Philip Hammond rebuked by Commons speaker over reserve army base closures

John Bercow accuses defence secretary of ‘utterly incompetent’ performance after his officials fail to distribute document to MPs

Philip Hammond, the defence secretary regarded as one of the cabinet’s safest pair of hands, was rebuked by the Commons speaker, John Bercow, after his officials failed to distribute a document to MPs on the closure of reserve army bases.

Bercow accused Hammond of a “woefully inadequate” and “utterly incompetent” performance after the shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, was forced to respond to a statement with no idea about which bases would close.

The speaker criticised the defence secretary on Wednesday after he announced that the number of army reserve bases would be cut by 26 – from 334 to 308 – as the government revamps the renamed Territorial Army. Hammond told MPs that the government would invest £1.8bn in the Army Reserve over the next 10 years as recruit numbers rise from 19,000 to 30,000. The government, which is to give reservists pension rights, is increasing their numbers to make up some of the shortfall as the regular army falls from just over 100,000 to just over 80,000.

The defence secretary said: “The result of the decisions I am announcing today is that the overall number of Army Reserve bases will be reduced from the current total of 334 to 308 – a net reduction of 26 sites. With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will distribute a summary sheet that identifies the reserve locations being opened and those being vacated.”

Murphy said he did not have the document on base closures. He told MPs: “The house does not have the luxury of possessing a list of the bases that the government intend to close, because that has not been shared with members on either side of the house.”

As Hammond tried to offer an explanation, the speaker cut him off and said he could respond later.

A few minutes later, when the document was finally distributed among MPs, the speaker said: “The administration of this matter has been woefully inadequate and, frankly, utterly incompetent. I have not known a worse example during my tenure as speaker. I know that the secretary of state has expressed himself in his usual, rather understated, terms, but I hope he genuinely does feel some sense of embarrassment and contrition at what has been a total mishandling by his department, for which he is solely responsible – it is as simple as that.”

Hammond said: “I am indeed embarrassed by what appears to have just occurred. I will be investigating precisely what has happened and I will write to you to let you know what has gone wrong. I understood that copies of the statement and copies of the spreadsheet would be distributed, and I apologise for the fact that that did not happen.”

General Sir Peter Wall, the chief of the general staff, welcomed the changes. He told reporters at a briefing: “This is a welcome and timely announcement.”