Vague concepts like ‘punching above our weight’ trump ‘value for money’ at the MoD. In fact this is money largely wasted
Toughen the sinews, gird up the loins. Tomorrow arrives another defence review heralded by what Boris Johnson would once have called a piffle fest. This is a concoction of abstract nouns and cliches drawn from Downing Street’s tired Archie Rice self-image as a “player on the world stage”.’ Johnson says he wants to be “match fit” against competitors, a “force for good” and a “global influencer”. He wants to be a world-beating tester and tracer of evil, a Tony Blair with adjectives. To honour this vanity, the Treasury is to end the 10-year squeeze on the defence budget and increase it by 2.6% above inflation. Nurses can eat their hearts out.
It is impossible to judge value for money here because defence is one budget that demands no audit. Any old waffle will do. Britain’s territorial integrity is not under plausible threat and has not been since the end of the cold war, or realistically since the second world war. Debate is therefore informed by abstractions such as national pride, influence and posture. The government might as well build Martello towers as submarines.
