At last, the British army may allow beards – prepare for a culture war | Keith Flett

News that the British army is considering a change to its very long-running ban on soldiers wearing beards for most ranks is to be welcomed. The navy and the RAF do allow beards, although no doubt with the proviso that they are neat and orderly. We are not talking ZZ Top here. As the organiser of the Beard Liberation Front, which since 1995 has advocated for the right of people to be able to dress and appear as they want, I welcome this.

The change is reportedly due to the fact that the army is having trouble recruiting people, and thinks allowing beards may help with the numbers of male soldiers. Take for example the Royal Signals, which equates to telecoms and tech. This is a highly hirsute occupation in civilian life, and it can be seen that an employer with a beard ban may not appeal.

Of course, the British army historically has not been entirely bereft of beards. The Crimean war in the 1850s comes to mind, where soldiers grew bushy beards to keep the cold and frost out. Various other 19th-century British imperial adventures saw the involvement of hirsute soldiers. Even today a range of “special forces” – for example, those who were deployed in Afghanistan – are allowed to have beards. Whether it is in fact compulsory, given the rather regimented outlook armed forces can have, is not clear. Hopefully the change to allow all soldiers to wear beards will mean that it will no longer be just a “special case” but something that is routinely accepted.

Should the move go ahead we can expect controversy and most likely a full-blown culture war. Somewhere out there are people who have devoted a lifetime to studying and opining on how soldiers in the British army should dress and appear. We can be sure they will be on talkshows on GB News telling us, while probably also looked rather red-faced.

It was not so long ago, for example, that there was a debate in the rightwing media about whether Prince Harry could or should turn up at various royal occasions wearing his beard. Many column inches were taken up discussing whether it was in line with protocol or not. In the event Harry turned up to his wedding with beard intact and the world moved on.

Even so, there will be objections. Whether a Tory minister or even Rishi Sunak decides to launch a culture war on the subject, we’ll see. They seem to be highly random events. It is certain, however, that some columnists will denounce the army as woke.

Age-old prejudices will certainly be on display. Beards are seen as dirty and unkempt and, referencing The Twits, containing leftover bits of lunch. They are also a sign that the beard wearer is hiding something and quite probably that they have dubious morals. None of this, of course, from the perspective of culture warriors, is what the British army should be about. While army beards will no doubt be neat and tidy, they will still have variations in style, suggesting that soldiers may be thinking for themselves about their appearance and image rather than conforming to an imperial stereotype where they all look the same.

Yet, beyond the archaic dislike and even hatred of beards, the world has changed. As a trade union officer in the City of London, I still have a desk – which I visit, in the era of flexible working, less often than I did. However, while 25 years ago I would have been surrounded by clean-shaven men in suits, now beards are everywhere. Not just among the rank and file but senior managers too.

In 2023 there is an understanding, at least among those employers who are living in the 21st century, that it’s not how someone appears that matters. Rather it is their skills and how effectively they perform them that is key. I’d like to think the beard helps, but that is probably fanciful.

Of course, there may also be a downside. The British army is deployed in all manner of military and imperial activities, some of which may appear highly controversial. British soldiers with beards being pictured in the media where a hotly disputed encounter has taken place could risk bringing the hirsute into disrepute. It is a consideration, but one that can be countered by the reality that the order for the army to engage will have come ultimately from some almost inevitably clean-shaven politician.

Let’s hope, then, that the army proceeds with a very long overdue policy change on appearance and beards, and that it is ready for the opposition from beard haters and clean-shaven armchair generals, which it will almost certainly face.