Articles | SAS commander quits

SAS chief slammed for quiting

Published: Saturday, 1 November 2008, 9:38AM

A Government minister has hit back at an SAS commander who reportedly resigned in disgust at the state of equipment provided to British troops in Afghanistan.

Defence Equipment Minister Quentin Davies dismissed Major Sebastian Morley's reported complaints as a "travesty" which he found hard to take entirely seriously.

It has been reported that Major Morley had decided to quit following the deaths of four of his soldiers who were killed when their lightly armoured Snatch Land Rover hit a landmine in Helmand province earlier this year.

However, Mr Davies suggested that such incidents could be the result of commanders on the ground sending out their troops in the wrong vehicles with the wrong equipment.

He also challenged the suggestion that Major Morley, who commanded D Squadron, 23 SAS in Afghanistan, had repeatedly raised his concerns with the Whitehall officials and senior commanders.

Mr Davies said: "I have asked several questions in the ministry and no one can trace any such communication from him. Maybe we will come up with it but it does seem rather surprising, the whole of that aspect."

In his resignation letter, Major Morley was said to have blamed "chronic under investment" in equipment by the MoD for the deaths Corporal Sarah Bryant - the first female soldier to die in Afghanistan - and three male colleagues, the SAS soldiers, Corporal Sean Reeve, Lance Corporal Richard Larkin and Paul Stout.

The report said that he believed the MoD was guilty of "gross negligence" and that its failure to supply better equipment was "cavalier at best, criminal at worst".