“Outlandish” army diversity drives “could lead to battlefield failure”, a former army recruiter has said amid an ongoing ‘woke’ row over hiring policies.
Robert Clark, 36, is a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq – but he says the army’s controversial recruitment drives could undermine their former ‘Be the Best’ slogan.
Clark is now a recruiter, where he says he “dreads” having to use profile targeting “to fulfil woke targets”, and said the techniques used by recruiters do not transfer over to the armed forces.
“The army is not a civilian environment where woke policies can be implemented at the expense of meritocracy”, Clark said in the Telegraph.
Clark said the army's diversity-based hiring plan was "outlandish"
PA/Getty/GB News
He said there is an annual training day in the military where personnel learn about unconscious bias, ‘microaggressions’, safe spaces, pronouns and inclusion – which he described as “horrendous” and said “openly encourages” subordination which could lead to failure on the battlefield.
Clark also noted longer-term shifts in the army’s recruitment strategy, and criticised racially targeted recruitment drives like the army’s ‘Keeping my Faith’ ad campaign which he said “angered and infuriated” British Muslim soldiers and the forces’ “traditional talent pool” alike.
He said: “As a white male, I am well aware that the Army no longer actively tries to recruit men like me.
“The white working classes, who have historically formed the bedrock of the military and proved a formula for great battlefield successes over hundreds of years fighting our nation’s wars, are now routinely overlooked for those with a different skin colour.
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The MoD's 'Force for Inclusion' strategic pamphlet pushes for more minority representation across the forces
Ministry of Defence
“They feel rejected and unrespected, as they should, in a culture now promoting ethnicity and gender over meritocracy.”
The Ministry of Defence fronts their 12-year diversity plan with the phrase “Defence harnesses the power of difference to deliver capability that safeguards our nation’s security and stability”.
But this week’s news that the army was looking to ‘ease security checks’ on foreign recruits to boost representation in the intelligence and officer corps drew widespread condemnation – not least from senior military and government figures.
Clark said the plan was “just the latest outlandish drive from the Army to boost its diversity and black and minority ethnic (BAME) quotas”.
Grant Shapps said diversity targets were "divisive woke culture" and "controversial leftist thinking"
PAHe continued: “The idea that we should, simply to meet woke targets, be forced to recruit our nation’s soldiers, sailors or airmen from overseas when we have a huge untapped population in the UK is simply ridiculous. More than this, it is outright dangerous.”
But Clark offered a solution: a recruitment drive from the Commonwealth, whose “brilliant” soldiers can be fast-tracked to citizenship and training – which would prevent Britain’s enemies from “reap[ing] the rewards” of “pointless inclusion targets”.
His column echoes Defence Secretary Grant Shapps’ reaction to the foreign security checks fiasco.
Shapps said in the Daily Express: “The details of some of the suggested plans that have been revealed this weekend are not about protecting personnel or improving working conditions for minority groups.“They are about a divisive woke culture and the gradual introduction of controversial leftist thinking into the military workplace which threatens to distract us from our core mission – being a lethal force that can defeat our enemies.
“So let me reassure people: there will be no lowering of security standards on my watch for any reason.”
An MoD spokesperson 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.”