Ministry of Defence Civil Servants Paid £47 Million in Bonuses
THE TELEGRAPH: Civil servants at the Ministry of Defence have been paid £47 million in performance bonuses so far this year.

A total of 232 British service personnel have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001. Photo: The Telegraph
The MoD said the bonuses were paid for “exceptional performance” but the disclosure came as the Government faced increasing pressure over the lack of equipment for troops serving in Afghanistan.

There are 85,000 civil servants at the MoD — one for every two active soldiers, the highest level among the Allied nations — and about 50,000 will get a performance bonus this year.

Troops serving in Afghanistan would be “aghast” at the payments, the Conservatives said last night.

The bonus figure covers just the first seven months of the financial year. The MoD said yesterday that the bonuses would average less than £1,000, but a senior civil servant could pick up £8,000. Last year, the department had 95 employees who were on a salary of more than £100,000. A private in the Army can be paid as little as £16,681 a year, with a bonus of £13 a day for serving in Afghanistan.

British troops are dying in Afghanistan at a rate not seen since the Falklands conflict and polls indicate that voters are turning against the mission.

A total of 232 British service personnel have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001. Commanders have said that some of those deaths could have been avoided if there had been more helicopters available.

The bonus payments have risen sharply even as the MoD’s record has come in for growing criticism. In 2003-04, total bonus payments were £24.9 million. >>> Rebecca Lefort and James Kirkup | Thursday, November 12, 2009

Report Identifies UK Terrorist Enclaves
THE TELEGRAPH: Secret enclaves of al-Qaeda extremists based in London, Birmingham and Luton are planning mass-casualty attacks in Britain, according to a leaked Government intelligence report.

The document, which was drawn up by the intelligence branch of the Ministry of Defence, MI5 and Special Branch, states that "some thousands" of extremists are active in the UK. They are predominantly UK-born and aged between 18 and 30, and many are believed to have been trained in overseas terrorist camps.

Under the heading "International Terrorism", the report, which is marked "restricted" states: "For the foreseeable future the UK will continue to be a high-priority target for international terrorists aligned with al-Qaeda.

It will face a threat from British nationals, including Muslim converts, and UK-based foreign terrorists, as well as terrorists planning attacks from abroad."

The report states that the threat from the Islamist extremist community in the UK is "diverse and widely distributed" but adds that the numbers of terrorist in Britain is "difficult to judge".

The document does state, however, that the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which is based in MI5's headquarters at Thames House in London, estimates that there are "some thousands of extremists in the UK committed to supporting Jihadi activities, either in the UK or abroad". >>> By Sean Rayment, Security Correspondent | November 8, 2008

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