The former head of the Royal Navy has said the military should focus on winning wars rather than "political correctness" after a ban on words like manpower.

Admiral Lord Alan West, former First Sea Lord, made his comments after it was reported that the First Sea Lord Tony Radakin had ordered sailors to stop using terms such as unmanned" and "manpower" so as female recruits do not feel excluded.

Lord West, 72,said that whilepeople have to be "very careful with words"because "in this very politically correct world it has a relevance", he hoped that most of their (the Navys) attention is being paid at the moment to ensuring we have sufficient ships, weapons and men to prevent war and if there is a war, to be able to fight and win.

"Those things seem to me merit a huge amount of attention and it seems that quite often we're focusing more and more on things like the RAF changing its uniform and all those soft things, which are lovely, but they don't actually help you when a war comes along."

It comes after the Chief of the Defence Staff warned that the Armed Forces must stamp out its "laddish" nature, as he warned he found the militarys culture really worrying.

General Sir Nick Carter also wrote a letter to all personnel where he said that while we talk a genuinely good game, more needed to be done to deal with racism in Britain's Armed Forces.

It follows on from a review last year which concluded that the forces were led by a "pack of middle-aged white men" resulting in unacceptable levels of bullying, sexism and racist behaviour.

The report, by Air Marshal Michael Wigston, was commissioned after a 17-year-old female soldier was allegedly sexually assaulted by six male personnel.

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Former head of Navy says military should focus on winning wars rather than 'political correctness' - Telegraph.co.uk