With the utmost difficulty we produced in three months by partial mobilisation an expeditionary force of 20,000 men.
That may satisfy the expeditionary force, but, obviously, some new system will have to be devised for the home defence force.
It was the underlying principle of the strategic defence review and the expeditionary concept implied in it.
You could not, however, with an expeditionary force, put up a shed in a moment.
The first is the carriers, which are a vital element of our armed forces' expeditionary capability.
It was a fully equipped expeditionary force including paratroops, artillery with truck-mounted rocket launchers, tank battalions and anti-aircraft units.
It will deliver a step-change in the capability of our forces to meet the challenges of future expeditionary operations.
It is the desire of all of us that it may not be necessary for an expeditionary force again to leave our shores.
