Furious Grant Shapps orders review into British Army’s ‘woke nonsense’ inclusion policy amid reports chiefs ‘want to relax security checks for overseas recruits to boost diversity’

Grant Shapps is ordering a review of the British Army’s woke nonsense’ inclusion policy following reports it wants to relax security checks for overseas recruits to boost diversity. 

The Defence Secretary said there will be no ‘lowering of security clearance requirements on my watch’ after a leaked internal policy document outlined a series of actions that aim to boost falling personnel numbers.

According to the Telegraph, the armed forces are looking overseas to attract ethnic minority talent because they have long failed to hit recruitment targets and is calling security clearance ‘the primary barrier to non-UK personnel gaining a commission in the Army.’ 

The leaked document noted that the Army ‘struggles to attract talent from ethnic minority backgrounds into the officer corps.

Mr Shapps is said to be ‘genuinely furious about this woke nonsense’ and does not believe such policies are the way to address the military’s recruitment crisis. 

Meanwhile, fellow Cabinet minister Michael Gove said political correctness should not ‘impair our ability to defend our borders’. 

Mr Shapps said: ‘I am ordering a review of diversity and inclusivity policy at the MoD.

‘We want people from all backgrounds to serve in our military but some policies appear to be more about a political agenda than practically improving the lives of our dedicated soldiers and military personnel.

‘There will certainly not be any lowering of security clearance requirements on my watch.

‘And no-one should be offended by having religion as part of remembrance services. You don’t have to be Christian to appreciate and respect the history and traditions of the United Kingdom.’

A source close to the Defence Secretary said: ‘He’s determined it is rooted out on his watch. He’s ready to go to battle on it…

‘There are personnel issues that need addressing in the armed services but some of these policies are about a woke agenda.’

Vetting is a standard part of the process of becoming an officer in the British Army, and included counter-terrorism checks. 

Security clearance is described as being ‘the most common type of vetting process and determines that a person’s character and personal circumstances are such that they can be trusted to work in a position that involves long-term, frequent, and uncontrolled access to secret assets.’ 

The five-year period being a UK resident needed to gain security clearance was described as ‘prohibitive to overseas recruits’ applying for officer and intelligence roles. 

The leaked document said that while people from Commonwealth countries can serve in the British Army, just 131 officers from outside of British serve. 

Of these, just 28 are recorded as being from ethnic minority backgrounds, while the rest are white Irish or white Commonwealth.  

A group of former Army officials have since signed a letter to the UK’s defence minister, Grant Shapps, calling the updated policy ‘dangerous madness.’

The letter’s signatories, which include former Royal Marine’s head Lieutenant General Sir Henry Beverly and Major General Tim Cross, who was the highest-ranking British officer to be involved in the reconstruction of Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein, said: ‘The Russians, Iranians and Chinese will be observing our descent into self-hatred and obsessing over diversity and inclusion with glee. 

‘These intolerable policies are forcing the British Armed Forces into moral disarmament and it cannot stand.’

Housing Secretary Michael Gove told Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that equity and inclusion policies should not ‘impair our ability to defend our borders’. 

 ‘Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, has been looking at the specific policies we have in the Ministry of Defence in order to ensure that we strike the right balance, that we provide protection for individuals in our armed forces, that we make sure that we draw all the talent available in this country to ensure that we have a strong and diverse military. 

‘But also to make sure that these policies operate in such a way as to ensure that political correctness, or some of the more – what’s the word? – ‘out there’ approaches that people take towards diversity, equity and inclusion don’t impair our ability to defend our borders and to make sure that this country is secure.’ 

The Army has come under scrutiny for its inability to hire people at all levels of service. 

Outsourcing giant Capita, which is in charge of recruitment for the Army, recommended that it should ditch or loosen restrictions on hiring soldiers with tattoos and those with a history of asthma to solve its recruitment crisis. 

The firm told a defence select committee inquiry into the recruitment of youngsters that many were waiting 150 days to join the Army, partly caused by the medical assessments they have to undertake. 

Its representatives told MPs that would-be recruits were being ‘attracted elsewhere’ as the time taken to be accepted was so long that they were finding other jobs in the meantime, amid ominous warnings that the Army, Navy and Marines are all ‘haemorrhaging’ troops faster than they can be recruited. 

An MoD spokesman said: ‘Our priority is protecting the national security of the United Kingdom and ensuring the operational effectiveness of our armed forces.

‘We take security extremely seriously and ensure that all personnel have the appropriate security clearance, which is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.’

A top US general also warned that the UK’s shrinking army is ‘not what it used to be.’ 

A former senior US general has said that while the UK was still seen as America’s closest ally, it was also seen as ‘having diminished capabilities over the past couple of decades’.

They added: ‘Hence, while being the most important ally across the board, it is decidedly not what it used to be, regrettably.’

Based on the current trends, the army will have just 52,000 troops in 10 years.

In a one year period up to September last year, the army’s strength plummeted from 79,139 to 75,983 as more soldiers left than started.

MailOnline has contacted the Ministry of Defence for comment.