Military Chief Won’t Be Disciplined Over Criticism Of Corbyn’s Policy

General Nicholas Houghton said he would “worry” if the British Labour leader became prime minister because of his stance on the Trident nuclear defence system, just hours before Mr Corbyn joined the queen to lay a poppy wreath at the Cenotaph to celebrate Remembrance Sunday.

Sir Nicholas said that his concerns were for the credibility of the deterrent if there was a prime minister who had declared that he would never authorise its use.

Mr Corbyn called on the defence secretary to “take action” against Sir Nicholas over his comments.

Shortly after his election an anonymous general, quoted in The Sunday Times, said the armed forces would stage a “mutiny” if he ever became prime minister. He made clear he wasn’t talking about a personal thing. As the principal military adviser to the government, it is reasonable for the chief of the defence staff to talk about how you retain the credibility of one of the most important weapons in your armoury’.

Asked whether there were any plans to discipline him, she added: “He made a point about the credibility of the deterrent and you’d expect the head of the armed forces to have a view on that”.

General Houghton had been asked about Mr Corbyn’s admission that he would never fire nuclear weapons to protect Britain because he was “opposed to the use of nuclear weapons”.

“It would worry me if that thought was translated into power”, he said.

“The whole thing about deterrence rests on the credibility of its use”.

“The objective of the deterrent is that you don’t have to use it because you successfully deter”.

The Labour leader said the comments by General Sir Nicholas Houghton, the Chief of the Defence Staff, were an unacceptable breach of the principle that the military did not interfere in politics.

“It is essential in a democracy that the military remains political neutral at all times”, Corbyn said. The defence analyst Christopher Lee has told Forces TV that when someone gets to be the Chief Of Defence staff, “you don’t expect him to make those mistakes”.

His intervention comes after Michael Fallon said the case for Britain’s involvement in Syrian airstrikes would be strengthened if IS militants were found to be responsible for downing the Russian passenger jet in Egypt.

His comments echo those of a senior ally of Mr Corbyn and a shadow cabinet member who told The Daily Telegraph that plotting behind the leader’s back is a “disgrace” and demanded the MPs “move on or move out”.

He said: “As an ex-soldier and a Conservative politician I am rather loath to take the side of a left-wing leader of the Labour Party against the Chief of the Defence Staff, but I rather fear he has a point”.

Speaking to Sky News in a separate interview, Sir Nicholas warned the United Kingdom was “letting down” its allies by not taking part in airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria.