There is continued coverage in today’s newspapers of Lord Ashcroft’s biography of David Cameron, which includes apparent criticisms from former senior military personnel on the Prime Minister’s knowledge of the military and his legacy in Libya.
General criticism
The Independent reports that Madeleine Moon wants the Defence Secretary to investigate the comments reported in the Sunday Times to have been made by an unnamed general about Jeremy Corbyn. The Daily Star also covers the story.
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.
Staying with the Labour leadership election, the Daily Telegraph reports that Russia’s ambassador to the UK told Russian television yesterday that the country welcomes Corbyn’s election and criticised the view expressed by senior government figures that he was a threat to UK security.
Afghan veteran
A number of the national papers today, including the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail report that a soldier who suffered brain damage in Afghanistan is facing a demand from his estranged wife for £185,000 in a divorce battle that could “leave him penniless”.
The papers report a court heard that Corporal Simon Vaughan was awarded £1.1m after being injured by a Taliban bomb but most of that money, which was administered by his ex-wife, has gone.
Lord Ashcroft biography
The Daily Mail carries extensive reports from Lord Ashcroft’s biography serialisation, including specific focus on suggestions that Lord Richards sent the Prime Minister a private memo with a plan to end the campaign in Syria which reportedly went unanswered. There are also criticisms by Nicholas Soames of the Prime Minister's handling of the end of the air campaign in Libya which is also termed his ‘Iraq’.
The articles carry the view that the Prime Minister supported only short-term solutions, whereas Lord Richards supported removing Syrian opposition forces to neutral countries to train them over a period of a year before any return to fight in Syria. The article includes views from the White House which criticise his inability to win the parliamentary vote on strike action in Syria in 2013.
In a piece that suggests several of the claims by Lord Ashcroft about the Prime Minister are unravelling, The Times also reports Lord Richards and Nicholas Soames’ reported comments on Syria and Libya, as does the Daily Mirror.
ISIL
The Times reports that Stephen Gray, a former member of the RAF who served in Iraq, tried to travel to Syria to join ISIL. The paper also reports that he has admitted to several terror-related charges. Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reports that a King’s College London research project has found that dozens of recruits are leaving ISIL because the promise of a lifestyle including luxury cars used in their propaganda does not match up to conditions on the ground.
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