Cameron intervenes in choice of defence chief

Critics have pointed that this new selection method by PM Cameron represents an unacceptable politicisation of the post.

In an unprecedented move,British Prime Minister David Cameron plans to conduct job interviews for candidates to be the new head of the armed forces,a media report said on Sunday.

The Chief of the Defence staff is usually chosen in consultation between the Defence secretary and the Prime minister and critics believe the new selection method represents an unacceptable politicisation of the role,The Sunday Times reported

It follows the announcement by Defence Secretary Liam Fox in an interview in The Sunday Times last week that Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup will step down early in the autumn.

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The overriding challenge for his successor as head of the forces,will be dealing with the war in Afghanistan,where the death toll for British soldiers reached 299 on Friday,when Trooper Ashley Smith,21,from York – a member of the Royal Dragoon Guards – was killed by a Taliban bomb in Nahr-e-Saraj,central Helmand.

Charles Heyman,a former army officer,said the change risked the successful candidate being the man who was best able to “second-guess what the Prime minister wants”. He said: “This really does smack of ‘this guy’s on message,we’ll have him’,and that’s not good for the armed forces.”

Cameron’s increasing control over the selection is seen as favouring General Sir Nick Houghton,a close ally of General Sir Richard Dannatt,the former head of the army and a fellow Green Howards officer,the report said.