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‘Stitch-up' or scandal? What triggered the downfall of Britain's Sea Lord

‘Stitch-up' or scandal? What triggered the downfall of Britain's Sea Lord

Yahoo13-05-2025
Convened in a grand 19th-century mansion overlooking Buckingham Palace, the First Sea Lord's annual Sea Power Conference is a vivid reminder that Britannia did indeed once rule the waves. Within the imperial staterooms of Lancaster House, the Royal Navy's flagship conference attracts military VIPs from across the globe, discussing how Britain and her allies can steady an ever more unstable world. There is even a 'First Sea Lord's essay competition', offering a £1,000 prize for a well-argued strategy paper on how the Royal Navy might best deal with specific security threats.
This year, however, the august gathering – due to start on May 12 – was postponed at the last minute because of a keynote speaker dropping out. No, not a Ukrainian admiral sidetracked by urgent business in the Black Sea, or a tetchy Trump envoy throwing a hissy fit. Instead, it was the host himself, First Sea Lord Adml Sir Ben Key – whom, delegates were informed last week, had 'had to step back from all his duties for private reasons'.
The Ministry of Defence declined at first to elaborate, prompting speculation that Sir Ben was perhaps gravely ill. But on Friday, it confirmed he had stepped down while claims of an extramarital affair with a female subordinate are investigated.
It is the first time in the Navy's 500-year history that its First Sea Lord has faced a formal misconduct probe – which is perhaps surprising, given the reputation Royal Navy commanders had, in centuries past, for floggings, drunkenness and occasional acts of piracy.
Yet while it has been portrayed as a straightforward HR matter – the Navy forbids commanders having relationships with underlings – some suspect the reasons for his departure may have been rather murkier. A popular officer among the ranks, Sir Ben was said to be unhappy over planned cuts to the Navy, and was rumoured to have clashed with the Chief of the Defence Staff, Adml Sir Tony Radakin, over priorities. With Labour tipped to publish its long-awaited strategic defence review (SDR) in coming weeks – one that few expect to offer much new cash – there is speculation that the disciplinary proceedings might have been brought about, at least partly, to silence him.
'I think he has been stitched up to get him out of the picture,' one unnamed Naval source told the Mail on Sunday. 'He had constantly raised questions about the delays with new ships, funding for recruiting and the lack of frigates, and he was told to keep quiet. Now he can't say a thing.'
The MoD has declined to comment further, as has Sir Ben, 59, who has two sons and a daughter with his wife, Elly. But whether well-informed or not, the unproven speculation could barely have come at a worse time for the Government, as it tries to persuade both Britain and the world that the Navy will remain a serious global player.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, amid growing threats from Russia and China, but many experts believe that figure should be twice that. With Donald Trump refusing to act as a Nato backstop, British Navy chiefs feel their own role in Europe's security architecture is now even more important. Their thinking is that Continental powers, particularly Poland and Germany, should focus on land forces, while Britain, as a longstanding naval force, counters Russian threats in the waters off north-west Europe.
The possible future combat scenarios were laid bare in the topics for this year's Sea Lord's essay competition, which included: 'What if China, Russia, Iran or North Korea cut data cables to the UK?' and 'What if the UK has to defend the North Atlantic alone?' Yet, after decades of peace-time cuts, some commanders doubt the Navy even has the capacity to defend Britain's own waters, let alone project power across the Baltics or protect Taiwan.
Last November, Defence Secretary John Healey said he would scrap two amphibious assault ships and a frigate as part of £500 million in short-term savings, while there is also talk of mothballing aircraft carriers amid fears they are too vulnerable to underwater drones.
The downsizing of the Navy is something that Sir Ben has witnessed first hand, having joined the force as a cadet in 1984, at the height of the Cold War. He went on to command a mine hunter, two frigates and the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. In 2019, he became the UK's Commander of Joint Operations, supervising British evacuation efforts from Afghanistan after the Taliban took power in 2021, before taking over as First Sea Lord from Sir Tony later that year. Until recently, he was considered a frontrunner to succeed Sir Tony as Chief of the Defence Staff, the Armed Forces' top job.
Officers who have served with Sir Ben speak well of him, although there is by no means consensus over whether he was the victim of a 'stitch-up'. They point out that the Navy, as with the rest of the Armed Forces, has a zero-tolerance stance on officers having affairs with subordinates, given the close-knit working environment on ships and submarines. For low-ranking officers, an illicit liaison could lead to allegations of favouritism. For top-ranking commanders, there could be a risk of blackmail. They also point out that Sir Ben himself had been vocal on sexual propriety.
Last October, he publicly apologised for 'intolerable' misogyny in the Submarine Service, after investigations exposed sexual harassment within its ranks. He returned to the theme in March, telling a Parliamentary defence committee that 'unwelcome sexual behaviours' were being stamped out.
'I don't think there is any stitch-up here – he had a sexual liaison with a subordinate in his chain of command, having dismissed others who did the same,' one former rear admiral says. 'First Sea Lords have more important things to do with their lives than have clandestine affairs.'
Others, though, are sad to see the back of a popular commander-in-chief, and do not rule out the possibility that the affair allegations have been used as an excuse to sideline him.
'There is literally nothing left to cut in the Navy without taking an axe to the body itself, and he may have been resistant to that,' says one source. 'It might have been that a colleague dobbed him in to bring about his downfall.'
In fact, uncertainty had been surrounding Sir Ben's future since well before last week. In January, The Times reported that he intended to retire this summer rather than apply to succeed Sir Tony, citing sources who said he no longer believed he could 'fix the Navy'. His office then contradicted this, briefing journalists that he was committed to managing whatever changes lay ahead.
There is, however, potential for disagreement over how those changes are implemented, particularly when tight budgets force a focus on certain priorities at the expense of others. Among the big expenditure programmes are the new Dreadnought submarines, which will replace the ageing Vanguard fleet as carriers of Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent, and Type 83 destroyers, which will have enhanced air defence capabilities, including against hypersonic missiles. But Sir Tony and Sir Ben may have differed over how much to invest in 'next generation' weapons, especially unmanned air and sea drones.
'Radakin had quite a radical agenda for rapid modernisation, pushing AI and unmanned systems, but you still need ocean-going ships, as drones can't just fly for thousands of miles, especially in extreme weather,' says one source. 'There is a balancing act between retaining the older systems and bringing in new tech – plus ships can take 10 years to build, so you have to plan ahead.'
'Sadly, successive governments have failed to invest properly in defence, and believed naively that the US was going to protect everyone for ever, ' adds ex-Royal Naval commander Ryan Ramsey, a former captain of the submarine HMS Turbulent. 'Radakin and Key are both good guys – maybe there is some politics at play here, but frankly, even if that turns out not to be true, the damage has already been done.'
The mood in the top ranks is unlikely to be improved by reports that the soon-to-be-published SDR contains no specific costings, potentially delaying key spending decisions in the autumn. Critics say Starmer's Government is needlessly prolonging the process, mindful that hiking defence spending is unpopular with Labour's Left.
'Ben Key probably wanted to retire because he was just tired,' added another former comrade. 'Running the Navy is OK when there's money around, but when you're firefighting against cuts all the time, it's just exhausting.'
Meanwhile, the search is now on for a replacement for Sir Ben, who may end up finishing an otherwise distinguished career in disgrace if this is indeed the end of his association with the Navy, as appears to be the case.
The current Second Sea Lord, Vice-Admiral Sir Martin Connell, has taken his place as Acting First Sea Lord, although there is as yet no new date for the Sea Power Conference at Lancaster House. It remains to be seen whether the essay contest will be revised to include the topic: 'What does a Navy do if it loses its top commander overnight?'
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Powell's determination to serve out his term through May 2026 ensures he will remain the target of a White House-led attacks on the Fed, which has faced intensifying pressure to cut interest rates. That coordinated effort has put the central bank's traditionally staid decision-making under intense scrutiny — and raised fresh concerns about the potential economic consequences of meddling with monetary policy for political purposes. A low-key economic expert who did a stint in the George H.W. Bush administration, Powell has earned a reputation over more than a decade at the Fed as studiously non-partisan 'straight shooter' who relies on reams of data to make decisions, according to people who worked with him. His detachment from day-to-day politics, despite what one of the people described as his moderately conservative learnings, helped Powell earn bipartisan support in the Senate when Trump nominated him to chair the Fed in 2017. 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The White House in recent weeks has spent significant time spotlighting the price tag of a renovation project at the Fed, launching investigations into the cost overruns for the $2.5 billion project and suggesting it could be a fireable offense. On Thursday, Trump sought to press the issue by traveling to the Fed to tour the construction, where Powell personally escorted him around. The Fed chair stood by as Trump advocated for rate cuts, at one point laughing awkwardly as the president slapped him on the back and said he'd 'love him to lower interest rates.' 'I just want to see one thing happen,' Trump said later. 'Interest rates have to come down.' Despite the criticism, Trump reiterated that he has no plans to fire Powell — his advisers have warned that doing so would tank the financial markets and spark an economic crisis. But Trump and his aides have instead sought to make Powell's tenure as painful as possible to undermine his credibility and potentially even drive him to quit. Trump allies have homed in on the Fed's pricey renovation, viewing it as a particularly potent weapon. (Trump has pushed his own renovations at the White House, albeit on a much smaller scale.) Still, his allies argue that they can use the Fed project to increase public pressure on Powell by contrasting the hefty spending on the Fed headquarters with everyday Americans' struggles to afford homes — something they point out could be alleviated if the central banker would cut interest rates. 'Every day that Jerome Powell is in Washington is a gift to the president,' said one Trump adviser, who likened the pressure campaign to boiling a frog. 'Either Jerome Powell leaps or he boils.' A Federal Reserve spokesman declined to comment for this article, pointing instead to Powell's prior public pledges to serve the entirety of his term. Yet for all the furor coming from the White House, Powell has indicated to associates that he's keeping his head down. Publicly, he's remained solely focused on carrying out the Fed's work setting monetary policy without consideration of the political reverberations. That approach appeared to pay off at least temporarily on Thursday, with Trump backing off his harshest rhetoric following a conversation with Powell during the Fed construction tour that he described as a 'very productive talk.' 'There's always Monday morning quarterbacks, I don't want to be that,' Trump said afterward, declining to criticize the renovations that he and his aides had previously described as a scandal. 'It got out of control, and that happens.' The détente may not hold much longer, with the Fed widely expected to hold rates steady next week and delay any shift in policy until the fall. That decision is likely to infuriate Trump, who has fixated on cutting rates as a way to further juice the economy ahead of next year's midterm elections. But in both private and public, Powell has shrugged off the political implications, emphasizing the need to stick solely to the economic considerations that have long guided the Fed. 'The best defense for the Fed is to get the policy right,' said Bill English, a Yale professor and former director of the Fed's division of monetary affairs. 'I feel sorry for the guy, but the best he can do at this point is hang tough and do the best job he can on monetary policy.' Outside of Trump's orbit, Powell's resolve to finish his term has won praise from Democrats — including many who had previously criticized him during the Biden era when the Fed kept raising rates to try to combat a surge of inflation. At the time, Powell's insistence on keeping rates higher for longer in pursuit of a so-called economic soft landing prompted consternation among some in the Biden White House and the broader Democratic Party who worried the approach would tip the country into a recession. But former officials have since rallied around him, anxious over the potential fallout should Powell decide to leave. 'He's putting the integrity of the institution above himself,' said Jared Bernstein, who chaired the Biden-era Council of Economic Advisers. 'If I were a 72-year-old guy who's getting verbally abused by the president on a daily basis, retirement would look pretty good. But I really believe that Powell is engaged in protecting the institution.' As for Republicans, some lawmakers wary of damaging the Fed's credibility have encouraged the White House to back off its criticisms, arguing that it'll benefit Trump more when Powell does begin lowering interest rates if it doesn't come amid a cloud of political pressure. Yet until that message breaks through, they're putting their faith in Powell — and hoping he stays true to his word. 'The vast majority of the members of the Senate are smart enough to have been in contact with the markets, they've observed the markets, they know what an impact it would be on the markets should there be any inkling that the Fed was being coerced,' said Rounds, the Republican senator. '[Powell's] in the right position. He's got a very tough position, but I respect him for the position he's taken.'

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