Defence

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(Return to the manifesto)

  1. For generations this country has deployed its armed forces abroad on Cabinet order approved by a supine whipped House of Commons and this has never been in the interest of those countries to which those forces have been deployed. This shall stop.
  2. The armed forces will be divided into (a) as small a strategic international deterrent as is capable of guaranteed mass destruction abroad in the event of any significant attack on the homeland by a foreign state, and (b) a defence force sufficiently well manned and armed to prevent significant civil insurrection or attack on the homeland by foreign or domestic criminals.
  3. This country no longer has any need for an offensively-weaponized deep-sea navy, a long-range air force or an army capable of deploying beyond our own national borders, all of which are currently expensive embarrassing liabilities and not assets.
  4. The current terms under which any civilian or police officer can legally harm or kill another person will be be extended to govern the rules of engagement for all members of the armed forces. This requires no change in British law, it will be a blanket direction from the Secretary of State for Defence upon whom the responsibility for defining rules of engagement, and the extent to which they can be varied in the field, rests.