Britain’s top military officer is being replaced months before his term as chief of the defence staff was due to end, according to reports in the media.
Defence secretary Liam Fox told the Sunday Times in an interview that Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the chief of the defence staff, and defence ministry’s top bureaucrat, permanent under-secretary Sir Bill Jeffrey, will leave their posts in the autumn after the Tory-LibDem coalition government’s strategic defence review.
Sir Jock Stirrup and Sir Bill had both been asked to extend their terms by the previous Labour government. “Both the chief of defence staff and PUS are here longer than they needed to be. They were asked to stay on and willing to do so, not least to see the transition into the new government. And I think that the transition’s been extremely smooth, and I’ve been discussing with them, as with other senior staff, how we transition to the new structures and what might be the appropriate times to do it,” Dr Fox said.
“And I’m going to do it at a time that suits the government to do it, but also at a time which treats our long-serving personnel with some respect. We’ve talked about the best time to be replacing our senior staff, probably at the end of the Strategic Defence Review in the autumn,” he added.
Sir Jock Stirrup, who earns £245,000 a year, was set to continue in his post until 2011 spring. He has been the head of the armed forces in the UK since 2006.
The UK defence secretary, who criticised the Nato members for failing to contribute equally to the Afghanistan mission, said British forces could begin coming home from Afghanistan next year.