Field MarshalMichael John Dawson Walker, Baron Walker of Aldringham, GCB, CMG, CBE, DL (born 7 July 1944)[1] is a retired British Army officer. Commissioned in 1966, he served in Cyprus, Northern Ireland, and in a variety of staff posts in the United Kingdom until 1984. After being given command of a battalion, he was mentioned in despatches for his service during a second tour of duty in Northern Ireland, this time in Derry, and subsequently served a tour on Gibraltar. He was promoted to brigadier, unusually having never held the rank of colonel, and took command of 20th Armoured Brigade in Germany before becoming I Corps chief of staff.
Walker retired in 2006 and was subsequently appointed Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a post he held until 2011. He is married and has three children.
Early and personal life
Born in Salisbury in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) to William Hampden Dawson Walker, who was a Senior Assistant Commissioner in the British South Africa Police until 1958,[2] and Dorothy Helena Walker (née Shiach), Walker was educated both in Southern Rhodesia and in Yorkshire, first at Milton School, Bulawayo, and then at Woodhouse Grove School, West Yorkshire.[3] He spent 18 months teaching in a Preparatory School before joining the British Army. Walker married Victoria ("Tor", née Holme), in 1973 and the couple have three children—two sons and one daughter. He lists his interests as sailing, shooting, tennis, skiing and golf.[1]
In command of the 1st Battalion from 1985 to 1987,[3] Walker served another tour in Northern Ireland, this time in Derry, and later a tour on Gibraltar.[1] He was mentioned in despatches in 1987 "in recognition of gallant and distinguished service" in Northern Ireland.[10] Unusually, Walker was promoted directly to brigadier at the end of 1987, without having held the rank of colonel.[11] He took command of the 20th Armoured Brigade, based in Germany, from 1987 to 1989, before holding the post of chief of staff, I Corps between 1989 and 1991.[3]
On 8 December 1994, Walker was appointed commander of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, which had its headquarters in Rheindahlen, Germany, and was promoted to acting lieutenant general.[18] He was granted the substantive rank of lieutenant general on 15 March 1995,[19] and knighted in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours when he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.[20] Under Walker's command, the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps deployed to the Balkans in December 1995. There, he became the first commander of the land component of the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR), until his return to the UK in November 1996.[1]
His IFOR command in Bosnia was indirectly criticised by Richard Holbrooke for his refusal to use his authority to also perform nonmilitary implementation tasks, including arresting indicted war criminals:
Based on Shalikashvili's statement at White House meetings, Christopher and I had assumed that the IFOR commander would use his authority to do substantially more than he was obligated to do. The meeting with [Admiral Leighton] Smith shattered that hope. Smith and his British deputy, General Michael Walker, made clear that they intended to take a minimalist approach to all aspects of implementation other than force protection. Smith signalled this in his first extensive public statement to the Bosnian people, during a live call-in program on Pale Television – an odd choice for his first local media appearance.[21]
Walker with Prime Minister John Major at the Ilidza Compound in Sarajevo, Bosnia, during Operation Joint EndeavorWalker served as commander of the land component of the NATO-led Implementation Force in Bosnia
Having served just over three years as Commander-in-Chief, Walker was appointed Chief of the General Staff (CGS)—the professional head of the British Army—on 17 April 2000, taking over from General Sir Roger Wheeler.[1][29] He remained CGS for three years, after which he was promoted to Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS)—the professional head of all the British Armed Forces—on 2 May 2003, succeeding AdmiralSir Michael Boyce (later Lord Boyce).[1][30] As CDS, Walker criticised some of the media coverage of British deployments in Iraq. In particular, he claimed that attacks on the Black Watch were "enhanced" due to news reports on their location. He went on to say that "[as a result of the media coverage], there could well have been a response by those who wished us ill to go and meet us with something like a bomb".[31] His comments were rejected by a spokesman for the National Union of Journalists, who retaliated "When generals turn around and start blaming reporters for their own mistakes, it is a sign they aren't doing their own jobs properly". However, the MoD explained that speculation in the press about the timing and movement of military units can put people in danger and editors were "urged to consider the difficulties reports could cause to troops on the ground."[32] Also in 2004, Walker, along with General Sir Mike Jackson, then Chief of the General Staff, attracted controversy over reforms of the armed forces, which included the amalgamation of several army regiments to form larger regiments, leading to the loss of historic names.[33]
Walker advised the British Government during the Iraq War
In an interview with the BBC in October 2005, Walker suggested that the army's recruitment had been adversely affected by the Iraq War. He also commented on the war in Afghanistan, on which he said "There's a lot of work to be done, of which the military is only a very small part. Ten years, 15 years, long-term. This is not going to be solved in a short term".[34] In the same month, he gave an interview for The Sunday Times, in which he said that soldiers' morale had been damaged by the unpopularity of the war among the British public.[35] Later in 2005, Walker was instrumental in drawing up new procedures for the treatment of British service personnel accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners, following claims that the army had abandoned those soldiers charged in connection with the prisoner abuses.[36] In February 2006, Walker headed up a military delegation to Bulgaria to discuss military cooperation between the British and Bulgarian governments.[37]
Walker gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry on 1 February 2010, in which he spoke about funding for the invasion of Iraq and subsequent planning.[38]
Honorary roles
Lord Walker has held a variety of honorary and ceremonial roles in different regiments. He was granted the honorary titles of Colonel Commandant and Deputy Colonel of Queen's Division (of which the Royal Anglian Regiment is part) in April 1992[39] and Honorary Colonel, 3rd Battalion Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) (Yorkshire Volunteers), in October 1993,[40] which he relinquished on 30 June 1999.[41] In 1994, he succeeded General Sir John Learmont as Colonel Commandant of the Army Air Corps and held the title until April 2004, when he was relieved by then Lieutenant General Sir Richard Dannatt (later General Lord Dannatt).[42][43] In 1997, he was appointed honorary Colonel, The Royal Anglian Regiment, in succession to Major General Patrick Stone, and was himself succeeded as Deputy Colonel by Brigadier John Sutherell.[44] Sutherell, then a major general, went on to succeed Walker as Honorary Colonel in February 2000.[45]
Retirement
Walker relinquished his appointment as Chief of the Defence Staff in April 2006 and retired from the Army, succeeded as CDS by Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup.[13] In September 2006, Walker was appointed Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, holding the post until February 2011 when he resigned suddenly.[46] On 24 November 2006, it was announced that he would receive a life peerage, and, on 19 December, he was created Baron Walker of Aldringham, of Aldringham in the county of Suffolk,[13][47] sitting in the House of Lords as a crossbencher. He was given the ceremonial appointment of Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London in 2007.[3] Walker was appointed as an honorary field marshal in the Queen's 2014 Birthday Honours.[48] He serves as the Patron of the British South Africa Police Trust.[2]
Arms
Coat of arms of Michael Walker, Baron Walker of Aldringham
Notes
Walker's banner hangs in Westminster Abbey, alongside those of other Knights of the Bath.[49]
Adopted
2008
Crest
Issuing from a mural crown Or a cocker spaniel's head Azure in the mouth three pheasant feathers Or.
Escutcheon
Per pale Azure and Gules an orle fracted and there conjouned to two chevronels couped between three acorns slipped Or.
Supporters
On either side a helmeted guinea fowl Azure beaked casqued and semy of roundels Or the neck and wattles Gules.
Two Arms in Armour embowed downwards and conjoined at the shoulder Argent each hand gauntleted and grasping a Rose Gules barbed seeded slipped and leaved Or
Symbolism
The Arms are a variation on the chevronel and fracted orle theme. They are combined with the acorn, the grantee being Governor of the Royal Chelsea Hospital which was founded by Charles II and therefore associated with the acorn taken from Charles II's oak tree. The guinea fowl reflects the grantee's childhood and association with Zimbabwe, formerly Southern Rhodesia. His interest in shooting features in the Crest with a cocker spaniel's head and the pheasant feathers. The mural crown is appropriate for a General in the Army. The grantee's family have hitherto used an arm in armour grasping a rose. Two such arms have been conjoined in the Badge to suggest the initial "W" for Walker.
^ ab"The Cape Outpost"(PDF). The British South Africa Police Regimental Association Western Cape Branch. 1 November 2010. p. 20. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
