A new Labour government has been elected, and a defence review commissioned. Just 7 years separate the “Options for Change” review which cut the armed forces by around a third, and the SDR. By 1997 the UK armed forces were committed on a very significant range of operations, hitting a tempo far higher than had been seen for many years in the Cold War, where they were fundamentally defensively orientated. It also reiterated that efficiency savings are very much a staple of the MOD’s efforts, and that it takes time to implement them. The armed forces will always want as much money as possible to spend.