Commenting on David Cameron’s confirmation that Sir Richard Dannatt would join a Conservative Government, former Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Menzies Campbell said:
“It is understandable that Sir Richard Dannatt as a non-politician may not appreciated the consequences of his actions, but there is no excuse for David Cameron. He must surely have known that an appointment of this kind so soon after Sir Richard left the Ministry of Defence was not only bound to be controversial but was wholly contrary to the conventions and the spirit in which senior military officers operate, whose duty is to the crown not to any particular party or to themselves.
“The constitutional implications of this appointment will reverberate for a long time. From this point on everything that senior military commanders say will be examined microscopically to see if political bias can be identified.â€
