On 26 October, the Daily Mail published a story headlined “Cash-strapped MoD blows £3million on ‘diversity’: Labour should put frontline soldiers first, say critics”.

The headline presents a figure the Mail worked out itself as established spending, and uses it to set diversity work against frontline soldiers.

According to the article, a Freedom of Information request showed 53 Ministry of Defence staff had words such as “diversity”, “equality” or “inclusion” in their job titles. The Mail multiplied each role by its median salary band to reach an estimate of £2.74m a year, then rounded it up to £3million. Nothing in the article shows these staff work wholly or mainly on diversity. The MoD says the figures “do not represent the number of staff working exclusively on diversity and inclusion”, but that appears only in the article’s final lines.

Job titles are a poor guide. The MoD has told Parliament it “does not routinely collate information on specific words contained within role descriptions”, and a defence minister said in 2024 that some roles “encompass” diversity and inclusion alongside other work.

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