First Sea Lord's ‘affair' exposed after husband filed complaint

The First Sea Lord's alleged affair with a female subordinate was exposed after her husband filed a complaint, The Telegraph can reveal.
Last month, Sir Ben Key was forced to step back from all duties over allegations of misconduct, which are under investigation by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
It was alleged that, in breach of the Navy's service standards, the 59-year-old was having an affair with a junior ranking staff member.
It is understood that the non-serving husband of the female member of staff reported his findings to the Ministry of Defence after he discovered the 'consensual' relationship between Sir Ben and his wife.
He felt as though the head of the Navy should be held to the same standards as those below him as Sir Ben has regularly spoken out about poor behaviour of those under his command in the past.
A source familiar with the events told The Telegraph: 'The husband was upset, because this is a man who prides himself on his Christian values and how he was raised by missionaries – but was doing this with someone else's wife.'
'Tried to go away quietly'
Sir Ben, who is married with three children, had previously announced that he would retire as First Sea Lord this summer, despite being considered a frontrunner to become the next Chief of the Defence Staff.
Earlier this week, The Telegraph reported that Air Marshal Sir Richard Knight, currently Chief of the Air Staff, will take over the post in the autumn when Admiral Sir Tony Radakin stands down.
It is understood Sir Ben tried to go away 'quietly' when he learnt that his extra-marital affair had been discovered, but that the Chief of the Defence Staff insisted there would be an investigation before his official retirement in order not to be accused of a 'cover-up'.
The source added that a number of female officers within the Navy felt they deserved a public apology from Sir Ben over what they deemed to be 'double standards'.
'The female naval workforce feel shockingly let down by his moral high stance and hypocrisy,' the source said.
'Judged for their professional conduct'
Earlier this year, during a parliamentary defence select committee discussing women in the Armed Forces, Sir Ben expressed his disapproval of inappropriate relationships within the military.
He said: 'We are absolutely determined to create a Royal Navy in which people are judged for their professional conduct, welcomed for the contribution that they make, and accepted for who they are.
'Behaviours that run counter to that will not be accepted, and particularly those around unwelcome sexual behaviours.
'We have removed people from the service, including those who have commanded, where we have discovered that their behaviours were not appropriate, or we have removed people from positions of responsibility before situations have got out of hand.'
As a serving member of the military, Sir Ben will probably have fallen foul of the Navy's 'service test', which prohibits relationships between commanders and their subordinates. The military also does not allow behaviour that could harm another serving member's marriage.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Sun

39 minutes ago

• The Sun

Woman dies and nine injured in horror M4 crash as motorway shut ‘for most the day' with cops launching urgent hunt

A WOMAN has died in a car crash that hospitalised nine other people last night. The fatal crash happened on the M4 between junctions 16 and 17, just before 11.30pm last night. 1 A womanin her 40s sadly died at the scene, and another woman in her 70s was seriously injured Five other people in the car had minor injuries. There were also three people travelling in the second car who were hurt and were taken to hospital with minor injuries. Wiltshire Police's Serious Collision Team are at the scene carrying out an investigation into what happened. The motorway is likely to be closed westbound for most of the day, likely causing disruption for a large number of people. Cops received reports that a white vehicle may have been involved and left the scene. Any witnesses to the collision or anyone who may have dashcam footage are asked to contact the serious collision investigation team on 01225 694597, quoting log number 399.

BBC News

41 minutes ago

• BBC News

Highland-wide holiday lets control zone proposed by councillors

A Highland-wide control zone to limit Airbnb-style lets has been suggested as a way of tackling a shortage of homes across the proposing the move said 7,011 short-term let licences had been granted across the Highlands, but only four lets are not banned in control areas, but operators need planning permission as well as a short-term lets councillors said the powers could be used where there was local demand for them. Highland Council officials said control area status for the whole of the Highlands would require research and, if it was introduced, could mean additional costs and workload for its planning department. The idea of Highland-wide status has been suggested by Inverness councillors Michael Gregson and Duncan a paper going to next week's meeting of the full council, they said the region needed more than 24,000 homes over the next 10 added: "The private long-term rental market has shrunk disastrously: estate agents are withdrawing from letting out properties because of the shortage of properties available. "Even taking into account the efforts of Highland Council and the Housing Associations, there is a shortage of affordable housing."The councillors said the local authority should first ask the Scottish government to revisit its original plan to have an overprovision policy within short-term lets said if that was not possible, then to seek approval for Highland control area their response, officials said there would be financial implications for the local authority around both suggestions from the also said there could be potential challenges to Highland-wide of Edinburgh Council had to amend its licensing scheme following a court ruling. The whole of the City of Edinburgh Council area was designated Scotland's first short-term let control area in September 2022.A law requiring operators to have a licence came into force across Scotland in October the following Council's first control zone was approved in December 2023 and covers Badenoch and who supported its introduction said it was needed because workers and local young people had difficulties finding affordable the Association of Scotland's Self-Caterers (ASSC) said at the time that targeting legitimate small businesses to address longstanding housing issues showed "a muddled sense of priorities".

BBC News

42 minutes ago

• BBC News

'UK should not ignore Severn Estuary tidal lagoon recommendations'

The UK should not ignore the potential to generate 2% of its electricity from a tidal lagoon, the author of a commissioned report has Severn Estuary Commission recommended in March that a lagoon scheme would be the best way to harness tidal power from the River Severn and help the UK reach its net zero commission chair, Dr Andrew Garrard, has now said: "If we are going to double our energy generation in 25 years, and it has to be indigenous and it has to be low carbon, how can you possibly ignore a source of energy which is 2% of our needs in one go? It's a slam dunk."The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it is "open to considering well-developed proposals". The recommendations mark a change from previous reviews that have suggested larger barrage infrastructure should be built across the Severn, but that without formal government support, failed to attract funding. Lagoon v Barrage Tidal lagoons are typically loop shaped enclosures which collect water during high tide and release it through turbines to generate are seen as having a lower environmental impact compared with dam-like barrages, which work on the same principal, but span the full width of a river, estuary or to seven previous studies have recommended a barrage structure for the Severn Estuary, all of which have failed to advance due to environmental, political and financial Garrard hopes the commission's re-think on how to harness energy created by the Severn might have more success."A barrage would be very disruptive to both the Welsh and the English ports, so that's a major commercial consideration," he added."It also adds a huge environmental impact, the environment on the Severn is of global significance, so it desperately needs to be protected."We really need to build something now and stop having further studies and discussion." The Severn Estuary is one of the largest in Europe and is one of its most important wildlife habitats, according to the saltmarshes and mudflats are used by an average 74,000 birds each winter while its waters support more than 100 fish species and vast numbers of invertebrates. Following the publication of the report the RSPB welcomed the commission's rejection of a barrage, which it called "environmentally unacceptable".However it warned "tidal lagoons also present significant risks to nature that have not been overcome so far and must not be ignored".RSPB Cymru head of nature policy and casework Annie Smith added that while they supported a "rapid transition to renewable energy... this must be achieved in ways that do not further jeopardise our declining wildlife".Former Labour Welsh secretary Lord Peter Hain was also concerned about the proposals, calling them a very expensive "cop out" in March."Lagoons do harness tidal power but... they are very expensive and are a cop out which won't harness the ginormous but untapped natural power of the Severn Estuary," he told BBC Wales at the time. The River Severn has the second highest tidal range in the world, which reaches 15 metres during spring tides.A tidal lagoon would cost about £10bn, most of which would have to come from private investment, and could generate at least 2% of the UK's electricity needs each is estimated it would take up to a decade to become operational, but would last up to 120 years."Two per cent might sound like a small number, but it's actually a huge amount of energy," Dr Garrard added."So two of those lagoons would be the same as Hinkley Point C [a nuclear power station] just down the coast."A lagoon would have at least a 120-year life, [in comparison] a typical power station has 30, and offshore wind farm has 30, Hinkley probably has 60."The Severn Estuary Commission's report did not look in to specific scheme options or locations, but it is understood the banks of the estuary in Somerset would be a viable place. Ambition and funding The UK has so far failed to bring forward any large-scale tidal lagoons, but it is hoped a privately backed Swansea Bay project will be developed in the coming the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is pushing ahead with a tidal barrage across the River of the Mersey Tidal Project began in earnest in 2015 and it could be operational by the end of the next Shaun Benzon, head of project development, said the barrage has been able to progress due to strong local political will."We've had an ambition as a combined authority which has been strongly supported by our Mayor, Steve Rotheram," he added."By having a key champion behind the project, and also having the ability to fund the development of the project to this phase through our devolved funding we've been able to act ahead of the others." The UK Marine Energy Council estimate the wave and tidal industries will be worth £50bn to the UK economy by a statement, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it is on a "clean power mission" to "get off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets" while "protecting business and household finances with clean, homegrown energy that we control"."We are open to considering well-developed proposals for harnessing the power of our bays, estuaries and coastlines, which demonstrate value for money", the spokesperson added.