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Defence Secretary Ben Wallace accuses Prince Harry of ‘boasting’ about killing 25 Taliban fighters
23 February 2023, 09:20 | Updated: 23 February 2023, 12:44
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace reacts to Prince Harry revealing his Taliban kill count
The Defence Secretary has criticised Prince Harry for ‘boasting’ about killing 25 Taliban fighters in his autobiography Spare.
Ben Wallace told LBC this morning that the Duke of Sussex was not playing a ‘team game’ when he made the comments in his book.
Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC, Mr Wallace said: "I frankly think boasting about tallies or talking about tallies... It distorts the fact that the army is a team game. It's a team enterprise… and so it's not about who can shoot the most or who doesn't shoot the most… that's just my personal view.”
“ I think every veteran makes their own choices about what they want to talk about in their lives.
“The armed forces is not about a tally.
“I frankly think boasting about tallies or talking about tallies does two things. It distorts the fact that the army is a team game. It's a team enterprise. For an infanteer to go over the top, that person is supported by hundreds of people behind them, whether they're in headquarters in Britain, whether they're in the Royal Logistic Core, who helped them get there.
“It's a team, and so it's not about who can shoot the most or who doesn't shoot the most. And I think if… that's just my personal view. If you start talking about who did what, what you are actually doing is letting down all those other people, because you're not a better person because you did and they didn’t.”
Experts have previously claimed that Harry’s comments put British service personnel at risk.
Harry said last month he included the detail of killing 25 Taliban fighters to reduce suicides in veteran communities.
But Harry’s comments emboldened Taliban leaders who mocked Harry and called for his ‘war crimes’ to be investigated by an international tribunal.
The group labelled him a 'big mouth loser' and accused him of war crimes saying Harry's victims were 'humans' and 'not chess pieces'.
Former Defence Secretary Lord Hutton labelled Prince Harry's Taliban comments a 'very serious mistake' in comments to LBC last month, saying 'it diminishes him'.
He told LBC that Prince Harry's comment in relation to killing members of the Taliban are 'inappropriate and wrong'.
Lord Hutton, 67, slammed the Duke of Sussex, telling LBC 'it's absolutely not the right thing for anyone to be saying… and I'm sure he now bitterly regrets saying that' – adding that it 'diminishes him'.
In his memoir, the duke describes killing 25 members of the Taliban as 'chess pieces taken off the board', leading to condemnation from high profile former officers.
Lord Hutton, who was the Defence Secretary until 2009, branded the comments 'a very serious mistake', saying 'it's not what we expect from someone who has held the positions of authority and responsibility'.
Mr Hutton added that what Prince Harry had said 'grates horribly', before adding he was concerned by the 'sense of bravado about it'. He said: "I think most people who have served in the armed forces will recoil from it."
He added "It's just wrong on every level."
