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Biggest defence and security review in decades is struggling to get off the ground

The maverick Dominic Cummings is suspected of disrupting the UK's most important defence review in decades

Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s much-vaunted defence and security review is descending into chaos, in large measure because of the incoherence at the heart of government.

According to the Times newspaper, the chaos has intensified since the departure of Christopher Brannigan, the defence lead at Downing Street’s policy unit.

Brannigan left last week, in large measure because of the lobbying of the PM’s highly controversial chief strategist, Dominic Cummings.

The foreign policy, defence and security review under consideration is part of Jonson’s plan to conduct the most sweeping review of the UK’s defence capabilities since the conclusion of the Cold War three decades ago.

The PM first announced the intention to conduct the review during campaigning for last December’s general election.

The Times reports that since the Tories’ election victory, “disagreements” have erupted over appointments to key panels and timetables.

The news paper quotes a source as claiming: “There are a series of rows and some nasty internal politics that have raged over the forthcoming integrated review”.  

Another source told the newspaper that there is uproar about a series of “has-beens” who have been appointed to the review.

Meanwhile, the Times defence editor, Lucy Fisher (the author of the report), has tweeted that a “Whitehall source” is complaining about the possibility of the review not being sufficiently focused on foreign policy.  

In another tweet, Fisher quotes Lord Alan West, the former chief of the Royal Navy, who has hawkish views on defence and foreign policy, complaining about a “nasty atmosphere” at Number 10 Downing Street.

Lord West’s complaint is presumably a thinly veiled reference to the maverick and disruptive Cummings.   


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