Letter from the Secretary of State for Defence on the Royal Tournament (14 September 1998)
On 21 May (1998), in answer to a question in the House from Nicholas Soames, I announced that the future of the Royal Tournament was under review. At that time I said that, for the next century, the Tournament will need to attract audiences and present the Armed Forces in a modern and effective manner, and that I had commissioned a study to identify the options for 2000 and beyond.
The study has now reported and I have agreed, in consultation with the Prime Minister that the Royal Tournament in its current form would end on a high in 1999, but that a flagship Armed Forces event will continue in the future. In 2000 this will be a special event for the millennium year. The nature of events in 2001 and beyond will build on the year 2000 event and be subject to further work on timing, location and format, but will provide an attractive, improved and modernised shop window for the Armed Forces in the new century.
Attendance at the Tournament has shown a steady decline in recent years. Between 1991 and 1997 the Tournament made an overall loss of £600k; the unaudited accounts for this year suggest a further loss of around £350k. The Tournament's auditors had already advised that it would be folly to hold the event with less than £500k in its reserve; that limit has now been reached. The Royal Tournament Committee has therefore concluded that, after 1999, the Tournament could not continue without identifying some external body willing to underwrite the event. No such body has been identified.
The Armed Forces' involvement in the current event entails considerable demands on manpower; over 30,000 man days of effort, of which the Royal Navy Field Gun Competition accounts for over 13,000. Given the current overstretch in the Armed Forces, that is a significant commitment. The declining audience for the event, both at Earls Court and that reached through the networked television comprises mainly the very young and those in late middle age and beyond. In addition, its format sends only a limited message about the Services' role in the modern world and the spin-off for Services' recruiting is marginal. It is, therefore, questionable whether the opportunity costs are justified. Notwithstanding the loyalty of its existing audience, there is unanimous agreement (including from Lord Sterling—who was consulted during the study) that the Tournament cannot continue in its current format.
We believe we can do better. Our study has shown that it should be possible to produce a successful tri-Service event that reaches the right audience in the right manner with acceptable resource implications and that we should examine how best to continue with a modernised "Royal Tournament" in the next century which also maintains a sense of the Armed Forces' traditions. To be successful, it would require a restructuring of the existing event, with a much bigger input from the Ministry of Defence and the Services into planning and a different approach to its management and marketing.
As to the special event in 2000 that will mark the Services' contribution to the millennium celebrations in 2000, I see attraction in a special event on Horse Guards Parade, perhaps along the lines of the successful VJ Day celebrations, which involved an impressive son et lumiere Beating Retreat ceremony, using the buildings as a backdrop. Proposals for the event from 2001 onwards will be the subject of much further work in which the views of all interested parties will be taken into account, but could be based on what we do in 2000. The ideas being considered include an element of the traditional pageantry at the same time as a significant increase in the technology content, with interactive displays, allowing the public to see Service personnel in a more representative environment.
Both Earls Court and the Royal Tournament committee have been informed of decisions and, given the level of interest, I have arranged for the issue of a press notice on Monday 14 September dealing with our plans for the future.
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