Labour Defends Gagging Order on Top Military Personnel – Guido Fawkes

EXC: Labour Defends Gagging Order on Top Military Personnel

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Labour has presented its defence for gagging top military personnel. ‘We let one of them speak on-record once’…

Shadow defence minister Mark Francois asked the MoD in a written question “for what reason his Department has advised senior military officers not to speak on the record at events where a Minister is present.” As Guido revealed the gagging order has been imposed by Starmer’s strategic communications director after a row between Downing Street and top defence chiefs…

Armed forces minister Luke Pollard replied today: “This is not true. Recently, the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Roly Walker spoke on the record, and live on Sky Television at the RUSI Land Warfare Conference on the same day as the Secretary of State for Defence.” Not the defence Labour thinks it is…

The gagging order is unlikely to be lifted under the current Chief of the Defence Staff Tony Radakin, whose extended term runs until autumn this year. Recent massively impactful military events make the imposition of the gagging order even more farcical…