Fury as woke Ministry of Defence spends £3.4 million on diversity staff

Data shows 62 full-time staff were employed by MoD civil servants and Britain’s armed forces.

Salaries of full-time employees working on diversity and inclusion have soared by more than 277% since 2019 when £900,000 was spent on wages, according to freedom of information requests.

The revelation comes as Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to increase defence spending.

Leading military voices have expressed their dismay at the MoD’s priorities and costs during the previous administration.

Rear Admiral Chris Parry, former Nato Commander told Talk, who carried out the investigation: “It's just expensive box-ticking and senior officers toadying to politicians. Furthermore, it doesn't contribute to frontline output in any way.”

Philip Ingram, Former Senior Military Intelligence Officer, said: “The MoD spends too much employing people at senior and woke levels to write amazing diversity and inclusiveness policies.

“Political correctness has become a disabling component of defence rather than something that adds to the people.

“Wokeness across the MoD is impacting operational capability and distracting from real issues, where some women are being abused and not gives equal opportunities no matter what senior officer say is happening”

Speaking on Talk, former RAF fighter pilot Tim Davies said: “I don't see it changing. I do think it's a massive waste at a time when resources are absolutely critical in the military.

“The way that we socially engineer the military is done by, I will say it, idiots at the top who have no idea what they're doing. The military is a meritocracy. It has to be, unfortunately, because if you're not good enough, you just die. And I think the fact that we're not talking more about this just proves basically how stupid people in command positions, or leadership within our government actually are. They have no idea.”

Some 46 of those employed are within the MoD’s Main Civil Service branch, costing the taxpayer an astonishing £2.5million.

While the three Armed Forces branches collectively employed 16 full time staff collectively earning £853,799.59.

In 2019, just 20 military personnel worked solely on diversity and inclusion - a third of current levels.

Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "Taxpayers will be up in arms about the surge in diversity demagogues in the UK's military.

"The armed forces have been starved for resources in recent years, and there are understandably calls to boost defence spending given global threats, yet this indefensible waste won't give succour to those concerned about whether more money will be used efficiently and responsibly.

"The new government should show how seriously it takes concerns around value for money by ditching these unnecessary roles."

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “In a competitive age, our strength lies in the talent and skills of our people. We want to recruit and retain the best people drawn from the broadest diversity of skills and background.”