Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary is a member of the National Security Council. The head of the Navy is not a member. During a recent visit to Nepal, Mr Mitchell said that British spending on projects getting more girls into school in Somalia contributed directly to our security and should be a source of national pride, presumably on the flimsy basis that a little education means they won't become suicide bombers when they grow up.

Spending on overseas aid will increase by a third to £11bn per annum by 2014/15. Meanwhile, defence spending is being cut by 8% and, as a result, we will shortly have a Navy with just 30 capital ships (two helicopter carriers, two amphibious ships [one mothballed], 19 frigates and destroyers and seven fleet submarines), but no fixed-wing carriers.

With Iran threatening to close the Straits of Hormuz thereby disrupting oil and gas supplies to Britain and Europe, the Type-23 frigate HMS Argyll recently transited the Straits with a US Navy task force. William Hague, Foreign Secretary, told the Commons that Britain had contingency plans for sending further naval forces to the Persian Gulf. And where does he expect to find those forces? If Mr Hague would care to visit Devonport, he will find the disgraceful sight of two fully modernised and vitally- needed Type-22 frigates being stripped of vital equipment, before disposal. The other two, in similar state, ride at anchor at Portsmouth. All four were shamefully decommissioned in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) of October 2010, thereby saving money which is now apparently being spent on educating girls in Somalia.

Lastly, we have our recently appointed Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, who, in January, said that until our new carriers come into service by 2020 at the earliest, Britain can utilise our extensive basing and over-flight rights to project decisive air-power. Yet where were those friendly air bases during the Falklands War, the first Gulf War or the Sierra Leone campaign? They did not exist, which was why we and the US Navy operated aircraft carriers. In 2012 we no longer have any.