The Conservatives are planning to axe thousands of jobs within the Ministry of Defence if they win the next election, The Times has learnt.

As David Cameron is set to announce today that General Sir Richard Dannatt, the former Chief of the General Staff, has been recruited as a military adviser, it is understood that the party is preparing a radical restructuring of the MoD in the event that it wins the general election.

The Tories have asked civil servants at the MoD to draw up plans to reduce the cost of running the government department by 25 per cent before 2012. There are no plans to reduce the number of uniformed personnel to reach the 25 per cent target, but instead sweeping cuts would be applied to the 89,300-strong workforce of civilian staff employed.

The Conservatives believe that they can achieve the cuts through natural wastage and redundancies. But they are insistent that if they fail they will not be able to provide funds for frontline military personnel.

Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, will allude to the plans when he will tell delegates at the Tory conference in Manchester today to prepare for serious cost cuts within the MoD. Dr Fox will say: “Now we have 99,000 in the Army and 85,000 civilians in the MoD. Some things will have to change — and believe me they will.”

Sir Richard, who retired from the Army in August, will be introduced by the Conservative leader at the party conference today. He will be given a seat in the House of Lords if the Tories win the next election. His role will provide the Conservatives with important inside knowledge.

The appointment of Sir Richard, 58, comes after two days of open warfare between him and No 10 over his claim that Gordon Brown rejected military advice to send up to 2,000 extra troops to Afghanistan earlier this year.

General Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, the former Chief of the Defence Staff who has himself criticised the Government’s resourcing of the campaign in Afghanistan, disapproved of the general’s move. He said: “If he’s going to the House of Lords, it’s best to be a crossbencher. I will give advice to anyone, Labour or Conservative, but I wouldn’t want to be associated with any one political party.

“The former defence chiefs tend to be crossbenchers. But I do understand that Richard Dannatt feels incredibly badly treated by Gordon Brown and if this is what he wants to do, this is what he wants to do.”

It would be the first time that a former Service chief had taken a job in government since the appointment of Admiral Lord West of Spithead as Security Minister at the Home Office. Lord West retired from the Royal Navy as First Sea Lord in 2006.

Another former military commander who did not want to criticise Sir Richard publicly, added his disapproval. “I wasn’t happy when Alan West joined Labour as Security Minister and I’m not happy with Richard Dannatt joining the Tories,” he said. “I think it’s constitutionally important that senior officers of the Armed Forces are seen as non-political.”

Sir Richard is viewed by some ministers as the man who caused the Government more difficulty than any Service chief for decades. He was giving media interviews yesterday, berating the Prime Minister for turning down the recommendation in March to send more troops to Afghanistan. Asked on BBC Radio 5 Live why the advice was rejected, he said:“Because it was going to be too expensive. Simple as that.”

Asked about Sir Richard, Mr Cameron said: “I have spoken to him on previous occasions, as well as recently, about his views about how we improve our Armed Services and support their families and make sure we rebuild that military covenant [and] how we successfully pursue what we are doing in Afghanistan. He is a man of great talent. He has been a great public servant and I think he has more to do.”

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, a Labour peer, said the move confirmed his suspicions that Sir Richard and the Tories had been working “hand in glove” to criticise the Government while the general was still head of the Army.

The Prime Minister is to chair a meeting today to consider proposals to boost troop numbers in Afghanistan by 500.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Times Christmas appeal: Letter from the Editor
• Conferences — what a waste of money
• Schools supremo learns a painful lesson