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A helicopter and boats to perform a rare ceremony at the Tower of London

Next week, a fairly rare ceremony will take place in and around the Tower of London, and it’s even more special than usual this time.

It’s the Ceremony of the Constable’s Dues, one of those ancient traditions that the UK is so damn good at, can be indirectly traced back at least 700 years, and is related to the Crown’s authority over the City of London.

However, what is usually a ceremonial march to the Tower and a ceremony inside will this time be far more spectacular — as a helicopter and three Royal Marine offshore raiding craft will be in action as well.

The ceremony owes its origins to the time centuries ago when ships visiting London would have to make a payment to the Constable of the Tower of London. What was once a hated tax on mariners is now an exciting ceremony performed very occasionally, usually when there’s a navel vessel visiting London., It’s a nice treat for the visiting sailors and a pretty special treat if you happen to be visiting the Tower on the day.

If you’re outside the Tower, you can watch the sailors and officers marching past, carrying their offering for the Constable — usually, but not aways, a barrel of some fine alcholic drink. If you’re inside the Tower, you can watch the formal hand over ceremony.

But this time, it’s different

On Thursday 14th March, the river outside the Tower will be closed to traffic between 11:35am and 11:50am – and it’s expected that there will be three Royal Marine raiding craft and a low-flying Merlin helicopter in attendance.

The raiding craft will deliver the barrel to the river pier next to the Tower, where the Royal Marines, who will be lined up along Tower Wharf, will accompany the barrel into the Tower.

That can all be seen outside the Tower for free — although you may struggle to get a good view up close unless you arrive really early to be in front of the crowds.

If you’re inside the Tower, you won’t be able to see the landing craft delivering the barrel, but you will be able to watch the formal handing over of the barrel to the Constable, surrounded by all the attendants in full ceremonial uniforms.

So, depending which you prefer to see, be inside, or outside the Tower.

The ceremony itself is fairly brief but also quite rare, so something very special to look out for.

If watching inside the Tower, you’d be strongly recommended to be at Tower Green with plenty of time to spare as the ceremony will likely take place at noon, so maybe by 11:30am, and to save time getting into the Tower, book tickets in advance from here.

A note, if you live in Tower Hamlets or claim some social security benefits you can visit for just £1, details at the bottom of this page.

Photos at - https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/a- ... don-70761/

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Sir Humphrey
A challenging take on MOD spending plans by the RUSI. It is telling that at a time when the vast majority of NATO and European allies are spending a lot more on Defence, the UK is consciously choosing to spend less.

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Navy Lookout
The Defence HQ line is that the defence budget has not been cut if you include £2.5bn for Ukraine, £280m for weapon stockpiles and a few other minor adjustments.
This gives a total of £55.6bn for 2024-25.
While money for Ukraine is to be applauded, the MoD RDEL budget (ie. non-capital day-to-day spending) is down by £2.2bn from 2023/24.
10:51 AM · Mar 7, 2024

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Britain appears to cut defence budget during war in Europe

The United Kingdom, it appears, has trimmed its defence budget.

Despite the ongoing war in Europe and rising global tensions, the UK’s financial blueprint for the upcoming year has conspicuously left out additional funding for its armed forces in order to impact concerns like inflation.

This decision has sparked concerns over the potential weakening of the nation’s military capabilities and its stance alongside allies.

The official budget documents disclosed on Wednesday show that defence spending in the UK is expected to witness a decrease of £2.5 billion in the financial year ending March 2025 compared to the prior 12 months. This development is alarming, especially as the Defence Secretary has issued stark warnings that the UK is navigating a “pre-war world”, with both adversaries and allies boosting their defence expenditures. Nevertheless, the Treasury’s latest budget seems to neglect the urgent necessity for enhanced military funding.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has attempted to mitigate concerns by stating that the apparent reduction does not reflect additional funding allocated last autumn, as well as ongoing support to Ukraine.

Continues at - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/britain ... in-europe/

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UK sinks Scot Gov post-independence naval shipbuilding claims

The UK Government has refuted claims that an independent Scotland would continue to build ships for the Royal Navy.
In the recently released ‘Building a New Scotland: an independent Scotland’s Place in the World’, the Scottish Government set out proposals for an independent Scotland’s place in the world.

Extract:
However, I spoke to someone relatively senior in the Ministry of Defence on this, wishing to remain anonymous, she told me:

“The Scottish Government’s expectations for the shipbuilding industry post-independence appear to overlook several considerations. Our policy of commissioning ‘complex’ Royal Navy warships exclusively within the United Kingdom is driven by imperatives of national security and the safeguarding of sensitive technology. Consequently, an independent Scotland would regrettably be positioned outside this established policy framework, rendering the continuation of such contracts highly problematic.

Furthermore, the challenges associated with adhering to international defence regulations, notably ITAR, are substantial. For a newly independent state, these challenges would be formidable. It’s also important to clarify that the procurement of naval tankers from South Korea does not indicate a shift in policy towards the construction of complex warships; it remains a policy firmly applied only to support vessels. Considering these aspects, it appears that the Scottish Government’s optimistic outlook fails to fully engage with the detailed realities of defence procurement and the intricacies of international regulatory compliance.'”

A statement by a previous Defence Minister, Phillip Dunne MP, reads.
“Had the independence vote gone the way that he and his colleagues would have liked, no warships would have been built on the Clyde, because the United Kingdom Government would not have chosen to build them there; we made that very clear.”

See - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-sink ... ng-claims/

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Spending leaves British military capability ‘in question’

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is facing significant scrutiny after a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed a substantial shortfall in funding for the UK’s military capabilities.
According to the report, there is a £16.9 billion deficit between the MOD’s budget and the required funding for desired military capabilities, despite a £46.3 billion increase in the Equipment Plan budget.

This marks the largest gap since the MOD began publishing these plans in 2012 and represents a significant deterioration from the previous year’s financial situation, which was already deemed unrealistic by the committee.

The report criticises the MOD for not including the costs of all capabilities expected by the government in its budget calculations, only accounting for those it can afford. This oversight is exemplified by the Army potentially needing an additional £12 billion to fund the government’s full list of capabilities.

The PAC accuses the MOD of lacking the necessary discipline to balance its budget and make tough decisions on which equipment programmes to prioritise.

Repeated issues with defence procurement, including delays and budget overruns, have been highlighted by the PAC in past reports. This year’s findings continue to point out these failings, emphasising the need for the MOD to take firmer control of its procurement processes.

The committee has also called for improvements in the transparency and effectiveness of future Equipment Plans to enable better parliamentary scrutiny. It expresses concern over the inability to fully scrutinise spending in certain sensitive areas of defence due to security reasons, suggesting a need for a solution to allow effective oversight across all areas of defence spending and delivery.

In response to the Department’s statement in the House on 28 February 2024 regarding Acquisition Reform and the proposed new Integrated Procurement Model (IPM), the PAC has not yet formed an opinion but encourages future committees to consider the impact of these reforms on the MOD Equipment Plan.

You can read the report here - https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/c ... mmary.html


UK ‘increasingly reliant on allies’ to protect British interests

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is facing significant scrutiny after a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed a substantial shortfall in funding for the UK’s military capabilities.
According to the report, there is a £16.9 billion deficit between the MOD’s budget and the required funding for desired military capabilities, despite a £46.3 billion increase in the Equipment Plan budget.

The report found that “the MoD is becoming increasingly reliant on the UK’s allies to protect the UK’s national interests, which carries the risk that such support might not always be available”.

Explaining this finding, the paper reasons that “recent international developments, including the war in Ukraine, have reinforced the importance of strategic international partnerships for the UK. The UK has been working with its allies, including Ukraine, to develop interoperable equipment, pool essential munitions and encourage industry to build its capacity to supply the necessary equipment. However, for deterrence to be effective the UK’s Armed Forces must be credible.

Such credibility is undermined by widely reported recruitment and retention issues, with more people leaving the Armed Forces than are being recruited, the mothballing of Royal Navy ships because of crew shortages, and the unavailability this year of the only Royal Navy ship able to fully replenish the UK’s aircraft carriers because of a refit.”

Adding, “Given the changing global security picture, it is vital for the MoD to work with industry, including through the Defence Suppliers Forum, and also the higher education sector to ensure sufficient supply of highly skilled workers and also apprentices to the defence sector. With the support of its allies, the UK’s Armed Forces continue to fulfil a crucial role internationally. However, many allies are facing similar challenges to the UK, which might affect their ability and willingness to continue providing extensive support.”

In response to this, the report recommends that “The MoD should assess the extent to which its capability requirements are reliant on support from the UK’s allies and develop mitigations for how it would manage the risk of allied support being curtailed or withdrawn.”

Source for both the above UKDJ

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Ministry of Defence

The Defence Budget has not been cut. It is growing in real terms, with the core and total MOD budget set to be higher this year than last.

Read a full breakdownof why the budget red book appears to show a dip, but cannot tell the full story:

Two charts below compare RDEL and CDEL from 22/23 to 23/24 for Defence.

The 2024/25 figures in The Budget publication do not yet include the agreed additional funding from the Treasury Reserves - the money which, as in previous years, includes funding for Ukraine and stockpiles will be added shortly when voted through by Parliament as supplementary
estimates.

On the other hand, the published 2023/24 figures do include these same pots of funding, including funding for Ukraine, as they were voted through in the same process last year.

Budgets can only reflect past supplementary estimates but not future ones. This therefore leads each year to the Budget Red Book giving the perception that budgets are falling when in reality the defence budget is increasing this year when all agreed funding is taken into account.

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Navy Lookout
There is at least £16 - £27bn of unfunded liabilities in the MoD's Equipment Programme, including a £5.9bn shipbuilding gap. Without increased funding, the Type 32 frigate and Multi-Role Support Ship programmes are likely to remain PowerPoint dreams.

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Is The MOD Budget Really Growing? Arguably No.

See - https://thinpinstripedline.blogspot.com ... ly-no.html

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Navy Lookout
Serving govt ministers Annie Trev & TomTugendhat warn the Chancellor and Prime Minister that defence and security spending must be increased to 2.5% of GDP and beyond.

Deborah Haynes
This Morten Morland cartoon is genius. It comes after two serving ministers broke cover to push for increased defence spending at a time of growing threats.