He also criticised Tony Blair for allowing himself to be effectively overruled by Brown and said of Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, then CDS, that "although brilliant at what he did, [he] could not have been expected to understand the sights, sounds and smells of the battlefield".
He criticized Tony Blair for being dominated by Gordon Brown, and he remarked about Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, then the Chief of Defence Staff, that "although highly skilled in his role, he could not have been expected to comprehend the sensory experience of warfare".