Army culture of 'drinking to oblivion' must end, warns defence minister after claim troops are sold TRIPLE gin and tonics for £1

Anna Soubry calls for an end to binge-drinking in the armed forces

Warns 'vast amounts' drunk by troops cannot be dismissed as 'comraderie'

Guide for commanding officers to be overhauled to tackle booze culture



Defence minister Anna Soubry said more had to be done to change the way alcohol is treated by the forces

The army was today ordered to end the booze-fuelled culture of ‘drinking to the point of oblivion’.

Defence minister Anna Soubry said binge-drinking in the forces could not be justified as just a form of ‘comraderie’ or ‘letting down of the hair’.

She was challenged by a committee of MPs about cheap alcohol on offer to troops, where a triple gin and tonic can cost as little as £1.

The forces have long had a drinking culture, with officers viewing it as part of the bonding process between recruits and a way to relive stress from serving on the frontline.

But Ms Soubry, a former health minister, said more had to be done to change the way alcohol is treated by the forces, and called for less binge-drinking by serving personnel.

It follows high profile cases of debauchery, inappropriate behaviour and allegations of sexual assault fuelled by alcohol.

Last week Army recruit Gavin Hope, 22, was fined £300 by the RSPCA for swallowing his pet goldfish as part of the NekNomination drinking game.

He filmed himself drinking a pint glass of beer, spirits, a raw egg and some fish food, before downing a glass of water containing the unfortunate fish.

The video was uploaded to his Facebook page along with the comment: ‘Not a proper man unless you drink fish.’

Today Ms Soubry insisted was not a ‘killjoy’ and recognised from her time as a barrister that people with stressful jobs needed to let their hair down.

But she said the ‘vast amounts’ consumed by the armed forces were unacceptable and must be scaled back.

‘I am not convinced that we couldn't do more about the culture of drinking in our armed forces,’ she said during a hearing of the defence select committee.

‘I'm not some killjoy. But sometimes there has been an attitude in the past that it was acceptable, as part of that de-stressing process, to all go out and consume vast amounts of alcohol as part of that camaraderie and that letting down of the hair.

‘There is nothing wrong with some of that, but the levels of drinking to the point of oblivion and all the rest of it is a culture which I don't welcome in any workforce.

‘The incidence of binge drinking, the quantities of alcohol, across society are beginning to diminish. I would hope that would be the same in the armed forces.’

Swallowed: Gavin Hope and the goldfish Neknomination which lead to him to being brought before Gateshead magistrates court

Ms Soubry suggested that her determination to act had been strengthened by the death of a serving member of the armed forces.

‘I read the coroner's report recently into a very sad suicide case of a serving person. There were many things in that report that concerned me.

‘One of them, quite clearly, the culture of heavy drinking,’ she said.

A guide for senior commander on how to deal with alcohol is to be overhauled in the light of research into alcohol abuse in the armed forces which is due to be published soon.

But she acknowledged that a cultural shift could not be encouraged purely by rules and regulations.

‘You can't just put out edicts to change a culture,’ she said.

‘You can have all the most wonderful guides and manuals in the world but what's most important is the implementation of them and that is something that I am looking at, I can assure you of that.’

Labour MP Madeleine Moon said ending the ‘high level of subsidy’ enjoyed at military bars would contribute to curbing consumption.

She said she got the ‘fright of my life’ when she was charged only GBP1 for a triple gin and tonic while visiting forces in the Falkland Islands two years ago.