[Cobbydaler]

Originally Posted by TheNorm

Wasn't it Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence (Labour) who cancelled it after 100-odd years?

Anyway, I have fond memories of seeing this in Earl's Court as a lad, courtesy of my uncle.

Yes, the last one was in 1999.

From Hansard:

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what grounds the Royal Tournament is to be ended; and if he will make a statement. [94144]

Mr. Hoon: The Royal Tournament has made a major contribution over the years to British life and to the Service charities. I therefore pay tribute to the organisers and participants who have given such great pleasure to so many.
The Royal Tournament had been under scrutiny for some time. In part this was because the event had lost money in recent years--for example, it lost £400,000 last year--and this made the viability of the event questionable, particularly given its charitable status. More fundamentally, however, the format of the event could send only a limited message about the role and operational capabilities of the Armed Forces in the modern world. Moreover, the audience had reduced in recent years and as a result the Tournament neither informed the public nor attracted potential recruits to the extent we would have wished. Despite failing to meet our needs, it still placed a very considerable demand on our personnel, a minimum of 30,000 man-days per annum. This was hard to justify in the light of operational commitments and overstretch. Such considerations led the Services themselves to conclude that the Royal Tournament should end in order to help reduce commitments.

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