The decision to get personal with Mr Howard came after he put the Government on the

The decision to “get personal” with Mr Howard came after he put the Government on the defensive over Gypsy sites in his party’s latest offensive.Alan Milburn, Labour’s campaign co-ordinator, said: “Leadership is not about riding shotgun on the latest bandwagon to roll into town. Labour branded Michael Howard a “serial opportunist” who jumps on every passing bandwagon as it tried to derail his pre-election campaign on a range of populist issues.
Ministers questioned the judgement of the Tory leader as they fought back against a series of successful “guerrilla attacks” by the Opposition on issues including immigration, crime, pensioners’ council tax bills and the case of Margaret Dixon, the woman whose shoulder operation was cancelled several times. Among the measures being considered, he said, was an independent complaints commission, a move resisted by some in the defence hierarchy who say it will undermine the chain of command.The reports, by the Commons Defence Committee and the second by the Adult Learning Institute (ALI) on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, followed the deaths of four soldiers at Deepcut barracks in Surrey. The ALI investigation, the most comprehensive on the MoD’s duty of care, found serious problems ranging from suicides of young soldiers and abuse by inspectors to accommodation that was “little better than slums”.The investigation found that at least 10 per cent of military personnel suffered bullying, although the actual number was likely to be higher because “the number of complaints recorded is too low to be credible”. A senior soldier caused outrage yesterday when he said Army recruits were of low intelligence and therefore more likely to commit suicide. Despite directives, many bases have not appointed an equal opportunities officer.. and recycling the worst aspects of military culture”.The ALI also said racial taunts were dismissed as mere banter and part of a “tradition of nicknames”.

It is an insult to the soldiers who died and Lt-Gen Palmer is a disgrace. The defence select committee found there was a catalogue of failures of duty of care … but here is this general just absolving responsibility for anything.”It is no wonder the British Army is in such a state with people like him at the top. Is he inferring that the army are taking on less intelligent people and expecting them to commit suicide?The latest indictment of Army practice came in a study commissioned by the Government, prompting the Armed Forces minister, Adam Ingram, to immediately stress that action would be taken.

The criticism is the second time in less than two weeks that the Army has been accused of failing in its duty of care to recruits.The inquiry found high suicide rates among those under 20 in the Army, 1.7 times more than civilians, five times more than the Navy and three times more than the RAF. Lt- Gen Palmer said at a press conference in London yesterday: “There is statistically a predisposition to self harm and suicide among the less intelligent and by and large the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy recruit at a higher level of educational attainment than the army.”But Geoff Gray, the father of a Deepcut soldier who was found dead at the barracks in 2001, said: “It is very rare I am lost for words but this has incensed me. The comments, from Lieutenant-General Anthony Palmer, the Army’s deputy chief of defence staff (personnel), came on the day a report accusing the British military of an appalling failure in its duty of care over the treatment of recruits was published. The issue overshadowed Labour’s launch of a mini-manifesto for children which was intended to switch the spotlight on to the party’s pledge to eradicate child poverty by 2020.The document says shopkeepers who sold cigarettes to under-16s would face fixed penalty fines and those who persistently flouted the law would be banned from selling them.Tim Collins, the Shadow Education Secretary, said: “On school meals, what we need are genuine solutions, not more pre-election gimmicks.”.