Monday, January 21, 2019 - 10:50 Leo Olivero

MOD Minister informs Lords of another on-going wider review of GDP’s future

EXCLUSIVE

One important news story today is that currently, there is yet another, this time wider review of the GDP. Another organisational evaluation it seems to look at the future of the Gibraltar Defence Police. This would be the third review in less than 12 months!

After over two years of serious and often intense industrial unrest and internal turbulence between the GDP workforce and the MoD that as intimated already has resulted in two separate completed reviews of the MOD the first commissioned by the previous CBF Mike Walliker which produced 44 recommendations. Subsequently, Walliker unusually presented the outcome of the review to the press.

Certain Things Never Felt or Looked Right

I later reported in Panorama, and quoting from my report “From a media perspective certain things have never felt or looked right at all ‘like when CBF called a rather impromptu and quite strange press call at HM Naval Base last year to announce the result of an internal investigation he had commissioned that was conducted by two UK MoD senior police officers. At that press call, and according to CBF at the time who personally informed me that 44 recommendations had been proposed for implementation by the investigation team. Yet, at this less then regular one-to-one press call only 3 or 4 recommendations were verbally made public.

The so-called 44 recommendations were not made public. Because I suspected at that stage, the obviously stage-managed press call which CBF had cooked up obviously suited the manner he was driving or handling the GDP issue! He probable thought all the local press would not catch on. But Panorama did!

Not many months after this. I also penned in this newspaper, another exclusive titled “UK Joint Forces General Intervenes in CBF’s Handling of GDP Issue” where it was exclusively revealed that the military top command in the United Kingdom had potentially suspected things were not quite right in Gibraltar or how the then CBF was communicating in his weekly update reports to JFC in Northwood.

In fact, Panorama knew from informed sources that as a result of certain communication received at ‘Joint Forces Command’ (JFC) Northwood HQ London General Sir Chris Deverell, Commander of the UK’s Joint Forces Command subsequently set the wheels in motion where a senior civil servant at JFC was tasked to commission another ‘investigation or review as Panorama was told.

This exclusive information contained in that Panorama report was never denied by the MoD in fact the SECOND review ordered by JFC with in months of the FIRST review commissioned by the CBF (Walliker) we can today again exclusively confirm is followed by a THIRD wider review (currently taking place) this time commissioned by the Minister of State for the Armed Forces Mark Lancaster!

Three Different Reviews in 12 Months

How is this extraordinary situation possible, that within a period of less then 12 months three different reviews have been commissioned to evaluate an organisation that has less then 100-complement of staff?