ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

ANNA JONES: We can now talk to the Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond, on this very important day, Remembrance Sunday, but before we turn to that if I can just ask you a question, having just talked to Lord Patten, about what you make of the resignation of the Director General of the BBC, George Entwhistle?

PHILIP HAMMOND: Well it is obviously very regrettable that so soon after coming into the job this has hit him but he has made the right decision, I think it is the honourable thing to do and now the BBC needs to focus relentlessly on rebuilding its reputation for integrity and proper quality in investigative journalism.

AJ: Let’s turn our attention to the reason why you’re there, to Remembrance Day. How important is this day?

PH: Well it is tremendously important because today we are not merely remembering the millions of people who gave their lives in the two World Wars but all those who have died since the end of the Second World War and who in Afghanistan are continuing to make the ultimate sacrifice on a weekly basis and it is very important that younger generations remember the sacrifice of the World Wars and that the whole nation is brought together to remember the sacrifice that is being made right now in the defence of our country by the young men and women of our armed forces.

AJ: And of course you have responsibility for major decisions which affect our armed forces so what particular resonance does a day like this have for you?

PH: Well I think the key decision that we’ve taken, the big moral decision that we’ve taken at the very beginning was that if we are asking men and women of our armed forces to place ourselves in danger, we have to be able to equip them properly, to give them the protective kit that they need and that has meant making some tough decisions to ensure that we have armed forces of a size that we can afford to equip properly, it’s a moral imperative that we equip them properly and that has meant that we have had to accept that our armed forces will be smaller than we would ideally like them to be in the future but they will be extremely well equipped and I think that is critically important that those people, when they are going into combat on our behalf, know that they have the very best equipment that money can buy them.

AJ: There is no doubt huge public support for our armed forces across the country, you only have to look at the kind of support that charities like Help the Heroes get for example but do you accept that there is a growing feeling in this country that the public wants to see an end to fighting in Afghanistan?

PH: Yes, I do understand and of course that is what we plan to do. We have a very clear strategy for ending our combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, that’s just over two years’ time. During that time we will be drawing our forces down, I expect to see significant numbers coming home during the course of next year, but we are going to protect the legacy that so many of our service people have died for by ensuring that the Afghan forces are able to take over their role from them so we are building very large and well trained and well equipped Afghan forces to contain the insurgency after we’ve left and to protect the legacy that we have achieved.

AJ: Philip Hammond, Secretary of State for Defence, we appreciate your time this morning, thank you for joining us on Murnaghan.

PH: Thank you.