The quickest way to deal with the shortage of tanker drivers, it seems obvious, is to get more people into the cab and moving idle tankers to empty petrol stations. There is no quicker way of doing that than to call in the military. In crisis after civilian crisis over the years – flood relief, providing minimum cover during fire strikes, administering Covid vaccines – the forces have been there for the nation. They are the Anadin to the pain of national emergencies – nothing acts faster.
This obvious solution to their headaches did not, until now, seem to appeal to ministers, who thought, inexplicably, that their appeals for calm would be sufficient to defuse the fuel crisis. Were those pleas to ever have had any chance of success they wells have needed the public to trust the word of the government. Experience has taught them otherwise. George Eustice and Kwasi Kwarteng said there were no plans to use the soldiers, even though Mr Eustice conceded that there were always civil contingency plans. Anyway, it appears another U-turn has been ignominiously executed.
Deploying the army is a step that no government should take casually, not least because the armed forces have a day job to do, but when the need is great and the role appropriate, then they certainly have a part to play. Even if there are only a few of them, using military drivers would help, and we are told by ministers that the shortage of drivers is comparatively slight. The troops will be prepared to go out in a few days. The nation will be thankful by the tankful.
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