New Secretary of State sends message to Defence staff

The new Secretary of State for Defence, Dr Liam Fox, has issued the following message to all Defence Staff.

The first duty of Government is to protect our way of life and provide security for our citizens. That is why I am proud and honoured to have been appointed as Defence Secretary by the Prime Minister David Cameron. I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Bob Ainsworth, who always had the best interests of the Armed Forces at heart.

Britain's Armed Forces are rightly respected both at home and abroad, and widely regarded as among the very best in the world. During my five years as Shadow Defence Secretary I have been privileged to see them at work in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

As a nation we have a responsibility to ensure they have our full support in return for the selfless service and sacrifice they are prepared to make in our name. The new Government will honour that duty with a new Tri-Service Covenant that will set out our obligations and commitments to the men and women of our Armed Forces, their families and veterans.

The campaign in Afghanistan is a national security imperative. We are there out of necessity not out of choice. I am determined that alongside our ISAF partners we will succeed. We will ensure that our Forces have the equipment and support they need to do what we ask of them.

Defence faces major challenges over the next few years. In today's uncertain world, it is essential that we maintain a highly dedicated and professional body of Servicemen and women with the capability to defend our national interests whenever they are called on to do so, and a strong cadre of professional defence civilians to undertake the distinctive tasks for which they are responsible.

A review of defence is long overdue but the needs of our Armed Forces can no longer be considered in isolation from other security challenges we face. We will be taking forward a Strategic Defence and Security Review, working with other Government department's including the new Foreign, Development and Home Secretaries as part of the new National Security Council.

Our aim must be to ensure that Britain's defence is based on a clear definition of our strategic interests, an assessment of our role in NATO and other partnerships, the threats we face, the military capabilities we need to protect our interests and the programmes we need to deliver those capabilities.

Resources will be tight for the country as a whole and Defence is no exception. We must make sure that we make every penny spent on Defence count. This means we will have to look again at all that we currently do, including the organisation and structure of the Department, each of the Services and the support area to ensure that we can undertake confidently and effectively the key tasks for which MOD is responsible.

We need to confront these issues head on and ensure that we emerge from the review with a clear way ahead for Defence that meets the needs of the current counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan but also ensures that we are well prepared for whatever the future may bring. I will set the work in hand straight away, to deliver before the end of the year.

I look forward to working with you all to tackle the challenges we face. With your support, I know we will do so successfully.

Dr Liam Fox appointed Secretary of State for Defence

Dr Liam Fox visiting British and Iraqi troops in Basra, Iraq, in September 2008

Dr Liam Fox has been appointed as the new Secretary of State for Defence today, Wednesday 12 May 2010.

Dr Fox has been the MP for Woodspring (renamed North Somerset for the 2010 May General Election) since 1992 and was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Defence in December 2005. He has visited the UK's Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dr Fox was born and raised in East Kilbride, Scotland, and attended the local comprehensive school, St Bride's High School, before going on to study medicine at the University of Glasgow.

He worked as a GP before becoming a Member of Parliament and, as well as his career in the NHS, Dr Fox has also worked as a Civilian Army Medical Officer.

Dr Liam Fox visiting British and Iraqi troops in Basra, Iraq, in September 2008

Ainsworth: we failed troops in Afghanistan and Iraq - The Times

Michael Evans, Defence Editor

The Government did not do enough to support British troops in Afghanistan and Iraq at the start of the conflicts, the Defence Secretary has admitted.

Bob Ainsworth said that Service men and women were justified in complaining about a lack of interest in their work from ministers and the wider population.

His comments came as the head of the Army warned that Britain had failed to get on a proper war footing to deal with the military campaign in Afghanistan.

“People were pretty cheesed off with the attitude not only of the Government, but of the British public,” Mr Ainsworth said. “They were out there in Iraq, they were out there in Afghanistan, they were doing hard yards and putting their lives on the line — and nobody back here was nearly as interested as they ought to have been,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

Improvements in how the Armed Forces were supported over the past two years had been “absolutely essential”, he said.

Defence issues had not had sufficient prominence, he said. “We have tended in politics in this country to concentrate on the domestic, on the here and now — the ‘what’s in it for me’.”

In his last public speech as Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt said: “We should be under no illusion, we are at war and if we want to succeed, which we must, we must get on to a war-like footing.” He added: “Not everyone in our nation realises that.”General Dannatt, who retires next month, said: “If that means an uplift of significant capabilities for Afghanistan, then so be it.”

The general, who has fought the Government for more resources in Afghanistan, pressed his case for the campaign to be adequately funded. Speaking at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, he said: “Success in Afghanistan is not discretionary. It will top the agenda for the future and we must do whatever we must do to succeed.

“This can be demonstrated by a strengthened and enduring national, political, industrial, cross-Whitehall and departmental commitment to delivering success in Afghanistan. It is very much in our national interest to do this.”