Forum Topic

Is it just me?

...or does anyone else think that the Defence Secretary John Healey should be sacked for gross incompetence?

Adam Tripp ● 20d32 Comments

However, looking at Trump, Hesketh etc it’s more showbizness than any actual, real business. Performative pantomime for the gallery!

Gerry Boyce ● 18d

Oh, yes, Mr Hawkes, it's obvious that business is driving politics (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, ...); perhaps that's why the world seems such a mess at present?

Michael Ixer ● 18d

Mr AinsworthAny retorts from the West Putney Friends of Iran ?Iran: that peace loving state being so cruelly and unfairly attacked and pressured by imperialist US and Israel.https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz6e7g96890o"Four arrested on suspicion of assisting Iran's intelligence service"Four people have been arrested as part of a counter-terrorism investigation relating to Iran, the Metropolitan Police has said.Police arrested one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service.The investigation relates to the suspected surveillance of locations and individuals linked to Jewish communities in London, the Met said.Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said the arrests were part of "a long-running investigation and part of our ongoing work to disrupt malign activity where we suspect it".In a statement, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood sought to reassure the public that the UK's police and security services "are world leading" and would not hesitate to "take action to counter any threat to the UK"."They will continue to use the full range of tools and powers available to them to keep this country safe. They have the government's full support as they carry out their vital work."Speaking to ITV's Good Morning Britain shortly after news broke of the arrests, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said: "Iran is the biggest state sponsor of terrorism globally and sadly, that is in effect in our own society as well."Our intelligence services and counter-terrorism police have thwarted lots of action over the last few years," he added. He also praised the work of the security services and police'.

John Hawkes ● 18d

Mr Ixer'Perhaps a smooth talking professional diplomat would have had more success than a brash business person.  We weren't there, so neither of us really knows,dowe?'No we don't.But I am surprised that you take such an imperialist position on this.Yvette Cooper - "Olly as the new Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) can you find a bit of a smoothie to handle the negotiations with those WOGS in Iran ?Someone who will get us what we want but won't cause them to bomb Israel or worse still us ?"

John Hawkes ● 18d

Mr BrigoMr Rose claimed - "Perhaps, Michael, the talks broke down over the Iranians’ refusal  to abandon their uranium enrichment programme because they wish to build a nuclear bomb'.You replied "Another evidence free assertion. That must be a record for the week surely".What is your explanation then ?And another question for you.Do you think an Islamic state like Iran would allow you to run 'Brigo Personal Training to create body transformations for women with busy lives by providing an all-in-one fitness service at their home'.Why are you so supportive of them ?

John Hawkes ● 18d

Mr Ixer'Perhaps the fact that the Geneva talks broke down is because he's using business people to lead the negotiations who are Perhaps better at bullying opponents rather than being skilled, trained diplomats?.Do you mean diplomats lead by the Labour Government's current and previous Foreign Secretaries - Cooper and Lammy ?You know, those that paid Mauritius take over the Chagos Islands on behalf of China ?Are you yet to realise that today politics is business and the first to recognise the fact and the best person at this will win ?

John Hawkes ● 18d

Mr Ainsworth'Whoops, sorry. That's embarrassing. I did cross check (I thought) and, checking my history, I did. I think that the error crept in from not noticing that a "ballistic" had crept into the commonly repeated Healey statement when put on an Iranian opposition site that seems pretty OK, so probably just a straight error. How that then altered the AI answer is surprising, when most sites got it right.Salutary for me anyway.'Salutary enough to encourage you to think for yourself or do you not have the intelligence for it ?

John Hawkes ● 18d

Mr Ainsworth'Tell us about how long Israel has been enriching uranium to the necessary high degree.'There is no proof or else the Arabs would have laid it before the MSM.But for what it is worth I have no doubt Israel has enriched uranium and possibly weaponised it.Very sensible insurance policy when it is surrounded by Islamic terrorist states who openly claim to seek its annihilation, supported by racist antisemitic fellow travellers such as yourself.States 'governed' by mad mullah Islamic clerics for whom an apocalypse transporting them to the hereafter and a claim to Lobby Ludd for seventy virgins is their ultimate aim.Iran being a good example of such until neutered by Trump.Under what circumstances do YOU believe Israel would use nuclear weapons as a first strike means of attack rather than as a defensive threat of retaliation ?What would it benefit were it to lay waste in this manner to all its Islamic neighbours that surround it ?Would it itself not suffer ?Israel has a positive present and encouraging future providing it keeps the Arabs at bay.They in turn have neither. So, some answers please not just AI trawled press clippings that you try in your usual puerile manner to pass off as reasoned analysis of a global political issue. 

John Hawkes ● 18d

Perhaps what happened went strictly according to the plan.

David Ainsworth ● 18d

Perhaps a smooth talking professional diplomat would have had more success than a brash business person.  We weren't there, so neither of us really knows,dowe?

Michael Ixer ● 18d

Tell us about how long Israel has been enriching uranium to the necessary high degree.What to Know About Israel’s Secretive Nuclear Weapons Program - The New York Times

David Ainsworth ● 18d

The evidence, Michael, is that Iran has been enriching uranium to a far higher degree than would ever be required for the purposes of power generation and refused to halt this programme.

Steven Rose ● 18d

Yeh it's just you !

Ian R Todd ● 19d

We got Trump on our side!

David Ainsworth ● 19d

Another evidence free assertion. That must be a record for the week surely

Michael Brigo ● 19d

Perhaps, Michael, the talks broke down over the Iranians’ refusal  to abandon their uranium enrichment programme because they wish to build a nuclear bomb.

Steven Rose ● 19d

Perhaps if our US allies want to bring Churchill's legacy into the special relationship, they should remember his 1954 remark during a Washington, D.C., visit was: "Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war," emphasizing that face-to-face diplomacy is superior to conflict. (The punchier phrase, "jaw, jaw is better than war, war", was popularized by British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1958.) Perhaps the fact that the Geneva talks broke down is because he's using business people to lead the negotiations who are Perhaps better at bullying opponents rather than being skilled, trained diplomats? That might also be the reason Putin runs rings around the White House with the Ukrainian negotiations. Unlike business, these can be more emotive and not purely transactional ...

Michael Ixer ● 19d

"Even the head of NATO has come out supporting this action."Ooooh "Even". The surprise is that NATO didn't join in fully. There is a "special relationship". It seems that Turkey blocks the otherwise inevitable."The effectiveness of President Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), remains a subject of intense debate. While the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Obama administration maintained it was meeting its core objectives, critics argued it was fundamentally flawed and merely "kicked the can down the road"."So Trump destroyed the deal, in order to produce the "grounds" for a future attack along with Israel. And here we are."Jaw-jaw" beaten by the jawbone of an ass.

David Ainsworth ● 19d

Trump was negotiating in good faith and even Iran’s neighbours didn’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons.  This “negotiation” has gone on for decades, instead the Iran send out their terrorist proxies instead.Even the head of NATO has come out supporting this action.

Robert Wheeler ● 19d

It would seem to me that our entire defence strategy is totally dysfunctional if a minister was actually responsible for making such detailed decisions.  We have highly regarded military intelligence and intelligence sharing with the US (although it is likely that even the top brass in the States may have been wrong footed by Trump's decision). They would be briefing the minister on the likelihood of attack and what measures were needed. Any system in which a civilian would be primarily responsible for the disposition of our forces to such a granular level would be just daft. What evidence is there that this is what happened here? If Healy overrode advice from the military then obviously he should be sacked but my reading is that nobody is saying this is what happened.

Barry Elms ● 19d

"The world appeared to know what was going to take place with military manoeuvres weeks before the action took place"Perhaps "the world" believed that Trump was negotiating in good faith. The triumph of hope over experience.

David Ainsworth ● 19d

Totally agree.What is the point in overseas bases if they are not equipped and manned properly.  Starmer and the entire Labour government cannot decide on whether to have tea or coffee in the morning.  The world appeared to know what was going to take place with military manoeuvres weeks before the action took place and we always need to protect our sovereignty.

Robert Wheeler ● 19d

The reason that the government is incompetent in the area of defence is the same as the reason it is incompetent in managing the economy. Labour has lost its former belief in socialism - taking the means of production into public ownership - and is  now, give or take a couple of taxes, virtually indistinguishable from the Tories. But while the party may have ditched socialism, its members have retained the prejudice against capitalism and capitalists. Indeed they have elevated this prejudice into a virtue, evidence of their concern for ‘working people’. This explains the unreasonable and unjust imposition of IHT on farmers, VAT on the parents of children at independent schools and increased NI contributions on employers. And of course America is the home of capitalism and Trump an arch-capitalist.  So if Trump has initiated an attack on Iran, a vicious theocratic tyranny which recently murdered thirty thousand of its own citizens and is trying to build a nuclear bomb, he must be opposed and certainly not helped.  So Keir Starmer dithered over whether the Americans could use the base on Diego Garcia and has failed to send British assets into the area, leaving Britain’s allies in Cyprus and the Gulf unprotected and making the country look weak.

Steven Rose ● 20d

Hi David, I often use chatgpt but I find it biased and inaccurate a lot of the time so I always look for confirmation. It's much better than google but should be used with caution

Adam Tripp ● 20d

Whoops, sorry. That's embarrassing. I did cross check (I thought) and, checking my history, I did. I think that the error crept in from not noticing that a "ballistic" had crept into the commonly repeated Healey statement when put on an Iranian opposition site that seems pretty OK, so probably just a straight error. How that then altered the AI answer is surprising, when most sites got it right. Salutary for me anyway.

David Ainsworth ● 20d

keep googling and check your source. RAF jets dont have the weapons to shoot down ballistic missiles - that's why HMS Dragon is being deployed

Adam Tripp ● 20d

"Air assets can (and did) handle drones but Akrotiri is defenceless against ballistic missiles which Hezbollah and Iran both have.""Two Iranian ballistic missiles fired in the direction of Cyprus on 1 March 2026 were intercepted by British RAF jets, as confirmed by UK Defence Secretary John Healey."The UK, under both parties, has been cutting defence expenditure since 1945. It has started to rise in the last few years under the Tories (having got very low) and Labour looks like carrying on the increase (but turning a tanker ... as you know).

David Ainsworth ● 20d

Yes and Starmer needs to go too.

Sue Hammond ● 20d

But this would not be just down to Healey, would it? Would Starmer not be involved?

David Ainsworth ● 20d

I agree.

Steven Rose ● 20d

the build up of US forces in the Gulf was plenty of warning that Cyprus needed to be better protected. Air assets can (and did) handle drones but Akrotiri is defenceless against ballistic missiles which Hezbollah and Iran both have. The DefSec should have worked on the basis of - better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. For the RN to take over a week to deploy a single warship is embarrassing

Adam Tripp ● 20d

Not disagreeing (yet anyway), but why particularly him?

David Ainsworth ● 20d