Baroness Annabel Goldie, the former Scottish Conservative leader, has defended the use of the military to plug gaps in the under-pressure health service and supply chain.
Speaking to us at RAF Leuchars, the UK defence minister said the military’s primary role is to protect the country – but also to deal with some internal problems.
Her comments come after 114 personnel were drafted in to help ease the growing ambulance crisis.
Hundreds were also deployed around the UK to drive fuel tankers to petrol stations.
Soldiers helped set up emergency hospitals in the early stages of the pandemic and oversaw some testing facilities.
The military help was welcomed but it led to political accusations of government failure.
The military exists to recognise a problem, analyse the problem, work out a solution, and deliver the solution. And by golly, they do that in spades.
– Annabel Goldie
Baroness Goldie said: “Our military’s primary obligation is to protect the UK both internationally and nationally.
“They keep us safe 24/7 but they also have another important role if challenges confront us internally within the UK – they have a role to perform in helping us out with that.”
She said the challenge could be “anything”, adding: “It could be flooding, or it could be as we have seen the Covid pandemic, which has been such a horrific experience for us all.
“The military has demonstrated their extraordinary capacity and their particular skills.
“The military exists to recognise a problem, analyse the problem, work out a solution, and deliver the solution.
“And by golly, they do that in spades.”
Key obligation is protecting the country
However, the former MSP said this role must never be “with prejudice” to the military’s primary objective of protecting the entire country.
She added: “We owe them a huge thanks for the contribution they have made.
“But that is never with prejudice to their fundamental obligation to protect the country and keep us safe.
“Strategic planning at headquarters ensures that is properly balanced, so we get the best of both worlds with their skills and expertise, and also when called upon to come to our aid in communities the length and breadth of the UK.
“And the public’s reaction is they are welcome – they get a terrific reaction and they are regarded with huge affection, and quite rightly so.”
‘Catastrophic failure’
She was speaking days after MSPs raised more concern about the need for military help.
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said the “spectacle” of soldiers drafted in to drive ambulances showed “catastrophic failure” to re-mobilise the NHS in Scotland.
In England, UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “failure” to get a grip of a lorry driver shortage could “ruin Christmas”.
Announcing a request for help in September, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon apologised to people who were forced to wait hours for emergency service help.
“Military assistance is already being provided to ambulance services in England, and of course we have had military assistance for other aspects of the pandemic over the past 18 months,” she added.
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