Appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1985, he became Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Programmes and Personnel) on 2 January 1985 in the rank of lieutenant general and was then was promoted to the rank of general from 29 June. He was appointed as Commander-in-Chief, United Kingdom Land Forces at about the same time. He was appointed Aide-de-Camp General to the Queen on 6 October 1987 and advanced to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1988. His last appointment was as Chief of the General Staff from 10 September 1988. He served in this post, in which he provided military advice to the British Government on the conduct of the Gulf War, until he retired with promotion to field marshal on 13 February 1992.