Hanging up my (military) boots

After 30 years of working to help MPs understand and empathise with the Armed Services

There’s a complex and sometimes tricky relationship between Parliament and the Armed Services. It’s the PM and Government of the day who send our service people to war; it is Parliament’s job to scrutinise why and how they do that. Service men and women are fighting for their King and Country under orders from the Generals.

I am proud of the fact that for the best part of 30 years I worked to improve that understanding and process. I re-founded and chaired the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme which seconds up to 84 MPs and peers to the Armed Services- embedded (in uniform

) for a minimum of 15 days but often many more than that in any one year. Alongside that I founded and chaired the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Armed Forces which held 2 or 3 briefing dinners a month with top service people briefing Parliamentarians.

That military and defence profile in Parliament was further increased by the Welcome Home parades for brigades returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, which I initiated in 2005. Around 120 representative service people from the returning brigade would march into Parliament (usually led by a Household Division or Royal Marines Band), to be greeted at the North Door of Westminster Hall (very often by the Prime Minister) to thank them and their colleagues for all they had done, and to pay tribute to those who had not returned. That developed into a series of Beating Retreats in the Speaker’s Court to mark military anniversaries – Royal Marines 300, Royal Naval Women’s Service, RAF 100, Gurkha 200, 40^th anniversary of the Falklands War and Royal Artillery 300.

A former Army Reserve soldier, a Shadow Defence Minister, member of the Commons Defence Committee (and chaired their enquiry into Defence in the Arctic), I was the first MP to graduate from the Royal College of Defence Studies. I am Patron of Operation Christmas Box and formerly of Mutual Support, the military MS society; I am proud of the role I played fighting for LGBT service people who were so badly treated 20 or 30 years ago; and I remember with pride mixed with sadness the role I played in the Repatriation Ceremonies for 345 fallen heroes down Royal Wootton Bassett High Street in my constituency. All of those engagements with the military reconvinced me (if that was necessary) of the magnificent service which our people give to the nation, and I would like to think that my parliamentary work over 25 years has helped highlight that to successive generations of parliamentarians. Their work is more important than ever with the world as unstable as it is and given the increasing focus on defence and security.

However, ‘there is a time for everything... ‘ and 12 months after leaving the House of Commons, I have handed those responsibilities on to very able successors

and wish them well in their endeavours. If one’s life is a bit like the Great Wall of China viewed from Outer Space; if one occasionally glimpses the headlines in one’s obituary, then I would be glad to be thought of as the Parliamentarian who worked hard to improve understanding between Parliament and the Armed Forces. We owe them so much, and it is only right that members of both Houses are constantly reminded of that and given their opportunities to pay tribute to those who so willingly risk life and limb for the safety and security of the Nation.

As I go, I salute them; and wish them God Speed in all they do and do so well. And I commend the MPs (of all Parties) who represent them and fight for them and for their families.