Britannia Radio

Hutton needs his head examining.  He talks of France being one of our 
closest allies.  The truth is France is only an ally when it is in 
charge.  Most French military effort is deployed in former French 
territories in central and west Africa and its contribution to the 
fight against terrorism has been almost invisible especially in 
Afghanistan.

Ever since the war it has tried to undermine NATO, which it 
effectively boycotted, and pursue French interests without any regard 
for any allies.  NATO kept the peace in the world - no thanks to the 
French.

Hutton muddies the issue by mixing up French plans with inter-allied 
cooperation on specific issues.  The latter obviously make sense - 
the former is a French attempt to take control of Europe's armed 
forces.  We already have NATO doing that and most east European 
countries were more interesting in joining N ATO than in  joining the 
EU.

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SUNDAY TIMES   26.10.08
John Hutton backs European army

Isabel Oakeshott

John Hutton has become the first defence secretary to back a French 
plan for a European army, branding those who dismiss it as "pathetic".
In a wide-ranging interview with The Sunday Times, he said: "I think 
we've got to be pragmatic about those things. Where it can help, we 
should be part of it."

His support goes beyond the public position of Gordon Brown, the 
prime minister, and will antagonise those who believe that further 
European cooperation will undermine Nato by excluding the United States.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has sought to develop Europe's 
military structures with new headquarters and rapid reaction forces, 
each consisting of 1,500 troops from member countries.

Hutton said: "France is one of our closest allies, militarily. The 
French believe very strongly in this type of role. If we can support 
it, we should."

He added that working with EU allies on military missions was 
"perfectly sensible." He emphasised that Britain should not 
contribute troops to joint EU operations if it risked compromising 
other missions, and cited plans for a European Union-led mission to 
tackle piracy off Somalia as a "good example" of how such forces 
could be used.

"I'm not one of those EU haters [who think] anything to do with the 
EU must by definition be terrible. There's plenty of them around. I 
think frankly those kind of views are pathetic," he said.

"Britain's role in the world is to be part of those alliances - 
that's the best way to project power, strength and conviction around 
the world. People who don't understand that don't understand the 
nature of the modern world."

Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said strengthening the EU's 
military identity could undermine Nato: "What we must not have at a 
time of scarce resources is duplication of existing structures and 
diversion of capabilities away from Nato's use."

Hutton, who was giving his first interview as defence secretary since 
his appointment earlier this month, also said: British troops are 
likely to be in Afghanistan for decades. The Afghan mission will fail 
unless there is a new "focus". A big defence procurement project must 
be cut. People who jeer at returning servicemen are "cretins".

In a frank assessment of the pressures on the services, he also 
admitted that the military is breaking its own guidelines over 
periods of rest for troops between operational tours because it is so 
stretched: "It's not how it should be."

On Afghanistan, he said: "It will be a long campaign: we've got to be 
honest with people about that. There's no quick fix." He said it 
would take years to crush the Taliban and "could well" take decades 
to achieve the allies' wider objectives.

Hutton said it would be "pointless" to deny that Britain's resources 
were under intense pressure, with specialised units such as the 
Signals unable to take proper breaks between to