Fox Letter exposes Tories’ difficulties over cuts in defence

A letter from Defence Secretary Liam Fox to David Cameron, and leaked to the Daily Telegraph, has exposed a fundamental difficulty for the government, and specifically the Conservative party, in reconciling cuts and maintaining defence readiness.

The main plank of this government’s policies has been to reduce the country’s structural deficit, mainly by announcing deep cuts in public spending.

This may make them unpopular, but a smaller state is at least a traditional part of Tory thinking, and the much heralded big society plans, and the government’s friends in the press have persuaded most that cuts in some degree are needed.

But when it came to power the government also wanted to put national security, in the widest sense at the heart of it policies, with David Cameron setting up a new national security committee in the first week of his government.

And the letter from Dr Fox to Mr Cameron shows that the cutting agenda could hurt the government politically, it said: “Party, media, military and the international reaction will be brutal if we do not recognise the dangers and continue to push for such draconian cuts at a time when we are at war.”

The Tories have traditionally been the party of defence, the country is at war, and the previous government was criticized for under-equipping troops fighting in theatre.

But the chancellor is insisting that defence spending is not to be ringfenced, and that leaves the Conservatives (because Liberal Democrat members of the government are to an extent immune from this) vulnerable.

The government has said that it will replace Trident, at the initial cost of £20 billion, and I have previously described the disagreement between Dr Fox and Chancellor George Osborne, who insists that that money will come from the defence budget, not central spending.

Cutting £20 bn from operational budgets, including body armour and armoured vehicles for troops in combat, to fund a nuclear programme which nobody hopes we have to use leaves the government open to criticism that it is increasing danger for personnel and has blood on its hands.

It may be that the government tries to dodge that particular issue by putting off the Trident issue until the next parliament, but even if it does, the cuts being suggested would still be fertile ground for critics of the government.

Cuts to schools and hospitals maybe unpopular but they don’t have the visceral impact, or media coverage of bodies being driven through Wootton Bassett.

And it is natural Tory supporters who will feel most betrayed if either it appears the country’s nuclear deterrent is being downgraded or that British troops are in more danger because of the government’s cutting agenda.

This issue has been one of the most difficult for the government and has caused incidents a number of times in the first six months of it’s administration.

My guess is this will be a large thorn in David Cameron’s side for many months to come.