Mr Hoon is trying to defend the indefensible

It was sharp of the shadow Defence Secretary, Bernard Jenkin, to spot that the Government was trying to smuggle out its decision not to allow female members of the armed forces fully to serve on the front line.

Using the old ruse of a written answer rather than a statement live on the floor of the House of Commons was no doubt designed to minimise the embarrassment suffered by Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence. For, as Mr Jenkin rightly points out, ministers have spent years commissioning studies and arguing with the service chiefs about achieving equal rights for men and women in the services. The logical case is a strong one. As Mr Hoon declared in October 2000: "Women are already in front-line jobs in the armed forces, with artillery units, as fighter pilots and in warships, which means they are just as likely to be in a position to kill people in combat as men are. That would be the same if they had an infantry role."

Now, apparently, Mr Hoon has decided that discretion is the better part of valour in his battle with the defence establishment and has executed a volte-face. No wonder he didn't want anyone to know about it.

It has been suggested that Ministry of Defence studies show that most women are not as fit or strong as men, and therefore not as suited to the arduous role demanded of them on an infantry front line. That might be the case, but what would be so wrong about allowing those women who are as fit and strong as men to fight alongside their male comrades? Shouldn't we make the best, most flexible use of all our troops when they are so stretched? And has the MoD not looked at the experience of the American, Israeli, Russian and other armies, in all of which women have served in combat duties with distinction?

Mr Hoon knows that he is defending the indefensible when he says that women are not up to it. It is a pity, but perhaps not that surprising, that he did not feel sufficiently brave to make that case openly in Parliament. We would have looked forward to him trying to tell us why a woman's place can't be in the front line.