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Armed Forces: Chain of Command

My Lords, I believe that the route this Government are taking is towards making a soldier a civilian, instead of making a civilian a soldier. Heaping enormous extra outside responsibilities on the shoulders of a commanding officer when he is the key person in command in battle is wrong. He has around him people from health and safety, prosecutors, SIB investigators and a tame, and often very courageous, journalist. The military ethos is being destroyed. It is appalling that the Government today are besotted with political correctness. It does not work in the military. You do not kill or beat the enemy or the terrorist with large doses of that. As other noble Lords have mentioned, there is mistrust. There is a feeling that those higher in the chain of command are not with the troops, but are all the time are looking at and investigating them with people who have never been on the front line. In that connection, many noble Lords, like me, are amazed at what happened in Brussels. Why did our Government not protect and support the military? Who was in charge of this? Other countries seem to have made a sensible decision and obtained an opt out for their military, but not us. I call that bad government. I find it most unimpressive. To shore everything up, the Government are now pushing new rules and systems. They are sliding everything to the legal side. In a short time to come, I can see the Minister, or the noble and learned Lord the Attorney-General, saying that he cannot say anything about a matter because it is sub judice. It is as if the politician today is getting himself out of responsibility and accountability. That is not good, but it is typical. We have heard from much more senior persons than me about what happens in an incident, a battle or close-quarter combat. I would like to bring the Government Front Bench down to earth a bit. We could be looking at each other at half the distance between the Minister and me now. It could be night-time, raining or extremely dusty, and close-quarter combat could be taking place. I shall give two instances, because I am told that similar cases are among the 170 cases. Two soldiers could enter a room, or go up a road or an alley and suddenly someone gets up with his hands up. I have learnt in practice that if a man puts his hands up, he is thinking and he is very dangerous. When you have the sort of enemy that we have today, who does not mind going to his maker more quickly than most normal people, a man with his hands up is a big problem. You cannot turn your back on him, nobody can. You do not know what he has on him. In the same way, you do not ask a man lying on the ground to stand up. That may be just what he wants because underneath him is a grenade with the pin out and the moment he stands up, he goes to his maker and will be a great martyr and the soldier is killed. Frankly, the solution in action in close combat is to give both these men two bullets. There is no question. Chaps in the rear area had better be familiar with that, but I am afraid that the investigators are not. What really worries me is the treatment of a brave and honourable man who has put his life on the line and has done what in his eyes is his duty. What happens to him? He goes further and further back down the line, away from his commanding officer, his platoon commander and his NCOs. He meets only civilians and the odd lawyer dressed in uniform. He is lost. Where do you put him? Who is this honourable man’s best friend? I have heard so much that is wrong and bad about the Y list that has been adopted. A soldier is forgotten and forsaken. He is not even approached. Who looks after him? Furthermore, who looks after him when he has had his court case? The Minister knows from his time in industry that if a form has been filled in and a person has been interviewed, even if he has been exonerated or acquitted, he is looked at twice and an employer asks himself whether to employ him. Who is going to employ that exonerated, honourable man? I believe that a lot is wrong here. The Government have forgotten that they are here to protect and support the soldier, sailor and airman. The other day, the Prime Minister said that it is time to get respect back. How much I agree with him. It is time that the Government started to protect, support and respect the military.