a country’s security.” The general was reported to have made the comments in reaction to Mr Corbyn’s position on armed forces cuts, the IRA and Trident. A Labour source condemned the comments, while Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan also responded critically. The article reports that a MOD source condemned the general’s comments as “not helpful”.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
The Chief of the Defence Staff and I agree that these comments, if true, are completely unacceptable. We are absolutely clear that senior members of the military must of course always remain politically neutral.
Nimrod successor
The Financial Times reports that following the Defence Secretary's comments on the difficulty of the decision to scrap Nimrod, it is likely that the Government’s strategic defence and security review is expected to put the requirement for maritime patrol aircraft back on the list of spending priorities. With Russian submarines last year suspected of patrolling close to Faslane — the Scottish base for Britain’s Vanguard submarines carrying Trident nuclear missiles — it is suggested the time has come to close the gap.
Marine A
The family of Marine Lance Corporal Martin Gill - killed by the Taliban on the tour during which Sgt Alexander Blackman shot dead an insurgent - have backed a campaign to review his conviction, according to the Mail.
Bassingbourn report
BBC online reports that nearly 300 security staff were drafted in to stop Libyan cadets absconding from an army base, after five trainees committed sex offences in nearby Cambridge. A Ministry of Defence report said only turning Bassingbourn Barracks into a "fortress" could have bolstered security further. The Prime Minister asked the Chief of the Defence Staff to produce a report into the training of the cadets, a full version of which has just been published. A summarised version was released in January.
Follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to sign up for email alerts.