‘The British military reportedly initially opposed the idea of deploying thousands of troops in the event of a major incident, claiming morale would be hit, it didn’t have the manpower and it wouldn’t know when to withdraw.

Operation Temperer, which was approved by the Cabinet Office Briefing Room and signed-off by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, was put in motion for the first time on Tuesday following a request by police for military support in the wake of the Manchester Arena suicide bombing.

Rather than being full martial law, which is defined as the military taking over leadership of the country, Operation Temperer aims to place up to 5,100 soldiers under police command to “augment armed police officers engaged in protective security duties.”’

Read more: Army ‘resisted’ plan to deploy troops on streets of Britain