UK combat readiness ‘is a flimsy facade…’

A DAMNING assessment of Britain’s combat readiness has been delivered by retired Air Marshal Edward Stringer, who fears the country’s weakness has been left badly exposed.

- BY DAVID WILLIAMSON Chief Political Commentator

Retired Air Marshal Edward Stringer

He warned: “Our national defences have been revealed to be a flimsy facade. The tide has gone out and we can now see that the UK military was not wearing any trunks.”

In a paper for the Policy Exchange think tank, he argues frontline forces are shrinking and real spending increases are often smaller than portrayed. He claimed the Army now has a mere 14 howitzers and for a period the Navy was only able to put a single attack submarine to sea.