The head of the British army could resign, allies say, amid a fierce row over further proposed cuts to land forces in the run-up to a special defence review responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Interviews have already begun to replace Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, who has served only a year as chief of the general staff, and friends of the military leader say he may quit even sooner if the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, imposes further cuts.
“He told Wallace that he could not deliver without more headcount and budget, and Wallace didn’t like that,” an ally of Sanders, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. “It looks like cuts are coming and [Sanders] may use this as an opportunity to resign.”
Sanders is said to have repeatedly clashed with Adm Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, who beat him to the top job as head of the armed forces in October 2021. Radakin was previously head of the Royal Navy, and army sources complain that he favours spending on costly warships.
A defence command paper is expected in July that will set out fresh plans to reshape Britain’s military in light of the war in Ukraine, but there is little money available for extra commitments without cuts being made elsewhere.
No firm date for the paper has yet been confirmed and some believe it could now be delayed until September given the growing rift between the army and the rest of the military establishment.
In March, the Ministry of Defence was given £5bn over two years, with £3bn going into Britain’s nuclear submarines and £2bn to restoring stockpiles of ammunition given to Ukraine to help it fend off the Russian invasion.
Army sources say it has been asked to cut its core numbers further from 72,500 to 70,000, with no new money available until after the election, and that infantry units will be cut further to make way for more investment in artillery, which has been heavily used in Ukraine.
The weekend’s chaotic events in Russia – where it briefly appeared there could be a civil war – raised fears that an urgent military intervention could be needed to support Nato allies in eastern Europe in the event of a regime collapse in Moscow.
Sanders is one of Britain’s most experienced military leaders, having previously headed the army’s cyber and special forces in its Strategic Command, and has been publicly outspoken on several occasions about military spending.
This week, he said Britain should “never again be unprepared as our forebears were in the 1930s”, and suggested the crisis in Russia could be compared to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.
“Those who believe that our geography allows us to minimise investment on land or that we can simply hide behind the armies of other Nato contributors are simply wrong,” he told a conference organised by the Rusi thinktank.
In January, Sanders said a gift of Challenger 2 tanks and other weapons to Ukraine would “leave us temporarily weaker as an army, there is no denying it” – irritating others in the MoD because his comments overshadowed the announcement.
Nicholas Drummond, a defence industry analyst and consultant, said: “Sanders’s early retirement would be a great loss to the army. He is the first chief of general staff to have been outspoken about the needs of the army and the challenges it faces.”
An army spokesperson said the force could not comment on speculation about its leadership.
