The Freedom of Price

Call me a cynic if you want…

(Waits for cries to die down)

…but surely it’s obvious why the MOD has let the Iran captives sell their story?

1: The British public is far more likely to side with the soldiers, and against Iran, as a result of a newspaper story than any number of press releases from the establishment.

2: Soldiers with a large payout from the Sun/Mirror/Mail etc are far less likely to try to claim compensation for the suffering they went through.

So there we have a simple and elegant plan from the MOD which, if there’s any backlash, will be targeted against the soldiers for greed rather than the MOD for being manipulative.

Everyone wins.