A Conservative government would carry out a capability review of Britain's defence establishment which can be expected to cut the number of military top brass and slash civilian staff at the Ministry of Defence, party spokesman Liam Fox will announce today.

The shadow defence secretary, MP for Woodspring, will say it is time for the MoD to "get its house in order" and redirect resources from Whitehall to overstretched frontline troops fighting in Afghanistan.

And he will promise a "radical root- and-branch reform" of the MoD's procurement process to improve the purchase and delivery of equipment for the armed forces.

The MoD, which employs more than 6,000 at Abbey Wood in Filton, has one civil servant for every two members of the armed forces, Dr Fox will say. The recent Gray Review has shown that the MoD's procurement process is "broken", Dr Fox will say.

He is also set to state that all three services have questions to answer over the number of officers promoted to the highest and best-paid ranks.

Conservatives have already promised a strategic defence review to assess the shape of armed forces that will be needed for the future.

But Dr Fox will say in his speech today that an in-depth capability review must also be carried out into the structure of the armed forces and the MoD's civilian workforce to ensure they are best configured for their tasks.

Dr Fox will say: "All options for reform, no matter how radical, are on the table.