Dannatt faced controversy over his outspokenness, in particular his calls for improved pay and conditions for soldiers and for a drawdown of operations in Iraq in order to better man those in Afghanistan.

He later assisted with the formation of Help for Heroes to fund a swimming pool at Headley Court and, later in his tenure, brokered an agreement with the British press that allowed Prince Harry to serve in Afghanistan.

He was succeeded as CGS by Sir David Richards and retired in 2009, taking up the largely honorary post of Constable of the Tower of London, which he held until July 2016.

Dannatt resigned when Cameron's party formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats after the election produced a hung parliament, arguing that the prime minister should rely primarily on the advice of the incumbent service chiefs.

For his secondary education, he was sent to St. Lawrence College in Ramsgate, Kent, where he joined the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) and eventually rose to senior under-officer.

By then aspiring to become a barrister, Dannatt applied to study law at Emmanuel College, Cambridge but was turned down after an interview, at which point his ambition switched towards a military career.

During his first year at university, Dannatt attended a debate at Trinity College, Dublin — a rare opportunity for a serving British officer at the height of The Troubles.

[10] In 1974, he was involved in fundraising for a specially adapted Mini car to be provided for a disabled fellow student, Sue Foster, which included charity dinners held at various colleges and a sponsored walk to Scotch Corner and back.

[17] Shortly after the end of the strike, he was posted to Cyprus with the United Nations peacekeeping force before returning to Surrey for the start of the one-year Command and Staff Course at Camberley.

[21] Promoted to lieutenant colonel on 30 June 1987,[22] Dannatt spent three years at the MoD, in a role he described as "bridging the gap" between the military and politicians, most of whom did not have first-hand experience in the armed forces.

At the end of his tenure, he was involved with Field Marshal Sir Nigel Bagnall's British Military Doctrine in its final stages as it was submitted for ministerial approval.

[30] After the signing of the Dayton Agreement in November 1995, UNPROFOR became the NATO-led Implementation Force and Dannatt's brigade was incorporated into a multi-national division commanded by Mike Jackson.

[38] Dannatt gave evidence as an expert witness in the trial of Radislav Krstić in relation to the Srebrenica massacre, shortly after which he was posted to Bosnia, where he served as deputy commander of NATO's Stabilisation Force in 2000.

[39] His tour, originally scheduled to last a full year was cut short when Sir Michael Willcocks took early retirement from the army in order to become Black Rod.

[46] He succeeded Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman as Commander-in-Chief, Land Command (CINCLAND)—responsible for day-to-day running of the army—on 7 March 2005, and was promoted to full general the same day.

[48] However, his term also coincided with an increase in the intensity of simultaneous operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Dannatt formed the view that government spending priorities did not accurately reflect the commitments of the British Armed Forces at the time.

In the letter, he asserted his view that the army was over-stretched by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and that essential equipment, such as helicopters, was unavailable or ineffective and outdated, like the Snatch Land Rover.

[52] Later in his tenure as CGS, Dannatt became concerned that his public profile was not high enough that he would be listened to outside of the army, especially given the ongoing controversy surrounding the courts-martial of soldiers alleged to be involved in the death of Baha Mousa.

[53] Dannatt appeared in newspaper headlines in October 2006 when he gave an interview for Sarah Sands of the Daily Mail in which he opined that a drawdown of troops from Iraq was necessary in order to allow the army to focus on Afghanistan, and that wounded soldiers should recover in a military environment rather than civilian hospitals.

[62] In 2008, in the first speech of its kind by any CGS, Dannatt addressed the army-sponsored Fourth Joint Conference on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Matters, stating that homosexuals were welcome to serve in the army.

Cameron invited Dannatt to become a defence adviser for the Shadow Cabinet once he was officially retired from the army and no longer bound by Queen's Regulations, which mandate political neutrality in the armed forces.

[86][87] The timing of the decision, which became public in October 2009—within two months of Dannatt's effective retirement—attracted some controversy, with some former ministers and civil servants suggesting it potentially compromised the neutrality of the armed forces.

[92] He also criticised Tony Blair for allowing himself to be effectively overruled by Brown and said of Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, then CDS, that "although brilliant at what he did, [he] could not have been expected to understand the sights, sounds and smells of the battlefield".

The Daily Telegraph called the book "a searing indictment of how New Labour, and to some extent the military's high command, failed to properly lead, fund and equip the armed forces for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan".

Although nominated for a political peerage on the Conservative Party benches, he opted to sit as a crossbencher and was ennobled as Baron Dannatt, of Keswick in the County of Norfolk on 19 January 2011.

Dannatt was quoted as saying he had engineered a seat at a formal dinner with the Ministry of Defence's new permanent secretary, Jon Thompson, to help another company, Capita Symonds, which was bidding for a contract to manage MoD estates.

[100] Commenting on the Victims Rights Campaign in September 2018, he told the news media that retiring soldiers, airmen and sailors should receive a psychological assessment as part of the resettlement package before leaving duty to help them avoid future prison and homelessness.

Bertie, their second son, served with the Grenadier Guards — Pippa's father's regiment — in Iraq and Afghanistan, earning a mention in despatches and reaching the rank of captain before leaving the army in 2008.

He spent much of the subsequent two years recovering and was eventually allowed to return to duty, though he still tires more quickly on his right-hand side than on his left and has other minor residual effects.

[2][109] He served as a trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust since 2005 and as patron of Hope and Homes for Children since 2006, and continues his patronage of Help for Heroes, which he assisted in founding while CGS.