The Sunday Times has reported that that the UK will have to relinquish the NATO post of Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR).
A British officer has held one of NATO’s top positions as DSACEUR for much of the period since its creation in 1951, and the position is currently held by British General Sir James Everard.
An MOD spokesperson said:
“There are no plans whatsoever to change DSACEUR from being a British officer, nor have there been any calls for this.
The Military Committee is NATO’s highest military authority and the Chairman the alliance’s senior military officer. The nomination of the Chief of the Defence Staff for election to the role demonstrates the UK’s unwavering commitment to the NATO alliance and its standing within it.”
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
“The fact that a Briton holds such a senior military role underlines our leading role in NATO.
With recent commitments to 500 troops in Estonia, more troops in Afghanistan and the renewal our nuclear deterrent, we’ve never been more committed to the NATO alliance.”
The British Army website says that Lt Gen Patrick Sanders holds Commander Field Army, not Lt Gen Everard?
Incredibly daft speculation in the first place, it shows how much some of the media wants to down the UK military establishment.
It’s the old adage of when there is no news, make it up
Spot on, the quality of British journalism in relation to defence is woeful.
I agree about woeful defence journalism – the height of that must have been the piece about 6 months ago (from one of the tabloids) expressing outrage that the RN had spent so many tens of millions of pounds on a gun that was “about the length of a toothbrush”. They were talking about the order for the 5″ guns for the first 3 T26 plus 1 shore-based training gun & lots of munitions. Unfortunately the journalist seems to have got calibre and length confused. In this NATO case though I think the extra and possibly bigger factor is that… Read more »
Doing away with Trident would have more of a detrimental effect on our world standing than leaving the EU
STONEHENGE!
What a joke. The journalists should be writing some pieces about our so called European allies and how they are generally doing much less than the UK to offer reassurance to the Eastern NATO allies. They should be writing about how only the UK, Poland and Estonia contribute circa 2% gdp to defence expenditure. Only a British officer should hold the NATO role outlined. The lives of thousands of British and commonwealth soldiers have given us that post. The tens of billions of £s spent since 1945 defending Europe is our historical commitment to European defence. This is something the… Read more »
They should have someone whose job it is to produce a digest of comments, to get some idea of what people think, people who have a genuine interest in defence rather than making a sensational headline in pulp media.