Hundreds of senior officers face axe in ‘top heavy’ forces

The department, which is still trying to make savings to plug a £38 billion black hole, has confirmed that it is looking at the number of senior officers in all three services in a bid to brings costs down.

The move appears to be the first significant act of new Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, known in the Commons as “a numbers man” rather than a defence supporter within the government.

But it also follows a massive reduction of junior personnel in the armed forces and civil servants with 42,000 set to go by 2020, including a cut of 18,000 regular soldiers from the Army.

It is understood that some 724 senior ranking officers and civil servants will go by 2015, with 335 more by 2020.

Already there has been a cull of several senior posts including the Major General commanding Scotland, based at Craigiehall, as regional commands are rationalised to just one position.

It has left Scotland with only ten senior officers and last night there were calls for the axe not to fall on them.

SNP Westminster leader and defence spokesperson Angus Robertson MP said: “After a decade of defence cuts by the UK government, the reality is that Scotland is not top heavy when it comes to senior ranks. Scotland has too few of all ranks.

“Just as important as a reduction in the number of senior officers is a much needed rebalancing of senior personnel across the country.”

The revelation has come from a leaked report called Defence Reform – Liability Review, which was prepared by Jonathan Slater, the director general of transformation and strategy at the MoD.

In it Mr Slater agrees with an assessment made before the last election by the Liberal Democrats that the military is top heavy and the number of senior officers needs to be slashed.

It appears that the junior coalition partner will get their way if Mr Slater’s conclusions are agreed.

The report states: “Much is made about the numbers of senior appointments in defence, military and civilian, both by way of justification and criticism.

“However, irrespective of the relative cases, the simple truth is that the defence senior cadre is larger than we can afford, is judged to be out of proportion with a reducing manpower base and also with modern working practices and societal tolerances.”

An MoD spokeswoman would not confirm the figures in the leaked document.

The spokeswoman said: “The current redundancy programme will reduce the number of service personnel – both officers and non-commissioned ranks – to ensure the Armed Forces are structured to best meet current and emerging threats.”

She added: “The defence reform unit is conducting a review of senior officer posts to ensure the services are not top heavy.”