In 1997, the Office of Public Management released a damning report that found evidence of widespread racism in the armed forces. In response, the Ministry of Defence launched its first-ever campaign aimed specifically at recruiting ethnic minority officers. This included the issuing of a new set of recruitment posters based on Alfred Leese's well known 'Your Country Needs You' poster of Lord Kitchener from the First World War.
However, prejudice is hard to break down and it has taken time to increase the Army’s ethnic diversity. The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have also made it less appealing for British Muslims to join up. Openly homosexual people were banned from the armed forces until 2000 and women still don’t fight on the front line.
