General Sir Graeme Lamb was once described to me by a senior officer as the “closest thing the British army has to a pirate”. With his latest scathing and brutally frank speech on Britain’s armed forces, he has certainly lived up to his reputation.

In one long blast, he has taken on Gordon Brown, the Treasury, defence officials, and the top ranks of the armed forces over the past decade. The complaints on equipment are timely given Brown’s Iraq inquiry appearance today. But his criticisms of the defence chiefs paint a more complicated picture than ‘Brown is to blame’. Anyway, before turning to exactly what he said, it’s worth reviewing his career.

Fondly known as “Lambo” by the troops, the former head of the SAS had a reputation for desert rollerblading, colourful turns of phrase (in his world Taliban commanders tend to “bleed from the eyes”) and fighting in the shadows. Read more