Sir, – Almost exactly 20 years ago, having retired, I was asked if I would become an advisor to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee. It sounded interesting and so I signed up. The first thing we were asked to do was to advise the Chairman on topics we felt the Committee should investigate. It took seconds to agree that the mismatch between commitments and resources, then known as ‘the black hole’, was the most important area that they should get their teeth into. To our surprise, the Chairman declared that they would not go there. His logic was that the Committee, comprised of repres…
