Military shouldn't be relied on in pandemic because it distracts from defeating enemies, head of Armed Forces says

General Sir Nick Carter says calling on the military "shouldn't be a default setting". - Susannah Ireland
General Sir Nick Carter says calling on the military "shouldn't be a default setting". - Susannah Ireland

The British military should not need to be relied on in a pandemic because it distracts from defeating foreign enemies, the head of the Armed Forces has said.

General Sir Nick Carter cautioned that while the Armed Forces are "here if we're needed", calling on the military "shouldn't be a default setting".

He said: "In an ideal world, government departments and ministries should be able to find the way to do it without recourse to the military”.

The Chief of the Defence Staff added: “But we are here to protect the British people. And ultimately, if we’re needed, of course, that’s what we do. But it does come at an opportunity cost for the principal role."

He told LBC’s Swarbrick on Sunday: "I think one has to remember what the military’s principal role is. And that, of course, is to deter and ultimately defeat your countries enemies."

General Carter added that while that “is not a full-time business”, the military “do place an enormous premium on training and capability development, and indeed, exercises that people can see that our potential rivals can come to terms with and understand”. “And, of course, we work a lot with allies. And that takes quite a lot of time. And there is quite a lot going on.”

His comments are at odds with senior Tory MPs, who called on the Government to rely on the military more, after The Telegraph revealed earlier this month that only half of the military personnel ready to roll out vaccines had been deployed