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| Philip Hammond … tough task |
Philip Hammond was named Britain’s new defence minister on Friday night following the resignation of Liam Fox, taking on the challenge of two overseas conflicts and major budget cuts.
The 55-year-old Conservative lawmaker was appointed transport minister when the coalition government took office in May 2010, but has now been moved into one of the toughest jobs in the cabinet.
Downing Street confirmed his appointment, saying his position at the department of transport would be filled by Justine Greening, a junior finance minister.
Hammond comes from a business background and has not taken the defence brief before, despite serving in numerous departments during the Conservative party’s 13 years of opposition, which began as he entered the House of Commons in 1997.
But commentators described him as a safe pair of hands, a “reassuringly boring” appointment to calm the waters at the MoD.
Hammond also proved his appetite for spending cuts during three years as the Tories’ Treasury spokesman, which will be useful in pushing through the planned eight-percent reduction in the defence budget in the next four years.
The Oxford-educated father-of-three becomes Britain’s seventh defence secretary in 10 years, and takes over at a sensitive time. Britain has about 9,500 troops in Afghanistan as part of the Nato-led operation against the Taliban, although they are due to be withdrawn by 2015.
British planes played a major role in the Nato campaign in Libya and Royal Air Force planes are still bombing the remnants of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.
“There are few more important jobs than Secretary of State for Defence, particularly when we’ve got our troops engaged on active service in two difficult campaigns,” junior defence minister Peter Luff told the BBC earlier. “Libya looks like it’s winding down, thank heavens, after the actions there. But Afghanistan is still a very lively, important theatre where our very brave servicemen and women are risking everything still for queen and country.”
Hammond worked in a variety of business environments, including manufacturing, property and construction and oil and gas, before becoming an MP in 1997.