Can’t help but be amazed by UK’s Ministry of Defense seeking “champions” for service members with “Protected Characteristics”.
By Steven Edginton | The Daily Telegraph
Defence chiefs have been accused of undermining “combat effectiveness” after it emerged that the military has 111 diversity champions and advocates.
The voluntary roles for the Armed Forces, which are aimed at boosting diversity and inclusion, include gender champion, LGBT champion, race champion and Rastafari champion.
General Sir Patrick Sanders, the chief of the general staff, was an LGBT champion between 2016 and 2018.
In 2017, he wrote a blog on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) intranet praising the Army’s inclusion in the diversity scheme from Stonewall, the LGBT charity. “I’m proud to be the Army’s LGBT champion and a straight ally,” he wrote.
Former senior officers have criticised the roles, suggesting they could detract from the core purpose of Britain’s Armed Forces.
Maj Gen Julian Thompson, who commanded Three Commando Brigade in the Falklands war, said:
“Regrettably, Gen Sanders confuses the tight bonds of unit loyalty without which British Forces do not work with embracing this highly politicised and corrosive identity and sexuality obsessed ideology.”
He continued: “Gen Sanders’s role as an LGBT champion is also concerning; Servicemen must not be distracted from their main duty, to defeat the King’s enemies.
“The setting up of multiple roles to champion diversity in the Armed Forces will only deplete the combat effectiveness of our troops. We did not win in the Falklands by waving the LGBT flag, or talking to each other about diversity.
“As the Defence Secretary reviews the woke policies enacted under Conservative Party leadership in recent years, he must scrap these pointless and divisive diversity roles immediately.”
Diversity agenda
Internal MoD documents, seen by this newspaper, describe diversity champions as “prominent leaders for inclusivity” whose role is to act as “Champion for their specific Protected Characteristic”.
The MoD’s diversity champions guidance, published in 2020, tells champions to provide support for diversity networks in the MoD, including by attending “regular meetings (at least quarterly)” to discuss diversity, help develop “action plans” aimed at boosting diversity within the Armed Forces, and “promote defence’s D&I agenda to all members of the organisation… particularly to influence senior colleagues up to Defence Board level”.
The champion roles are one of several diversity related jobs across the military; personnel can also sign up to be diversity advocates, deputy advocates, practitioners and associates on top of their regular duties within their units.
In August 2018, Sir Patrick, then a Lt Gen, wrote another MoD blog discussing achievements during his “tenure” as a champion, including “the Army being listed once again as a Stonewall Top 100 Employer of LGBT+ personnel” and his attendance of “two London Prides”.
In 2021, ministers told Government departments to withdraw from Stonewall’s controversial diversity champions scheme, which promotes the use of gender neutral toilets and pronouns.
The news comes after this newspaper revealed details of the Army’s controversial Race Action Plan, written in part by the Army’s race champion, which included an initiative to relax security checks to boost representation of ethnic minority recruits in the Army’s Intelligence Corps.
Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, has commissioned a review of diversity policies in the military after a Telegraph investigation revealed they have become widespread.
Mr Shapps said: “It’s time for common sense not divisiveness. That’s why I’m commissioning a root and branch review of ethnicity, diversity and inclusivity policies across defence.”
The MoD was approached for comment.
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