Marshal of the Royal Air Force Graham Eric Stirrup, Baron Stirrup (born 4 December 1949), informally known as Jock Stirrup, is a former senior Royal Air Force commander who was the Chief of the Defence Staff from 2006 until his retirement in late 2010. He is now a Crossbench member of the House of Lords. In April 2013, he was appointed a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter by Queen Elizabeth II.
As a junior RAF officer, Stirrup was a jet pilot, and saw action in the Dhofar War. Later in his career, he commanded No. 2 Squadron and RAF Marham. After several senior air force appointments, Stirrup was made the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Strike Command and during this time he served as the first commander of British forces engaged in fighting the Taliban. In 2002, Stirrup was appointed the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff responsible for equipment and capability and was heavily involved in procuring equipment for the invasion of Iraq. Spending a little over a year in that role, he was then appointed the Chief of the Air Staff, in which capacity he served from 2003 to 2006. He became Chief of the Defence Staff in 2006: during his time in office the British Armed Forces faced significant commitments both to Iraq (Operation Telic) and Afghanistan (Operation Herrick). Stirrup retired as Chief of the Defence Staff on 29 October 2010, taking a seat in the House of Lords in 2011.
Graham Eric Stirrup was born on 4 December 1949, the son of William Hamilton Stirrup and his wife, Jacqueline Brenda Stirrup (née Coulson). He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School in Northwood, Hertfordshire.
Stirrup married Mary Alexandra Elliott in 1976 and they have one son. Stirrup includes golf, music, theatre and history among his interests. He is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a member of the Society of Knights of the Round Table.
Stirrup started his military career at the RAF College Cranwell in Lincolnshire on 1 April 1968 and it was from Cranwell that he received his commission on 31 July 1970. He was promoted to flying officer on 31 July 1971 with seniority backdated to 31 January, and to flight lieutenant from 31 July 1973. From 1973 to 1975, Stirrup was on loan service with the Sultan of Oman's Air Force.
In Oman, Stirrup flew BAC Strikemasters during the Dhofar War in the close air support and interdiction roles, giving him valuable battle experience of the use of air power in counter-insurgency operations. After he returned to the United Kingdom in 1975, Stirrup was posted to No. 41 Squadron where he flew the SEPECAT Jaguar in the fighter reconnaissance role. Stirrup went on to serve in an exchange tour in the United States where he flew the all-weather tactical reconnaissance RF-4C Phantom.
Promoted to squadron leader on 1 January 1980, Stirrup was serving as a flight commander on No. 226 Operational Conversion Unit which was based at RAF Lossiemouth in March 1983: his duties centred around the instruction of trainee pilots on the SEPECAT Jaguar and, on 7 March 1983, Stirrup was carrying out a student progress check from the rear seat of his aircraft when they suffered a serious bird strike. Stirrup was unable to ascertain whether his student was conscious and forward vision through the canopy was obscured: one of his engines caught fire, and although ejecting from the aircraft would have been justified, not knowing whether the student was conscious or not, Stirrup managed to land at RAF Leuchars. Stirrup was later awarded the Air Force Cross in recognition of his handling of the incident.
Stirrup was promoted to wing commander on 1 July 1984. In 1985 Stirrup received a command appointment, as the Officer Commanding No. 2 Squadron which at that time was operating the Jaguar from RAF Laarbruch in West Germany: along with other NATO air units, his squadron's role was low-level tactical reconnaissance in the face of the Soviet Cold War threat. Stirrup gained first hand experience of the higher-level workings of the RAF when, in 1987, he was appointed Personal Staff Officer to the Chief of the Air Staff.
Having been promoted to group captain on 1 January 1990, from 1990 to 1992, Stirrup served as Station Commander of RAF Marham and during his time in command, RAF Marham's strike aircraft were dispatched to the Middle East, seeing action in the Gulf War air campaign. In 1993 Stirrup attended the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS). Stirrup was promoted to air commodore on 1 January 1994, and appointed Director of Air Force Plans and Programmes that year. Promoted to air vice-marshal on 1 July 1997, he became Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Group in April 1997, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff in August 1998 and, having been promoted to air marshal on 6 November 2000, he was made Deputy Commander-in-Chief RAF Strike Command that year. His appointment at Strike Command also entailed taking on the additional roles of being the Commander of NATO's Combined Air Operations Centre 9 (based at High Wycombe) and serving as the Director of the European Air Group.
From September 2001 to January 2002, Stirrup was UK National Contingent Commander for Operation Veritas (British operations against the Taliban) in Afghanistan, his first direct experience of front-line operations overseas since 1987. In this role Stirrup directed the British contribution to the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom and he was the Senior British Military Advisor to General Tommy Franks, the Commander-in-Chief of United States Central Command. At MacDill Air Force Base, Stirrup headed the 60 strong British team who were contributing to the US-led operational planning. Stirrup was replaced by Lieutenant General Cedric Delves.
In April 2002 Stirrup was appointed Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Equipment Capability), a post he held until May 2003. His main task was production of equipment plans for the Army, Air Force and Navy while ensuring that the plans could be afforded over the coming years. The planning for the invasion of Iraq required new equipment and Stirrup became increasingly involved in planning for urgent operational requirements. A particular difficulty faced by Stirrup was the need to place equipment orders with industry before the Government was prepared to publicly commit to the action. Stirrup briefed ministers on this point but was prevented from placing the orders according to his desired timescale. In the end some critical items such as body armour, boots and desert clothing were not available to all the personnel who needed them when they deployed.
Stirrup was promoted to air chief marshal and appointed Chief of the Air Staff on 1 August 2003. In July 2004 Stirrup set out his strategic direction for the RAF which was based upon working to achieve an increasingly modern and multi-role aircraft fleet, reducing the number of RAF stations by creating fewer but larger and better-equipped bases and reducing the number of personnel while maintaining or improving their training.
Stirrup was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff – just when the British Armed Forces were facing significant commitments both to Iraq (Operation Telic) and Afghanistan (Operation Herrick) – on 28 April 2006.
In May 2006, shortly after becoming CDS, Stirrup visited Iraq to assess the situation first hand. The British responsibility was in the south of Iraq and on his return Stirrup reported to the Defence Secretary that Basra was the key to success in southern Iraq. Stirrup identified two obstacles to success, the first being the militias and the second being the need for an acceptable level of Iraqi governance. In addition, he took the view that Iranian interference was a significant exacerbating factor. Noting that neither of two obstacles could be fully dealt with by the British Armed Forces, Stirrup viewed the solution as being essentially political.
In order to take action against the militias, the local British commander in South East Iraq developed a plan to conduct aggressive operations against them. At the same time Stirrup became increasingly concerned that strong political leadership from the Iraqis was lacking and that without this any gains made by the military actions against the militias would be to no avail. In July 2006, Stirrup overturned the previous military advice to the Defence Secretary by stating that force levels in South East Iraq would need to be maintained. Previously it had been thought that they could be reduced from over 7,000 to between 3,000 and 4,000. In September 2006, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, blocked the British plan to act against the militias which Stirrup believed was because of Maliki's dependence on Sadrist support at that stage.