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Tory MPs to fire broadside at Coalition defence cuts
Rebel Conservative MPs have opened a new front against David Cameron by launching a campaign
to fight "devastating" defence cuts.
The size of the army is already set to fall from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2020
Members of the new group fear the military is now so depleted that it cannot comply with all of its obligations under
international treaties and would even be too weak to retake the Falkland Islands in the event of another Argentine invasion.
Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, has already slashed billions from the armed forces' budget, but senior Liberal
Democrats are now pushing for deeper defence cuts in the Government's spending review in the summer.
The size of the army is already set to fall from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2020.
Details of the backbench revolt, which has already attracted the support of 10 Tory MPs, comes just days after the Prime
Minister was criticised for sacking the head of a pay review body who recommended servicemen were given them a rise as
compensation for the Coalition's defence cuts.
John Baron, the Essex MP leading the new Tory faction, said they will urge the Prime Minister and other ministers to "think
again" about the severity of defence cuts in a high-profile campaign inside and outside Parliament over the coming months.