Army associations told to review private club links

Army Corps and Regimental Associations have been directed to review their links with private members’ clubs and consider cutting ties where club rules or practices may conflict with Army values of equality and respect, the Ministry of Defence has said.

The position was set out in two written parliamentary answers to Conservative MP Mike Wood, who sought details of a previously disclosed review of Armed Forces links with private clubs, including whether it covered single-sex clubs.

Veterans and People Minister Calvin Bailey said: “The then Deputy Chief of the General Staff directed Corps and Regimental Associations to conduct their own reviews of their affiliations with private members’ clubs, including whether any associated clubs have rules, policies or practices that may not align with Army values of equality and respect.”

The MOD stressed that the exercise is not being run as a single Army-wide review. Instead, individual Corps and Regimental Associations have been left to examine their own relationships with private clubs.

Bailey said: “This was not a centrally coordinated Army review. Rather, Corps and Regimental Associations were asked to consider their own arrangements, reflecting the fact that such affiliations are informal, privately funded and managed at Association level.”

Where an association identifies concerns over a club’s rules, policies or practices, it has been asked to consider either pressing the club to change or ending the affiliation. Bailey stated: “Where concerns were identified, Associations were requested to consider engaging with the relevant club to advocate for change, or to disassociate where appropriate.”

Wood also asked whether the review was considering single-sex private members’ clubs. The MOD did not give a separate yes-or-no answer on that point, instead repeating that associations had been asked to examine whether the rules, policies or practices of clubs with which they are affiliated align with Army values of equality and respect.

The decentralised nature of the exercise means there will be no single set of terms of reference or Army-wide deadline for completing the reviews. Bailey added: “Ministers were not asked to approve a central review, and there is no plan to make a statement to Parliament on this matter.”