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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now Professor Alastair Smith used to be head of the Armed Forces Pay Review body but not anymore. He controversially called for Armed Forces Pay to be increased so is that why his term as a Government Advisor wasn’t reviewed? Well, Professor Smith is with me now. A very good morning to you, first of all tell us what the body recommended for armed forces pay.  

ALASTAIR SMITH:    We recommended an overall increase of 1.5%. 1% of that was an increase in base pay that seem to us to be justified by the economic conditions, recruitment and retention and so on. But there are special features of the armed forces pay system called ‘x-factor’ which adds on a bit of extra pay to take account of the fact that jobs in the Armed Forces are really profoundly different from civilian jobs and looking at the increased pressures that members of the Armed Forces, and their families, have been subject to over recent years we decided that ‘x-factor’ should be increased by 0.5%.  

DM: That’s the ‘x-factor’, that extra 0.5%.  

AS:    And that’s how we got to 1.5%.  

DM: And that, one suspects, would get very wide support in the country at large. So you delivered the reports and then a little bit later you were told that your tenure would not be renewed.  

AS:    Yes. We delivered our report to the Government at the end of January. I got the call in Mid-February saying “Your three year term is coming to an end next month and we will not be renewing it”.  

DM: So, were they connected?  

AS:    I have been told that they are not connected and I believe that. I believe that the two decisions were not connected but the link is an unfortunate one and Government shouldn’t have got into a position where the two things will be seen by the public as being connected. An awkward recommendation.  

DM: Who told you? I mean, have you got confirmation that they were not connected because we’ve heard from the Government that they can’t afford your recommendations, they’ve said that explicitly and then a few weeks later we are told that you are not going to be chairing the renewed body any more.  

AS:    They haven’t actually said that they cannot afford our recommendations. When they published our report last week they said “Okay, 1% is fine, the extra 0.5% is outside the budget; we need to look at whether we can find the money”. And they are doing that at the moment and actually I think that’s positive. I am pleased that they didn’t turn down our recommendation, that they’ve gone looking for the money for it and I hope they can find the money.  

DM: You were prepared to stay on, were you not? You made that very clear.  

AS:    Oh yes, it’s a terrific job. I think it’s one of the best public appointments there is. It’s been an honour and a privilege to do it and I really particularly enjoyed the engagement with members of the Armed Forces and their families. I’d have been very happy to continue doing it.  

DM: Therefore, the timing of it does look suspicious. Do you think the Government have just messed it up in PR terms; that they should have waited a little bit?  

AS:    Well they’ve messed it up in more than PR terms. They’ve messed up the timing because it makes it impossible to appoint my successor in time to get into the cycle of the year’s work. It takes 6 months or so to make an appointment like this so my successor will miss the first half of the year’s program including all of the visits to members of the Armed Forces that are a hugely important part of what they do. But more importantly a lot of politics is about perception and even if I believe that there is no link between my departure and making a slightly awkward pay recommendation, lots of people will see a link and especially members of the armed forces who are a pretty cautious and sometimes even cynical bunch of people; they will see a link. An independent pay review body is a really important part of the deal for the Armed Forces. They don’t have a Trade Union, they’re not allowed to go on strike; an independent pay review body is their guarantee that they are going to be treated fairly in pay terms.             The pay freeze was difficult for them. That shook their confidence in the independence of the pay review body and now this unfortunate conjunction of a slightly, only a slightly, difficult recommendation for the Government, and my departure will shake their confidence further.    

DM: But just to underline it, you do say Professor Smith, explicitly to those people who are making those connections - that is not the case.  

AS:    I believe that is not the case, that’s all I can say. I have no reason to believe that it’s the case.  

DM: Professor Smith, thank you very much indeed. Alastair Smith there, formerly of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body.             Now, Syria is of course in the midst of civil war. As a result it’s facing a humanitarian crisis, so what can be done to help the victims…