Britain’s armed forces are badly overstretched. Iraq and Afghanistan have extracted a heavy toll. The army needs more infantry and new equipment. Morale across the services is low. A pressing task for the next government, whatever its political stripe, will be to realign capabilities with commitments. Or vice versa.

That much should be common ground at Westminster. A strategic review must ask deeper questions than whether the army can, or should, be expected to sustain two medium-sized operations such as those in Basra and Helmand. The order for two new aircraft carriers, and the consequential cutbacks elsewhere, raises fundamental issues about the configuration of the three services.