inch wrote:My take on it and I really hope I'm wrong is maybe all the talking of reassessing the top to toe needs of the the UK is that they going to cut a carrier ,then say they don't need to build the 3 fleet support ships saving to fill black hole ,and other things they promised especially with Cummings not even liking the carriers ,waist of time in his view ,just wants whiz kids on lap tops ,and maybe a Ben Wallace who is an army man happy to see navy cut for promised few goodys for the army ,
If I were Ben Wallace I'd be keeping my head down and my trap shut at the moment.
His previous boasts of having been to Iran more than any other Parliamentarian, the last trip even taken with Jeremy Corbyn, seem somewhat out of vogue with the current environment. Looks like he's gone a bit native in Persia and I'm not entirely sure he should ever have gotten the role in the first place.
Also seems to want to piss off/on the Yanks a fair bit just when defence diplomacy would have been useful.
As for Cummings's carrier-phobia, he seems easily distracted and will hopefully find a new hobby horse.
It would clearly be very challenging, however getting one of the QEC deployed this year with a few F-35 would do a lot to quieten down these critics. I see Fort Victoria is back at sea and there should be a few more T-23s available, fresh from refit, this year.
Not suggesting sending them into the Gulf, but even a show of force in the Eastern-Med could do a lot to prove their worth. Hopefully with less smoke than the Kuznetsov.
Iran's Western border is the Lebanese coastline after all and Cyprus-based Typhoons could make up for the diminutive air-group, whilst demonstrating to allies and foes that we intend to make use of these platforms.