Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps confirm that Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin will be extended in post until autumn 2025.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps are pleased to confirm Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin will be extended in his post until autumn 2025.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said:
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin has the expertise and leadership we need in an increasingly dangerous world.
I’m pleased he will remain as Chief of the Defence Staff and I look forward to continuing our work together to keep our nation and our allies safe and secure.
From our support for Ukraine to security in the Red Sea, we’re committed to ensuring our Armed Forces have what they need as they defend our interests and support our prosperity.
Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said:
I am grateful for the opportunity to continue as Chief of the Defence Staff. The abiding impression from my first two-and-a-half years in post is the quality of our people, alongside the strength of the United Kingdom’s network of allies and partners. This has enabled the Armed Forces to serve our nation’s interests time and again, from our early and pivotal role supporting Ukraine, the evacuation from Sudan, our magnificent contribution to the Coronation, and the ongoing defence of international trade in the Red Sea.
This is a critical time for Europe, and the world. President Putin is desperately hoping the West loses interest in Ukraine, and it is vital we prove him wrong. Ukraine’s heroic resistance is sending a message to autocrats everywhere that aggression does not pay. Having just returned from visiting Kyiv, I am even more convinced that if we stick together and stick with Ukraine, Putin will fail, Ukraine will win, and the values we cherish in the world will endure.
I want to use the coming years to continue modernising the British Armed Forces, learning the lessons of Ukraine by strengthening our nuclear enterprise, recapitalising the British Army and our stockpiles and being much more ambitious in embracing drones and other technology. Most of all, I want to help streamline and focus the Ministry of Defence, unlocking the potential that exists for our military and civilian personnel to make an even bigger contribution to the security and prosperity of the nation.
The Chief of the Defence Staff is the professional head of the Armed Forces and the principal military adviser to the Defence Secretary and the Prime Minister.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin has been in post since November 2021, and his time in post to date has been dominated by efforts to shape the international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He regularly meets with his counterparts in Kyiv, Washington and Brussels and he has worked alongside the Defence Secretary to coordinate military assistance to Ukraine and to strengthen the United Kingdom’s contribution to NATO.
Prior to his appointment as Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin was First Sea Lord (Head of the Navy) for two and a half years, during which time he instigated a renewed Royal Navy presence around the globe, secured an expanded shipbuilding programme and helped broker the AUKUS agreement between the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States.
Commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1990, he has served in numerous command and staff appointments, both ashore and afloat, and in command of UK and international forces. Operational tours have included the Iran/Iraq Tanker War, security duties in the Falklands, NATO operations in the Adriatic, countering smuggling in Hong Kong and the Caribbean, and three tours in Iraq – each in command.
