No room for Baldrick in the overstretched British army
From The Sunday Times Marie Woolf July 6, 2008
Senior officers are under attack for using vital troops as servants
Baldrick the faithful batman is in danger of getting the army into trouble, according to a secret review from the Ministry of Defence. The practice of senior officers employing soldiers as domestic servants, such as Baldrick in the Blackadder television series, risks becoming an embarrassment while frontline troops are stretched to breaking point.
The review, marked as “restricted management”, questions why soldiers are being used as chefs, valets and house orderlies for senior officers while the army is fighting two wars. “Why is Cpl Bloggs serving food to generals when he should be helping to fight the Taliban?” it asks.
Carried out last year, it raises concerns that the lifestyles of generals, including their employment of servants, “could impact on our reputation on a broader front”. It questions whether “a lack of care or rigour may have crept in”.
The document points out that the army’s top brass, including Sir Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff, all employ military personnel in their homes, even though army guidelines say household staff should be civilian unless a valid justification can be found for employing servicemen.
Senior officers have seconded members of the Welsh Guards, Rifles, Royal Logistic Corps and Royal Artillery to work as household staff, including cooks.
The document, obtained under freedom of information legislation, adds: “JSP [Joint Service Publication, a manual of army rules] makes it clear that as a general principle household staff should be civilian, and that a valid justification is required for retaining a serviceman as house manager. Apart from contract staff, none of the households of senior officers touched by these questions employ civilians. This has clear implications on cost, as well as on presentation.”
Dannatt has a sergeant from the Yorkshire Regiment as his house manager, a sergeant from the Rifles as a house sergeant, a corporal from the Yorkshire Regiment as a house orderly and a corporal from the Royal Logistic Corps as a cook.
General Sir Redmond Watt, former commander in chief land command, employed a corporal in the Welsh Guards as a house sergeant and a private from the Welsh Guards as a valet, it emerged last year.
Lieutenant General Freddie Viggers, the adjutant general, employed a sergeant in the Royal Artillery as a house sergeant.
The bill for the upkeep of a few top officers’ houses reached £570,000 in 2006.
The document also questions whether it would be better to use outside caterers for official dinners rather than second military staff as full-time chefs: “Use of military chefs versus contract caterers is an area where practice varies: the JSP allows for the former but only in support of official entertainment, but the general officer commanding London district employs a chef for 40 hours per week. It is hard to envisage that official entertainments requirements demand a steady 40-hour working week commitment.”
The internal review followed a series of parliamentary questions by Kevan Jones, Labour MP and member of the Commons defence committee. “It’s no good senior generals lecturing ministers about overstretch of British forces when they have soldiers waiting on their tables at home,” he said yesterday.
The Ministry of Defence said: “A number of informal checks were carried out as a result of the questions raised in parliament last year on general officers’ professional lifestyles.
“These checks focused on the extent to which existing policy was being adhered to, and where exceptions were being permitted there was proper justification in each case. These checks revealed no serious concerns on any front.”
The review also questioned whether the use by top brass of military aircraft, mainly helicopters, “for routine transport”, should continue.
The use of the soldier servant, or batman, dates from the first world war when officers were allocated a soldier to act as a valet to look after their uniform and personal equipment.
In the second world war, Peter Ustinov served as a valet to David Niven, forming a lifelong friendship.
According to an internal memo from Dannatt, following the review, the most senior officers still need help to keep their uniforms in order.
“Two and three-star officers should be expected to employ one soldier or orderly – this cannot be a civilian as the knowledge of uniform upkeep is an important element of the job,” he wrote. “Four-star officers require two military staff, a house manager and an orderly.”
However, he conceded that helicopters should be used only to “increase the amount of productivity during the working day and not just for the sake of convenience”.
