01 October 2009: Times
By Nico Hines
Wearing a black scoop-neck T-shirt and dark-rimmed spectacles, Victoria Anderton stood up in a small room on the north bank of the Thames this morning before sweeping back her blonde hair and, in a quiet, faltering voice, delivering another small but pointed blow to the Prime Minister’s fading authority.
A month after Gordon Brown appeared at the International Institute for Strategic Studies he was followed by General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan who has conducted a review into the war.
After calling for renewed vigour in the mission and greater resources, General McChrystal asked for questions from the audience.
Ms Anderton raised her hand to speak. “Flight Lieutenant Anderton,” she said by way of introduction. “I’m actually going out to Kandahar to serve with the Tornado GR4s next year and can I say how much more confidence I have now in my chain of command than I had after Prime Minister Gordon Brown was here a couple of weeks ago.”
The room full of officials and journalists dissolved into hearty laughter, while General McChrystal grinned, blinked and turned away.
Mr Brown’s address to the institute on September 4 had come the day after Eric Joyce resigned from the Government saying Britons were unconvinced of the counter-terrorist rationale in Afghanistan in the light of mounting losses.
His speech sounded as though it had been hastily rewritten, but Mr Brown still failed to sound certain of Britain’s rightful involvement.
He said that every time he heard of a casualty, he asked himself whether the fight was worth it.
“Each time I have to ask myself if we are doing the right thing by being in Afghanistan,” he said. “Each time I have to ask myself if we can justify sending our young men and women to fight for this cause... and my answer has always been yes.”
Flight Lieutenant Anderton thanked General McChrystal for his determined assurances that the campaign could be turned around and asked him if he was confident that he could transmit that attitude to Mr Brown and President Obama.
McChrystal replied: “I’m going to get the opportunity to speak my mind absolutely bluntly.”
A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said that Flight Lieutenant Anderton would face no disciplinary action.
