Admiral of the Fleet Lord Boyce, Chief of Defence Staff and a burr under the saddle of the Bla

Admiral of the Fleet Lord Boyce, who has died aged 79, was the Chief of the Defence Staff from 2001 to 2003, and challenged the Blair government’s legal authority in the run-up to the Iraq War.

In 1997-98, Boyce was Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic Area and Commander Naval Forces North Western Europe, taking up these offices shortly after Tony Blair had become prime minister. For a few weeks in early 1998 Boyce also became acting First Sea Lord while his predecessor Sir Jock Slater was ill, and he formally became First Sea Lord in late 1998.

Boyce found this period “comprehensively knackering”, but was successful, through the Labour government’s Strategic Defence Review, in helping to shift British defence policy towards a maritime, expeditionary role and away from land-based campaigning with a defensive position on the central front in Germany.

Blair authorised several small-scale military interventions, and in a speech delivered in Chicago in 1999 he announced what would become known as his “ethical foreign policy”, advocating greater use of armed forces to protect a civilian population, rather than exclusively to protect national interests. Boyce thought that Operation Palliser in May-June 2000 – British intervention to end the civil war in Sierra Leone – was an exemplar of this new policy: “a quick in and out, and not too much mission-creep”.

However, funds to achieve the SDR were being starved by the chancellor, Gordon Brown, and as First Sea Lord Boyce was determined to win sufficient funding for the Navy, an ambition which he extended to cover all three services when he succeeded General Sir Charles Guthrie as Chief of the Defence Staff in February 2001.

The flamboyant Guthrie’s style, some said, had been to cosy up to Blair and his advisers, while Boyce was determined to “tell the truth as I saw it, even when it was not always convenient”. 

He was “irritated but not bothered” that in retirement Guthrie continued to be consulted by Blair and his communications director Alastair Campbell: Boyce was confident that his own instincts and his interpretation of the intelligence would prove to be right.

He was undeterred when during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan he was ridiculed by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for contradicting Rumsfeld’s view that the war would be over by the following year (it lasted 20 years); he spoke out against the US’s proposed ballistic missile defence shield; he thought that the so-called war on terror was a distraction from the long-term threats provided by Russia and China; and he warned that participants in the 2nd Iraq War in 2003 would not be greeted as “liberators with flowers on the end of rifles”.

Boyce also reported to the Blair government that neo-conservatives in Washington were being misled by Iraqi exiles who were promising that a flowering of democracy would follow any invasion, and he warned about the dysfunction he found in Washington. 

There was, he said, “poor communication between the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House, and I often found myself briefing my American counterpart on what was going on in State rather than him actually finding out directly”.

But it was at home that Boyce, in his own words, made himself “a burr under the saddle” of the Blair government. Boyce thought that Gordon Brown’s lack of understanding of defence amounted to contempt and put service personnel in danger by refusing to fund training and equipment.

“Getting money out of the Treasury is like getting blood out of a stone anyway,” Boyce said. “The Treasury didn’t think we were on a war footing [in 2003], a new accounting method introduced by Brown meant the Ministry of Defence was discouraged from holding large stocks, and as a result, the MoD adopted a policy of ‘just enough, just in time’ for equipment delivery.”

Of the Iraq War, Boyce later told the Chilcot Inquiry that the government was without any cohesion in the way it approached the 2003 invasion. “What we lacked was any sense of being at war,” he said. “There was no sense that we had a war cabinet or that we had a cabinet that thought that we were at war. I suspect if I asked half the cabinet whether we were at war, they would not have known what I was talking about. There was a lack of political cohesion at the top – in Iraq’s case, possibly because some people were not happy about what we were doing there.”

Boyce was alarmed that the prime minister had gained an appetite for intervention and had given unconditional support to President Bush in his response to the September 11 attacks. But Blair had not told his cabinet or his party of this commitment, while Boyce was restricted to high-level planning rather than detailed preparations for war.

Even several months later, Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, instructed Boyce not to discuss the possibility of war with his chief of defence logistics, as it could be unhelpful to the efforts to secure a new UN Security Council resolution if it became public that military planning was under way.

As CDS, Boyce’s initial plan in May 2002 was for the deployment in Iraq of a Navy task force and special forces, but after Blair and President Bush met at Camp David in September, he was called upon to prepare a much larger-scale operation, and at divisional strength, not least in order to maximise British influence over US planning.

Although Boyce continued to be concerned that the defence budget was too small, by March 2003 British forces were preparing to enter Iraq from the north through Turkey, until Turkey vetoed that plan. Nevertheless, some ships had been sailed “not knowing whether they were going to turn left or right when they got to the Mediterranean”.

Meanwhile, there were growing anti-war protests in the UK, and the three service chiefs presented their concerns about the legality of the war to Boyce. Boyce himself was concerned for the morale of the Armed Forces and for his servicemen and women and for their families, some of whom were being abused by protestors.

So, in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq, Boyce pressed for an assurance from the attorney general in “clear and simple words” whether the proposed military action would be lawful or not.

Some thought that the opinion which was eventually wrung from the attorney general was equivocal, but it did not matter to Boyce, who “wanted to make sure that we had this anchor which has been signed by the Government law officer … It may not stop us from being charged [in a court of law] but, by God, it would make sure other people were brought into the frame as well.”

Asked if he meant the prime minister and the attorney general, Boyce replied: “Too bloody right!”

The normal length of appointment of a CDS is two or three years with a short extension, but Boyce’s outspokenness had prompted Alastair Campbell to question whether he wanted to be sacked: meanwhile, Boyce resigned himself to winning the Iraq war. Victory was declared on April 9 2003.

Michael Cecil Boyce was born in Cape Town on April 2 1943, the son of Commander Hugh Boyce and an Afrikaner mother, Madeleine, née Manley. His father recalled the prophetic words of the doctor who announced the birth of his first-born: “This little admiral is doing well!”

Mike inherited his faith, his self-restraint and his work ethic from his parents who, with their free church backgrounds, were firm believers in self-improvement, and skimped themselves to achieve good educations for their three boys: Philip Boyce became a professor of psychiatry in Sydney, and (Sir) Graham Boyce a diplomat. 

Mike was educated at Fernden School, Haslemere, and Hurstpierpoint College before joining Dartmouth in 1961 under the short-lived Murray Scheme, the last time the Navy attempted to give its officers a complete education.

During his fourth year under the Murray scheme, Boyce spent two weeks in the submarine Auriga, where he was “impressed by the mixture of professionalism and piracy” on-board, and, when an emergency occurred, the quickness and competence with which the incident was handled. 

So in 1965 he volunteered for “the Trade” (as the Submarine Service was nicknamed), and also specialised as a torpedo and anti-submarine warfare specialist. In 1970 he served briefly in the diesel-engined submarine Oracle, commanded by the future Admiral Sir Hugo White, whom he described as a “remarkable” role model.

In the early 1970s, Boyce stood by Conqueror, building in Cammell Laird’s yard at Birkenhead. Conqueror’s construction was delayed by industrial action and by sabotage of the ship’s gearbox before she was commissioned on November 9 1971, the last nuclear submarine built by Cammell Laird.

Boyce was also qualified as a shallow-water diver, and to fulfil his compulsory minimum diving hours per month, he would drive to the Lake District and sit on the bottom of Windermere for the necessary time.

He was fortunate to be selected early to attend the “perisher”, the make-or-break course for potential submarine commanders. The teacher was Commander Terry Woods OBE, a hard-playing submariner from whom the austere and abstemious Boyce learnt much. Years later he would recall: “The highlight – bar none – of my life is still that moment in 1973 of assuming command of HMS Oberon as a lieutenant, fresh from the perisher.”

Then, as a lieutenant-commander, he commanded Opossum (1974-75) and he would later choose for the crest to his personal coat of arms “Mouse Opossum Argent … and claws Azure”: in other words, a tiny mouse hanging by its tail from the stock of an anchor (a detail often too small to see), while his heraldic motto is Ipsis Fretus Impedimentis Possum, or “I can trust myself with hindrances”.

In 1977-79 he was the first appointee as Staff Warfare Officer (Tactical Systems), responsible for introducing into the submarine service a new tactical data-handling system; his shrewd insights into software and mathematical problems which Ferranti had sown into the system, made him, in Ferranti’s eyes, a difficult customer.

As a newly promoted commander, he was given the nuclear-powered attack submarine Superb (1979-81). When he was appointed OBE for special operations against the Soviet navy (vividly described in Peter Hennessy’s 2015 book The Silent Deep) Boyce observed: “I wear the medal, but it is for the whole crew.”

Boyce enjoyed close links with the Special Boat Service. As a junior officer in the submarine Ocelot in the Far East he had been responsible for liaison with a young Paddy Ashdown, the future Lib Dem leader, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. While Ashdown was conducting trials in clandestine operations, in particular covert landings from submarines, Boyce was infused with huge admiration for the Royal Marines of the Special Boat Service (SBS).

Much later, as CDS, Boyce preferred to use in operations the reticent SBS over more publicity-hungry forces – for example, in November 2001, sending C Squadron SBS to seize the airfield at Bagram in Afghanistan.

In 2003-04, Boyce sympathised when the SBS sought a more independent identity as a service not exclusive to the Royal Marines but a tri-service organisation open to all. Subsequently, he accepted the honour of becoming colonel commandant of the SBS. In retirement he advised Ashdown on a book about the SBS, which after Ashdown’s death, was completed by Saul David as Silent Warriors (2021), for which Boyce wrote the foreword.

Boyce was never overtly ambitious: “I just did whatever job I was given well, and people gave me a better job to do,” he said, and he rose swiftly in general service. Promoted to captain in 1982, he commanded the frigate Brilliant (1983-84). He was a calm and understanding captain in charge of submarine sea training 1984–86, a leading student at the RCDS in 1988, and a successful Senior Naval Officer, Middle East, in 1989.

Subsequently, when his first marriage was breaking up, Boyce was Director of Naval Staff Duties (1989–91), when he became renowned for working late, sitting at his desk in darkness except for a banker’s green-shaded desk lamp. He said it helped him to concentrate and avoid distractions.

Promoted to rear-admiral, he was Flag Officer Sea Training (1991–92), and as a vice-admiral Flag Officer Surface Flotilla (1992–95), and as a full admiral, he was Second Sea Lord (1995–97).

Created a life peer on retirement in 2003, he sat as a crossbencher, speaking out about the risk to service personnel facing liability for their actions for which he claimed politicians are ultimately responsible. 

He gave evidence to the Iraq inquiry, and, though a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, was a strong advocate that the UK, as one of the P5, should retain a nuclear deterrent. He also launched scathing attacks on the government for Britain’s “anorexic” fleet of warships.

Boyce’s appointment in 2004 as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports was inevitably greeted by the headline “Admiral sails into Cinque Ports”. His was a surprise appointment, coming two years after the death of the previous holder, the Queen Mother, and followed a threat by the mayors of the Channel ports to march in full regalia on Whitehall.

It was a surprise to Boyce, too: “A letter came through saying that Her Majesty would like me to be Lord Warden … I had only a vague schoolboy history of the Cinque Ports.” He never learnt why he was chosen, but liked to think that it was an opportunity for royal recognition of the Navy and of the Armed Forces for their successes in Afghanistan and Iraq.

His being made Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter in 2011 and his promotion to Admiral of the Fleet in 2014, after the five-star rank had been suspended, were other surprises for Boyce, which he also thought of as the Queen’s recognition of the Navy and Armed Forces.

Boyce was involved in some 60 charities and voluntary associations – “Too many,” he said, “but I lost the ability to say ‘no’.” Becoming chairman of the RNLI was very special to him, and other chairmanships which gave him much pleasure were those associated with the Cinque Ports, the preservation of HMS Victory, the London district of St John Ambulance and medical sciences charities, and the Worshipful Company of Drapers.

But he was most keen in his support of ADVANCE, the Armed Services Trauma Rehabilitation Outcome Study, which investigated the long-term physical and psycho-social outcomes of battlefield casualties. Boyce’s interest and involvement was always helpful and appreciated.

He was a superb field athlete and champion hurdler, played tennis and squash hard, and later took up another solo sport, windsurfing.

Working for Boyce was not always easy, as he set and expected the highest possible standards, and those who did not know him well thought him severe, aloof, austere and patrician. It was certainly difficult to gain his confidence, but those who knew him well loved him. Even when he was ill and unable to stand for more than a few minutes so as to work a room, something he had always been able to accomplish gracefully, he gave his time generously to others. But he had no interest in writing a memoir.

In 1971 Boyce married Harriette Gail Fletcher; they separated in 1994 and divorced in 2005, and in 2006 he married the South African widow of Vice-Admiral Malcolm Rutherford, Fleur (née Smith), who was his companion while he was First Sea Lord and Chief of the Defence Staff.

Fleur died in 2016 and Mike Boyce is survived by a son and a daughter of the first marriage and a stepson and stepdaughter.

Admiral of the Fleet Lord Boyce, born April 2 1943, died November 6 2022

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