OPINION
Keir Starmer's promise to up defence spending is meaningless (Image: Getty)
National pride and courage have usually been seen as timeless virtues that are essential to military success. But that view is challenged by modern woke ideology, which likes to subvert traditional morality and authority. In an essay published in 2019 in a military aviation journal, RAF officer Group Captain Louise Henton warned that patriotism and bravery were “personality traits” that could encourage “overt masculine” and “undesirable behaviour”, leading to the isolation of some recruits and a fall in standards.
Her commentary, which in places sounded like a report from the women’s committee of a north London Labour Council, is typical of the obsession with equality that has gripped the management of our armed forces. By 2022 , for instance, the RAF had taken the extraordinary – and ultimately illegal – step of banning applications from white men in order to boost diversity. But Group Captain Henton’s article is all the more significant, given that she is in command of RAF Brize Norton, which was the target last week by politically- motivated vandals from the extreme group Palestine Action.
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Having broken into the base, these activists caused ￡55million-worth of damage to two RAF transport aircraft. The incident was an appalling breach of security at a time of severely heightened global tensions. Inevitably, Group Captain Henton’s leadership came under scrutiny, as critics questioned her priorities.
Her defenders reacted with outrage, firing off accusations of misogyny, but it cannot be disputed that much of our top brass seem more interested in social engineering than protecting our nation. Henton’s is hardly an isolated case, either.
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Claire O’Grady, her immediate predecessor as commander of Brize Norton, is the Chair of the RAF gender network and describes herself as a “passionate advocate of promoting gender awareness”. She once organised an RAF event on International Non-Binary People’s Day “to create a safe space to discuss the gender spectrum”.
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In much the same mould is Sara Hayes, the Estate Facilities Manager for Brize Norton. As “a member of the LGBTQIA community,” she boasts of her ambition to make the Armed Forces “a more inclusive and accepting environment”. One step towards that goal, she declared, has been the installation of a “Rainbow crossing”on a road at the base. The crossing was unveiled with a flourish in 2023 on “Transgender Visibility Day”.
Yet such political gestures cannot disguise the reality that the perimeter fence at Brize Norton proved hopelessly inadequate when hardline Palestinian campaigners decided to breach it. That failure could almost be a metaphor of modern Britain, where politicians trumpet their determination to guard and strengthen our society, but actually preside over neglect, dislocation and border anarchy.
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This week the Prime Minister, attending the NATO summit in the Netherlands, tried to exude a sense of resolution when he promised to push defence spending up to 5% of Britain’s GDP with the drive for reinforcements epitomised by the purchase of 12 new F35 fighter jets, capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons. But this bristling spirit of purpose would be more impressive if the political class had not been so irresponsible about upholding Britain’s national integrity in recent decades.
Rulers from both parties have constantly pushed the woke agenda, turning the creed of diversity into the central theme of the state. Yet in the process, they have allowed immigration to spiral out of control, left our urban streets unsafe, undermined our British identity, and eroded our freedoms.
Sir Keir said this week that Britain “faces daily challenges on the home front,” including the threat from terror cells. But Britain has this deadly peril in our midst precisely because of the political decision to open our borders and import thousands of people who despise our liberal values.
The 40,000 Islamic extremists on the MI5 watchlist are here because of Britain’s soft-touch policy, just as the dogma of diversity has allowed predatory rape gangs to operate with impunity and the human rights racket has prevented robust action against illegal migrants and foreign criminals.
Behind the prattle about social justice, Britain is becoming a more divided, dangerous and defenceless land.
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There is a fundamental paradox about the green agenda. Its purpose is meant to be the protection of the environment but so often it acts as the environment’s destroyer. That is particularly true of the vast windfarms that are now despoiling the countryside and causing damage to wildlife.
This capacity for rural degradation can be seen at its worst in the plan to create a complex of 41 huge turbines – each of them more than 650 feet high – on the beautiful Yorkshire moor that was the inspiration for Emily Bronte’s epic novel Wuthering Heights. The wind merchants are no respecters of our cherished landscape or our heritage. Their plan should be rejected. What is left of our green and pleasant land should not be further wrecked.
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Andy Burnham could be next in line as Labour's leader (Image: PA)
As he limps from crisis to crisis, Sir Keir Starmer’s authority continues to drain away. He is beginning to look doomed. Next week, he faces potentially the biggest rebellion yet of his premiership, as more than 120 Labour MPs threaten a revolt over the Cabinet’s plans for welfare reform.
If he goes, the favourite to succeed him will be his radical deputy Angela Rayner, who is popular among Labour activists. But one possible candidate with greater appeal to the general public is Andy Burnham, who has been an impressive Manchester Mayor since 2017.
When he won his third term last year, he secured no less than 63% of the vote. If he can get back into the Commons, he could mount a real challenge to Rayner’s ambitions. The rich irony is that, in 2015, his leadership bid was broken by his support for welfare reform, which allowed Jeremy Corbyn to pose as the claimants’ champion.
Now the same issue could give him another shot at the top job.
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Imran Mulla a government employee who took over ￡3,000 in bribes (Image: Lancashire Police / SWNS)
The pugnacious Labour statesman Herbert Morrison once said that the corridors of the Home Office Mull were “paved with dynamite”, meaning explosive controversies could blow up at any time. One looming scandal in the department is the abuse of office by its civil servants.
This week caseworker Imran Mulla was jailed for four and a half years after his conviction for taking more than ￡3,500 in bribes to approve the asylum claim of a Bangladeshi migrant.
But this saga could just be the tip of a very nasty iceberg. Last year it was revealed that 34 Home Office STAFF were under investigation or awaiting trial for offences including fraud, theft, corruption and forgery. Over the previous four years, another 60 had been dismissed and 63 received written warning – all this in the very institution that should be leading the fight against crime.
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Government borrowing in May reached a record ￡17.7billion, heaping more pressure on the Chancellor to raise taxes. Speculation about increased levies is always accompanied by proclamations from self-righteous, left-leaning millionaires who like to boast of their willingness to pay more.
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Well, there is nothing to stop them doing so. If they really want, they can make an additional payment to the UK Debt Management Office. But in 2023/4, only six individuals did so, donating a total of ￡699,000 – thus proving that most would-be philanthropists are just indulging in empty rhetoric to signal their own virtue.
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