Get a grip, Grant Shapps – a war on woke is no way to run a modern military

If the defence secretary wants young people to join the army, navy or air force – and recruitment targets have been missed every year since the Tories came to power – they need to know they’ll be respected regardless of their ethnicity, gender or sexuality, says Mike Crofts

The defence secretary has claimed that military resources are being ‘squandered to promote a political agenda’ to increase diversity among officers (Reuters)

Defence secretary Grant Shapps’s attack on “woke” policies in the military is just another cynical political stunt to mask much graver problems with recruitment and retention.

“Woke” is not a term that I like. By using it, we serve to undermine areas where our society has made huge progress and we should feel rightly proud. Sometimes, its use is intentionally provocative, in areas where rational and nuanced discussion is demanded.

I was initially surprised to read Shapps’s comments. I wondered if he had just returned from 14 years in an alternate reality where he had not been in government.

Shapps is alarmed at an apparent plan to water down security checks on foreign recruits. The real issue is the military’s struggle to recruit and retain service people in a climate of poor pay, living conditions and over-work, all in the backdrop of a rapidly changing society.

So-called woke policies have done a huge amount of good in enabling people to feel a sense of belonging in the armed forces. Society has changed. Young people in society have changed. If you want young people of any ethnicity, gender or sexuality to even consider joining the armed forces, they need to know that they will belong to an organisation that welcomes and respects them. This is why there are 93 diversity networks, including 10 for gender issues, within the armed forces, the very organisations that Shapps seems enraged by.

I have served with some fantastic soldiers and officers who are members of internal military networks. LGB people previously could not serve but the military has changed and now they can. Transgender personnel who have completed their transition can also serve in their chosen gender.

People who are in a minority want to feel a sense of mutual support, we should not find that threatening.

The same mantra would label the Defence Breastfeeding Network as a secretive woke conspiracy, supporting mothers raising their children alongside their military careers. In reality, superb servicewomen who see this network as a place of support and encouragement, in an organisation that has had its fair share of problems properly protecting and supporting women who serve.

Or the Armed Forces Muslim Association, “which provides advice and support to Muslim personnel on how to balance the needs of their faith while maintaining operational effectiveness”. I served with some brilliant Muslim soldiers in Afghanistan, and am glad that a group exists that helps individuals who wish to join it to balance their faith and military service.

All of these so-called woke areas of support were once taboo, but they are all signs that the armed forces have responded to calls to evolve. The UK armed forces get far more from soldiers as a result of having “woke” networks; without them, people will not feel willing to stay.

This row seems symptomatic of a rift between the top brass and the political masters after chief of the General Staff Patrick Sanders called for a “citizen army” last month. Our military leaders are worried about the military’s size and shape and the pressure the armed forces are under. Recruitment targets in the navy and army have been missed every year since 2010. This is compounded by poor retention, with people leaving faster than they can be recruited.

The UK’s defence spending has been relatively stagnant over the past decade. Except for increases over the past two years to support Ukraine, it has not kept pace with the 2 per cent GDP target agreed with Nato.

If you want to retain people, you have to fund the right kit, equipment and activities, pay people properly, ensure their housing is up to scratch and help them feel they belong.

The woke trends of the military reflect society, which is exactly as it should be. Giving women the opportunity to serve in combat roles. Allowing LGBT+ people to serve openly. Race and ethnicity targets aimed at representing society more evenly. Although headline diversity figures are positive, because of Gurkha and Fijian soldiers who have made fantastic contributions to the armed forces, the military is still struggling to recruit from Muslim and Black communities.

Twelve former senior officers wrote to the defence secretary to complain about efforts to recruit these groups, and of “Islamism and extremism entering the military”. They forget the legacy of Muslim service in the army: more than 400,000 Muslims fought in the British Indian army in the First World War. No doubt these 12 were great soldiers in their day but their position does not credit how quickly our society is changing. Not just a shift in demographics but how young people view identity on a day-to-day basis.

If the institutions of the UK armed forces are to thrive through the next century, they need to look at the long line of very successful “woke” policies that are working. Maybe some policies do not work, but at least the armed forces have made a concerted effort to tap into every avenue of the talent pool in the UK and the Commonwealth.

If the heads of defence feel that adjusting security requirements is an avenue to pursue to attract and retain talent, thus helping the institution to survive, then we need to trust them to explore it. After all, we need our defence heads to have the vision and courage to protect the armed forces by ensuring their survival, even if that means, at times, being at odds with a serving government.

But as for this being a woke weakening of defence, the armed forces are already on their knees – and without more people, there will not be an organisation to complain about, woke or not.

Mike Crofts is a former British army captain who served two tours of Afghanistan. He is now the CEO of human performance company Leading Purpose and the founder of criminal justice charity 3Pillars Project