By Stefan Morkis

THERE WERE fresh calls for Britain’s second most senior soldier to quit yesterday after the contents of a controversial document he wrote advocating the dissolution of the single regiment system were revealed.

Lieutenant-General Sir Alistair Irwin, the British Army’s adjutant-general and Colonel of The Black Watch, wrote the 14-page strategy paper for the Executive Committee Army Board in May last year.

Sir Alistair’s document shows that he believed drastic changes were needed in the regimental system, more than a year before he and the colonels of the five other Scottish regiments began consulting on infantry reform in Scotland.

He has faced calls to resign since details of the document first began to come out over a week ago.

In the document, seen exclusively by The Courier, Sir Alistair—who last week attended the funeral of 21-year-old Glenrothes soldier Marc Ferns, killed while on duty with The Black Watch in Iraq—claims that single regiments are struggling to make ends meet on a manpower basis.

His document examines positive and negative points of the regimental system, but Sir Alistair makes it clear that he believes the best features can be retained, even if the total number of regiments are reduced.

Sir Alistair, who admits in the document that it is a highly personal evaluation and that he cannot hide from any criticism of it, also argues that the regimental system is irrelevant when it comes to fighting power.

He wrote, “New regiments and corps have been formed throughout our history ... There is no reason why this evolution should not continue, even if any change is bound to be painful and controversial.”

Although Sir Alistair does say in the document that the regional connections of the regiments, their names and traditions are all positive factors, he maintains that change is necessary and these do not need to be preserved.

“They are indeed important to us but they have no intrinsic rights to a permanent place in our existence,” he wrote. “Particular traditions and uniforms are neither good nor bad; they are certainly not worth including in the list of those things that need to be preserved.”

According to his report, the single regiment system has several flaws which need to be eliminated.

These include the loss of operation effectiveness through arms plotting —moving a regiment from one posting to another at regular intervals —which he says is caused by the current regimental system and is “one of those undesirable features that should only be tolerated if it is the inevitable consequence of preserving that which is best.

“Today’s single unit regiments struggle on a daily basis to make ends meet in manpower terms, regardless of their role of readiness state. In operational terms, to ask whether it is sensible for a high readiness unit in 1 (UK) Armoured Division to be short of a company’s worth of men (due to a lack of manning flexibility in single unit regiments), is to ask a question to which there is only one answer.”

Jeff Duncan from The Save the Scottish Regiments Campaign yesterday urged Sir Alistair to resign after “betraying” The Black Watch, the regiment he is supposed to represent.

“What this document proves is that Alistair Irwin was either tasked by ECAB or took it upon himself to write an ‘appreciation’ of the regimental system in which he essentially advocates the end of the single regimental system,” said Mr Duncan.

“Since the announcement from Geoff Hoon on the ending of the single regiments was made on July 21, Sir Alistair has made no opposition to the plans. Given his earlier involvement with this document from May, 2003, it is hardly surprising. He is a supporter of Government plans.

“The regiment he is supposed to represent and protect—The Black Watch—were fighting in Iraq and soldiers being killed whilst he sat back in the UK and drew up this document.

“Put simply, there is a battle going on for the survival of Scotland’s regiments and Alistair Irwin has thought he could put one foot on each side of the battlefield.

“The gap has widened ... He can no longer be a so-called defender of the regiments, in particular The Black Watch, and stay loyal to his employers, the MoD and the Government.

“I know it hard for some people to accept that Sir Alistair has effectively betrayed them, but the document speaks for itself. I personally think he should resign his position.”

A MoD spokesperson said last night that they did not comment on leaked reports but added, “Work is ongoing for the proposed reorganisation of the infantry. The results will be made public before the end of the year.”