He was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Land Command in the rank of general on 12 March 1996 and, having been appointed ADC General to the Queen on 6 December 1996 and advanced to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the New Year Honours List 1997, made Chief of the General Staff (CGS) on 3 February 1997. As CGS, he was responsible for implementing the Strategic Defence Review after the new Labour Government came to power as well as providing strategic military advice to the British Government on the deployment of troops for the Kosovo War and in connection with the formation of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor before he retired from the British Army in 2000.