---

Nimrod Review

My Lords, I associate myself with the remarks about the two soldiers who died yesterday in Afghanistan. They died in a noble cause. I hope that their relations will feel that. Is the Minister aware that this Statement will be widely welcomed by all concerned, and especially by the bereaved families who simply look for the truth and for clarity? I commend the Government on a speedy response to what is a very tough, blunt and detailed report from Mr Haddon-Cave. Given the scale of the disaster and the grief caused to so many people, it is right and proper that the report should be radical and that the Government should respond so clearly and decisively. I hope the recommendations will be implemented without delay. The Defence Secretary said in the Statement that Mr Haddon-Cave had made a number of broader observations about areas which were not the main focus of his report. A number of noble Lords have mentioned the generalised comments that he made about the management of change. In doing so, as has already been said, he strayed too wide of his remit. I was the Secretary of State for Defence at the time of the 1998 strategic defence review and I take full responsibility for its recommendations. He makes a number of comments about it. If Mr Haddon-Cave was going to come to conclusions on the impact of that review on management conduct in the Ministry of Defence, he should have done so only after hearing from those who were concerned and involved, and especially from Ministers, such as myself and my noble friend Lord Gilbert, who was the Minister for Defence Procurement at the time. As he did not seek such evidence, it was particularly unfair and unjust to name General Cowan, who I appointed as the first ever Chief of Defence Logistics, and his successor, Air Chief Marshal Pledger. I sincerely believed at the time that they could, without any risk to safety or efficiency, achieve a 20 per cent cut in the costs of the new logistics organisation over a period of four years. I did not think that that was an unreasonable target, given the past and given the synergies of bringing together three service logistics organisations. Even today, I do not think that that was a dangerous strategy.