‘Unbelievable’ waste and inefficiency at MoD, says ex-defence minister Al Carns

Al Carns said every time he would ‘turn a stone over’ at the MoD he would get another shock. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Al Carns said every time he would ‘turn a stone over’ at the MoD he would get another shock. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian ‘Unbelievable’ waste and inefficiency at MoD, says ex-defence minister Al Carns Exclusive: Carns, who quit last week, says he was angered by unwillingness to confront sunk costs of legacy programmes There is “unbelievable” waste and inefficiency at the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the former armed forces minister Al Carns has said, adding that every time he would “turn a stone over” he would get another shock. Carns said that during his time as a defence minister he had been angered by the unwillingness to confront the sunk costs of legacy programmes – and suggested mismanaged programmes such as tanks investment should be scrapped in favour of new technology. In an interview with the Guardian, the former special forces soldier said Labour had “one chance” to change and seek new leadership but was scathing about the situation the party found itself in. “I don’t think we could have got this more wrong – but we’re in it now. My goodness, make the change once if you’re going to, get on with it and get the country back on track,” he said. Carns, who quit as a defence minister after John Healey resigned as defence secretary last Thursday, has been widely discussed as a potential leadership candidate. But he said he was more interested in sparking a policy debate than becoming prime minister: “If we get that policy debate wrong, we are not going to win in two-and-a-half years’ time. And we’re going to hand the country to a potentially far-right party that will split the nation apart.” Carns, 46, said he had fundamentally disagreed with the direction of the defence investment plan (Dip), suggesting he had not quit to support Healey but to make his own public interventions. Healey said the Treasury was unwilling to adequately fund defence and the prime minister was unable to force through tough decisions. But Carns said he had some sympathies with the criticisms of the Dip – though he said he had only been allowed sight of the plans a fortnight ago. “I looked at it and I was like, no, no, no, no,” he said. “I ran out of road of where people will either listen to me or enact a change that I need.” New defence secretary to ‘reprioritise’ UK plan for military spending, say sources Read more He said despite his time in the MoD before becoming an MP, he had been shocked at the inefficiency. “It is unbelievable. You turn a stone over and get another shock – how has that been allowed to go on? “And you turn another stone over, and it is just layers of bureaucracy which now cost us more than the product you’re getting itself. I can’t describe the level of inefficiency in the system that we’ve been left with and we’re trying to unpeel. But it’s actually exceptionally difficult to do.” He