Wednesday, March 17, 2010

MILITARY LEADERS ? - SIR RICHARD DANNET, LORDS GUTHRIE AND BOYCE - THE BUCK STOPS WITH YOU !

I remember thinking when David Cameron extended the invitation to the retiring Army Chief Sir Richard Dannat to become the Tory spokesman on defence that it looked like a gaffe; a blunder by him and a clanger by the retiring soldier, one which called the soldier's competence and judgement in to question instantly. It is commonly recognised that the upper sections of the military in all three services are polluted by Tories and rotten to the core with cronyism; it was ever thus and it has been accepted as part of some kind of British tradition, like upper class inbreeding and the half witted Royals. The continuous sniping by these career soldiers against the Labour Govt. and in particular Gordon Brown always looked politically motivated and Brown’s evidence at the Chilcot enquiry stunned everyone by its confident and robust nature, this was not a man with anything to hide and he enjoyed his day in court.

What he highlighted was what many people were already beginning to think; simply by laying out the facts and squaring up to these nonentities he damaged the reputation of Sir Richard Dannat and Lords Guthrie and Boyce; who are two more retiring senior soldiers with their own agenda. The public is at last beginning to ask questions about these so called leaders and their motives; suddenly we are hearing “why was Brown so self-assured; after the mauling he has taken from the Army Chiefs and the right wing Tory press over this why wasn’t he cowering? He kicked Ass and didn’t even have to name his targets.

The UK spends more per soldier than any other country in the world except the USA! Wow! we haven’t heard that one Sir Richard; complaints about sending more troops are dashed by complaints about not having enough troops, when will people see through the Tories? Many members of the public; more often than not those who shout the loudest denunciation of the Govt. would rather watch strictly come dancing than a programme about the Afghanistan conflict but the right wing press don’t tell you that do they? The lazy corrupt media will relentlessly pursue the easy headline about troop deaths using them to attack the Govt. Here is a comment from a very unlikely source (certainly for me it is) which rather blows apart the case for the retiring senior soldiers who are now bleating from the sidelines “What no one seemed to have noticed was that no one resigned over the defence matter” I will return to this, (Norman Tebbit) Honestly it is Norman being quoted by me, the reptilian old ‘Chingford skinhead; the semi house trained polecat) nails them with effortless logic he makes them look like knaves and self serving liars; ‘well done that man’ as they say in the Army.

The truth of the matter which old Norman highlights is that these Lords and Sirs had a well established course to follow; they identify a military need and they ask the defence secretary to finance it; if he/she refuses they go over his/her head to the Prime Minister and if he refuses they can and should resign. if their outrage is authentic that is, it seems they failed to do so; the old ‘lions led by donkeys thing’ let me quote from my old chum Tebbit (more old than chum) still; coming from him it is too good to let pass.

“As we know, no one resigned. That is, they all went along with the then Chancellor. For anyone who held responsibility at that time to say now, years later, that the troops were sent to war without the right equipment is to invite the question: Then why did you go along with it at the time”? This is why David Cameron exploded with synthetic rage at PMQ’s the other day when he quoted the three exposed military officers attacking the PM. A number of Labour MP’s shouted out exactly what the rest of the country was thinking “they are Tories” they cried, as Mandy Rice Davies once said and I paraphrase “they would say that wouldn’t they”? She caused the Tories quite a crisis in a long-ago humiliation in their corrupt history.

Tebbit is a right wing yob who is true to his beliefs he does not excuse anyone who falls short no matter who they are; he has looked at these higher-ranking soldiers and their conduct and concluded as I do that their real position is self protection. They have failed and they know that if they can’t shift the blame on to Gordon Brown they have to think about who comes next? the answer is they do! I don’t in truth know and don’t for the most part care what kind of military career these men had but their behaviour in this matter suggests that for the sake of morale and professionalism the armed forces will not miss them.

I have said before and I say again the soldiers sailors and airmen and women who risk their lives deserve better than this, the officer class of the UK military needs an enema.

6 comments:

David Duff said...

You are half right on this which is, I suppose, an improvement of sorts but putting one boot into the military chiefs still leaves the other one free to kick a man who lied and lied and lied again to the Chilcott enquiry - and yet you fail to do it. You quote Lord Tebbit with approval, describing him as a man who "does not excuse anyone who falls short no matter who they are" but then fail miserably to apply it to your prime minister - or, come to that, to your erstwhile comrade and colleague, Steve Purcell, who appears to be a non-person now that he has been air-brushed from this blog like one of those apparatchiks photographed alongside Lenin or Stalin!

Anonymous said...

Mr Kelly,

While reading your site the other day, I began to think of former councillor Bill Martin and the way he was treated, not buy the labour party but by his own colleagues in the snp.

I know that Bill and his wife had been friends with the Lawson’s for may years, Bill and his wife supported Celia and her husband Ian before they joined the snp (Ian had been a Tory in those early days). Bill would have made a far better Provost, he is more articulate, and easily more intelligent, would have commanded respect from all the other parties, including the Labour Party in Renfrewshire. It must have made him sick to his stomach, seeing Celia back stab and turn her back on him, I read a site recently that featured Celia Lawson in which she confesses that it was always her ambition to be Provost, although she thought it would never happen. It just goes to show you, politics in the snp, friendship, loyalty, talent, hard work, stand for nothing, if you have a group of non starters, non entities, like what we have in Renfrewshire snp, who are out for themselves, who belief and worship a wee boy as I call him, I say to Bill, your better off out of the cesspit of the snp in Renfrewshire, hold your head up, the party for thus group will not last for ever.

Hope to see you soon Bill.

R.M.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(David Duff) 17/03/10
Because you say that someone lied to the enquiry does not make it so; or am I missing something here?

I don’t think I have ever mentioned Mr. Purcell before on my blog before you asked about him so I could hardly ‘air brush’ him out, you must try harder.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 10:18

You would need a heart of stone to follow what happened to ‘old Bill’ without collapsing in laughter; apologies to Mr. O Wilde. He fell among thieves right enough; I often wonder about ‘old Bill’ and the apparent iron grip which he had on the SNP at one time; he was I think their Westminster/Holyrood candidate on 3 or 4 occasions; gubbed each time alas but how did he keep getting those nominations?

Following one undistinguished blootering at the polls from Hugh Henry he spoke at the count and said “next time Hugh it will be me making the victory speech from this stage” no selection process required apparently, was he a psychic or did he have the party by the short and curlies? ah, the good old days eh?

Anonymous said...

Dear Dear! More drivel Mr Kelly.

Bill Martin did not have any "iron grip" on the SNP. He was selected every time because he was the most capable councillor in the SNP and the council. Also because he was very popular in the local branch, in his constituency and in Paisley.

Why do you call him "old Bill"? He could still run rings around you in the fitness stakes. You always have this habit of slaggng off people who are smarter or fitter than you.

We could do with more Bill Martin's in politics as the standards of councillor, MSP and MP is so poor in this country now, especially here in Renfrewshire.

Billy
Paisley Expressions

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

“He was selected every time because he was the most capable”

Anyone who loses 3 elections and still survives as the candidate must have something on the selectors; if you knew anything about politics you would know that.

“Why do you call him "old Bill"?

I started calling him that years ago “the party leader Old bill Martin and his deputy leader the boay Vassie” this was when they had their own wee party with 2 members, it just has a ring to it.

“You always have this habit of slaggng off people who are smarter or fitter than you”

In old Bill’s case he might well be fitter than me right enough.

“We could do with more Bill Martin's in politics as the standards of councillor, MSP and MP is so poor in this country now, especially here in Renfrewshire”

If he’s such a champion why did he take the money and run rather than stand up to the men in grey kilts who done him in?