Ipswich Tory MPs insulting words

Not for the first time , our at times embarrassing Tory MP for Ipswich has decided to attack our local Labour Party, not on policy, not on how we run the council? He decided to question our patriotism - for Mt Hunt it seems to show you are patriotic, you have to at least wear a union jack face mask in parliament, if not you might as well go and live in North Korea.

Many of us, a bit older still cringe when we see the Union Jack used as a tool to show how patriotic you are, we remember when it was 'hijacked' by the likes of the National Front. Unfortunately a number of the 2019 Tory intake at Westminster seem to employ tactics the National front would have been proud of, highlighting our differences rather than promoting what we all share.

As a veteran, I could not stand quietly and allow Mr Hunt attack us over our patriotism, so I wrote to my local paper the Ipswich star, who printed the letter on Monday 29 March 2021. This is the full version of the letter that i sent to the Star.

To the Ipswich Star,

Last week in your newspaper, the MP for Ipswich, Mr Hunt used his column to explain why he was happy to vote for the Police and Crime, Sentencing and Court Bill. He then went on to accuse the Ipswich Labour Party of ridiculing the bill, in particular the part that proposed tougher punishments  on those who desecrate our War Memorials. i found his comments both very insulting and unjust.

I am not only a member of the Ipswich Labour Party, but also a veteran and the Armed Forces Champion for Ipswich Borough Council, now the protection of war memorials may not be my top priority as Armed Forces Champion. My highest priority is in fact making sure that veterans  in Suffolk have access to the best mental health care available, just over a year ago I lost a close friend from my regiment who committed suicide, he was still serving and no one was aware that he was suffering from PTSD. That came only a year after we lost another fellow Rifleman to suicide. That along with trying to help veterans who have found themselves in prison is far more pressing issue currently for veterans.

However, I fully understand the importance of war memorials, not only to veterans but also to the families of those who have fallen. It is one of my proudest moments as a councillor in Ipswich, assisting to get a street and a square named  after two soldiers from our town who lost their lives in Northern Ireland and Afghanistan.

My own Regiment, the Royal Green Jackets, lost many men in the 41 years of our existence, all those Riflemen are remembered on various war memorial's, all over this land. I served with 2 Rifles in Afghanistan in 2009, 25 men of that Battle Group never returned home, all their names are on the memorial at the National Arboretum . On that same memorial to those from the Armed Forces who have died in conflict since 1945 are the names of Paul Harding and Mark Hale. Paul was a close friend, my mentor, my hero, who rose to the rank of Major only to die, leading from the front in Basra, Iraq. Captain Mark Hale, I only knew for a short time, but we hit it off straight away, we were from the same era, shared many of the same views on the army, on the 12 August 2009, we had dinner together in the dusty mess tent in Sangin, Afghanistan, less than a day later, he was dead, killed by an IED, whilst helping others.

I often visit the National Arboretum in Staffordshire, I find both their names on the memorial, trace my fingers over the letters of their names and when I do that my emotions are mixed, often both sorrow and anger, and then I sit on a bench by the Royal Green Jackets Memorial and I am often close to tears, those memorials are important to me  - would I forget those two fellow Rifleman if the memorial was not there? No - but it is important to me, my comrades, their families, that there is a proper memorial and hope the presence of those memorials reminds politicians and national leaders that there are deadly consequences when you send soldiers into conflict.

So Mr Hunt, as a local Labour Party member and also a veteran, I fully understand the importance of War Memorials and I certainly need no lesson from you on that subject.

I would ask you to think carefully in the future when writing such comments, there are many Labour members  and voters, who are veterans, and your words insulted all of them.

Cll Alasdair Ross

Rushmere Ward

Ipswich

 

Mark Hale 

Paul Harding

Tories - no friends of the Armed Forces

Seems it is the Tory Defence Minister who has the job of attacking Corbyn any chance he gets with Boris occasionally being allowed to have a go. I myself have concerns about Corbyn and the Armed Forces, but the Tories keep bringing up the past- links to the IRA, comments on NATO and his role in CND, But let us not be fooled into thinking the Tories are the party for the Armed Forces.

Mistakes were made in Iraq but the way Cameron and the Tories jumped straight into the conflict in Libya shows little was learnt by this Government but I have many friends still serving, morale is low, numbers are low, redundancy threats still hang over many but you do not just have to believe me - the BBC has caught the defence Secretary out and he repeated his distorted view of the facts on the Marr show this morning.

The Labour Party should be the party that the Armed Forces trust, Corbyn has much to do to get our servicemen's trust but do not fall for the Tory lie that they care about the Armed Forces

THE BBC FACT CHECK

The claim: The Conservatives pledged to build up the size of the army to 82,000 by 2020.

Reality Check verdict: The actual manifesto pledge was to not let the size of the army fall below 82,000. It currently stands at nearly 78,500 so that pledge has been broken.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon was asked on the Andrew Marr Show about the Conservative Party's manifesto pledge on army numbers from the 2015 election.

"We said we would build the army up to 82,000 by the year 2020," he replied, adding that the number was currently just over 79,000 but pointing out that it was not yet 2020.

But Mr Fallon was mistaken about what his party had promised to do two years ago.

The actual pledge from the manifesto was: "We will maintain the size of the regular armed services and not reduce the army to below 82,000."

I believe we should take military action in Syria - but still many questions for Cameron to answer

This is not a simple question, and even though I have made up my mind, there are still a number of questions that have not been answered.

I believe the Labour Party should support the Government on their decision to start air operations in Syria.

Jeremy Corbyn has stuck to his principles and does not believe we should start combat operations, I accept his opinion but I now hope he will allow Labour MPs and shadow Ministers a free vote, if the Tories do decide to put the decision to a vote this week.

Whatever the decision, Labour will be damaged by this issue and it has not helped with the likes of Tory Minister Fallon playing party politics over such an important issue.

David Cameron did not persuade me when he spoke to the commons last week and it seems he still hasn’t got all his own MPs on side so he still needs at least some Labour MPs to vote with him or abstain.

So if Cameron has not persuaded me, why do I support Military operations? I support our involvement in the Syrian bombing campaign because I believe after the atrocities in Paris we have to show a united front against ISIS.

I do not believe Cameron and Fallon and their opinion that the RAF are needed to make the operation a success, we could just increase our bombing missions in Iraq to free up US and French planes to concentrate on Syria. In fact I am sure we are already involved in Syria, with planning, early warning and target acquisition in support of other air forces already bombing Syria.

I do wish the Shadow Cabinet could come to an agreed decision but if not I hope it is a free vote and that Corbyn does not use this important issue as yet another pawn in his battle between the PLP and his supporters. I understand why he has asked members and I applaud his attempts to allow the party membership to be more involved in policy making but when it comes to going to war, we (the public) do not have the full facts, actually MPs do not have the full facts and Yvette Cooper raised that point in parliament. But Jeremy Corbyn and the shadow Cabinet have been briefed by the intelligence services and after that briefing (rather than the points Cameron made) it seems most of the Shadow Cabinet supports military action.

Corbyn on the Marr show this morning (where he was very impressive) slated the Tories for playing party politics over this important decision but if Jeremy is playing internal politics then he is not showing the leadership that is expected from the leader of the opposition.

I for one have not received an email from the party asking me my opinion on the bombing of Syria so am not even sure this asking members their opinion is actually valid. Where Corbyn is right is that he is in the majority – I am sure the majority of Labour members do now want to bomb Syria, in fact I am sure most of the country do not want to see us involved in Syria but politicians have to be prepared to make decisions that are not always universally popular. That is why they take positions in the Shadow Cabinet, Jeremy must act differently to when he was just a back bencher.

So I support our involvement in Syria and expect the Shadow Cabinet to have studied the evidence in front of them, read the intelligence reports and then make a sound judgement.

Cameron needs Labour support because he can’t even lead his own party, his performance at the dispatch box last week was poor and he failed to show there was a real plan (I am sure there is – just he could not explain it) he also leaves a number of questions unanswered and though many may blame Blair for Iraq, the mess Cameron left behind in Libya is nothing to be proud of.

So we still need more answers, to help get the correct facts over to the British public;

1.         Where and who are these 70,000 fighter who are both against ISIS and Assad?

2.         Where is both the plan (and the money) to reconstruct Syria after peace is secured?

3.         Remember Cameron has not even got the support of all Tory MPs

4.         Remember when Cameron wanted us to bomb Syria last time, it was to bomb Assad that would have helped ISIS

5.         If ISIS are routed, will the bombing campaign end or continue against Assad?

So many questions still to be answered but I still believe we should join a military campaign against ISIS in Syria.

Many in the Labour Party will not agree with my opinion, some who are friends and i respect them for the opinion, I may even suffer some abuse from the trolls that seem prevalent in some sections of the left who support Jeremy Corbyn (they need to follow his example about taking the abuse out of politics)  

I do not just support military action because I was in the army for over 25 years; it is because I believe that on certain circumstance combat operations are needed. Remember the successful military operations (under Blair) Kosovo and Sierra Leone.

We should and must not just become an inward facing country, in 1939 it was the working classes in their thousands who joined the forces to not only defend this country but to defeat fascism, and some of my first heroes on the left were those Labour men, socialists and trade unionists (like Jack Jones) who left these shores to fight against Franco in Spain. What do you think those men and women would do now?

Should we have ordered air strikes on Iraq?

Ben Gummer (our Tory MP) has a regular column in or local paper, the Ipswich Star – some have been informative, some interesting and some poor but I would describe this week’s offering as both atrocious and pompous.

He started his column telling us about the birth of his son but then seemed to used most of the time making excuses for his son not being born in Ipswich, quite sad that he feels he has to do this I am positive no one in Ipswich Labour would have made any sort of issue about his wife giving birth in London, in fact most of us would not have been surprised by the news as we would expect Mr Gummer to spend more time in London than he does in Ipswich and as his wife is also from London not sure his son not being born in Ipswich is any sort of a story at all, but I am not being critical of Mr Gummer explaining why his son was not born in Ipswich I am just disappointed that the way modern politics is going that he thought he needed to explain the details of the birth of his son.

But what made me angry was the second part of his column – Ben Gummer used the second half of his column explaining why he was going to vote for air strikes in Iraq, he even went further to say that he believed we should also be bombing ISIS in Syria. Now I do believe Mr Gummer was right to use his column to tell Ipswich residents of why he was going to vote to allow our forces to enter the conflict though I was surprised that he was willing to state how he was going to vote before he listened and joined in the debate at Westminster.

I like Mr Gummer would have voted for Britain to join the coalition so him voting for us to join the US and others in bombing Northern Iraq but it was the pompous manner he put over his view and how he then used the column to not only attack Putin and Farage but also the Labour leader Ed Miliband,

The pomposity of his column was highlighted to me by what seemed him showing off, by describing the theatre of operations as Northern Mesopotamia. Now I may expect someone with an Oxbridge history degree to know what this part of Iraq was formally called and maybe even use that knowledge to understand some of the tribal and territorial issues that make this such a volatile region to live in but you would have just thought he would have called the area Northern Iraq rather than Mesopotamia.

To me it came over pompous and showing off and that is the last sort of reaction you should be after when explaining why you have voted to commit our Armed forces to combat.

Then after getting over his pomposity we had the attack on Ed Miliband, stating that the situation in the region now and the rise of ISIS is down to Ed and Labour MPs not voting to order air strikes on Iraq last year. What rubbish and he also seems to forget that a large number of Tory MPs also voted not to go to war in Syria and they were not your usual ‘little Englander’ Tory rebels.

Many including me actually believe that ISIS would have even been stronger if we had attacked Assad, the trouble is the Syrian rebels have never been united and ISIS was already attacking other Syrian rebel groups at the time of that last vote. My view is shared by many and a Labour MP asked Ed Miliband a leading question that indicated he had the same view but instead of Ed using his answer as an excuse to attack Cameron, instead he said the debate was about ordering air strikes on Iraq now not debating what would have happened if we had voted for action last year. The answer of Ed Miliband was statesmanlike, the sort of answer you would expect from a politician when such a grave matter as sending British planes into action was the subject of the debate. I am afraid our own Tory MP decided to use the vote as an opportunity to score cheap political points.

What Mr Gummers column does come over is one of desperation as he knows the tide is against him in Ipswich


I did state earlier that I, like Mr Gummer would have voted for air strikes in Iraq and like Mr Gummer agree that the RAF should be able to follow and then bomb targets into Syria but that is not to say that I applaud Mr Cameron for the stance he has taken in fact he has just failed to show any sort of leadership over the matter.

The coalition has been in action for a number of weeks but Mr Cameron did not see fit to recall Parliament earlier.

Like Mr Gummer and myself, I believe Mr Cameron believes we should also take action in Syria but he does not have the confidence to be even sure that he can persuade his own party to support him let along persuade his coalition colleagues or Labour or any other smaller political groups, a fact that Mr Hauge seemed to admit on the BBC this morning.

Former Generals and Air Commanders have been critical of Cameron, with one stating that to defeat ISIS it will need ‘boots on the ground’ and another senior ex British General with a former NATO command also being very critical of Cameron, the General disappointed in the way we have left others to lead not only in the battle against ISIS but also in the Ukraine conflict but that is the direct consequence of the drastic cuts to our Armed Forces by the Tories.

We have committed 6 planes to the mission over Iraq, less than Denmark and Australia. Mr Cameron does needs to learn that once you reduce the size of your armed forces you will find that you can no longer expect to be seen as one of the key decision makers in NATO, Europe or the UN.

It does not mean that just deploying armed forces is the only thing we can do as a country to help the situation in Iraq/Syria, we should be proud of the help we have given in overseas aid, something we would not be able to do in the future if Tory right wingers get their way and our aid budget is reduced but there is even more we can do – we are helping the refugees on the ground in both Turkey and Iraq but what I found both surprising but then more embarrassing is that by June this year only 43 Syrian refugees have been allowed to enter this country!

In the late 30’s many politicians did not cover themselves in glory with their willingness to appease Hitler (you can also add the Daily Mail to that list) but many of the British public did not just sit and do nothing, and I am sure many of us have been through Liverpool Street station and have looked at the statues that were erected to remember the Jewish children rescued by the Kindertransport’ – when you lean the story of those children, the contribution to British life by those children rescued it does make a total of 43 Syrian refugees accepted seem quite pathetic.

My week ahead 10 - 16 August 2014

Monday – 11 August, 9am – Rushmere Ward Councillors meeting, Woodbridge Road
6pm –Labour Group campaigning session

Tuesday – 12 August, 2pm – Labour campaigning in SW Ipswich

Wednesday – 13 August, 2pm – Labour campaigning in NW Ipswich

Thursday – 14 August, 7pm – Culture Working Group

Saturday – 16 August, 10am – Labour campaigning in North East Ipswich

Back from India and also a short break at the Commonwealth Games and it is straight into full time campaigning. Some see August as a non-political activity month with many at the council on holiday and Westminster also away on one of their many long breaks but with the General Election now under 12 months away many will use August to campaign hard.

Even Ministers are making official visits, with the Tory Minister for Coastal Protection in the region this week, even the local news programme indicated that it was rare to have a ministerial visit in August, also indicating that they believed the visit may have been official and not a campaigning visit but it was only taking place because of the time of the General Election now getting closer.

The local political blog even indicated that they would be concentrating on national issues in their ‘Diary’ column this week as August was always a slow month – I thought possibly the non appearance of any of our local MPs at two recent civic events – a medal ceremony for local Reservists and the Monday night event in Christchurch Park to commemorate the centenary of the start of the First World War would have been a newsworthy story. In particular after the clumsy way Tory spin doctors and the Right wing press attempted to make Ed Miliband and the Lib Dem leader look uncaring after they were handed wreaths that had already been labelled, but the labels looked the work of a small child.

What that action by the Tories did show is that as we get closer to the General Election they will get more and more desperate.

It has not been a great week for the Tories and in particular David Cameron, Baroness Warsi storming out and then Boris telling us all he was coming back and that he had suddenly become slightly Euro sceptic! Many may have hoped that Boris announcing that he was coming back to save the Tory Party may have knocked Warsi off the front pages – it did for a day but many papers this Sunday have carried further interviews with the Baroness, none of which will make good reading for Mr Cameron and his (Boris’s ) party.

On international issues, I do think that Westminster and in particular MPs can get a bad press that is underserved at times but I do wonder that with the Gaza crisis, the situation in Iraq (that now has the RAF involved) plus the public health issues caused by the Ebola epidemic that there seems to be little mention of a recall of Parliament!

Desert issue!

Not blogged for a while as I have been involved in pre Afghanistan deployment training- training for a hot summer in Afghanistan with a freezing two weeks in Wiltshire!



But today in Northern Ireland we were issued our desert clothing and equipment. The reason I mention this is that there has been much criticism in certain papers about the lack of equipment our troops are issued with. Well in all my time in the army I have never been issued with so much equipment and of such good quality. Of course our troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan deserve the best equipment but the papers (and the Tories) should say well done when the MOD and the Government get it right.

Soldiers remembered from Belfast to County Mayo

Today in Belfast we will see something that many of us never thought we would ever see, the Army parading through the streets of Belfast. This is the homecoming parade for servicemen returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. But as would be expected in Northern Ireland, it can never be that simple and the day will also see a separate parade by Sinn Fein who said their parade was to protest about the British Army presence in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan. Many on the left in Ireland and some in the Nationalist and Republican communities felt that Sinn Fein should have just ignored the parade rather than put in a separate march. There have been concessions on both sides with no RAF flypast and the soldiers marching without weapons and Sinn Fein agreeing to changes in their march route. But why did Sinn Fein march at all? Two main reasons that I can think of, they feared that the loyalist community would hijack the British Army parade and turn it into a re-run of July 12th but I believe the main reason was that when they heard of a planned dissident republican march they felt they had to form some sort of protest. I believe they were wrong and should have not organised their own protest and should not have linked the 'troubles' and the role of the Army in it with the return of British/Irish troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

But in the Republic the peace process has seen changes to the way those in the Republic remember their war dead. As with Sinn Fein today, the Irish Government has felt it hard to remember the Irish servicemen who have laid down their lives in both the First World War and since. of course those who volunteered to fight in WW1 were doing so when Ireland was still governed by the British, and maybe understandably that in the 1920's and 30's it was not seen right to remember those who had been seen to lay down their lives for the British Empire but many Irish also volunteered to fight with the Allies in the Second World War and many Irishmen have also served since in Korea and even in Vietnam as members of the US and Australian armed forces. Now those in the Republic feel that they can remember those who lost their lives in the conflicts of the 20th century with no concern for whose county they were serving at the time.

on October 17th this year, the Irish President, Mary McAleese performed the official opening of the County Mayo Peace Park in Castlebar, county Mayo. This fantastic memorial remembers all those from County Mayo who have lost their lives in war, whether they were fighting in the 1st World War with the British Army or since with the British, Canadians, Australians or with their own army in such places as the Lebanon.

So it may take a little longer for Sinn Fein to remember that the soldiers we are welcoming home today in Belfast are Irish soldiers who have been trying to give peace to Iraq and Afghanistan and that it should not be seen as an opportunity to make a political statement about their view of the army's role in the 'troubles'. It has taken many in the south over 80 years to realise that the 11th November and war memorials in towns and villages are there to remember those who have given their lives so that we have the freedom to protest on what we want and where we want.

100 Years Strong- Centenary of the TA

As an ex soldier it was very pleasing to be able to attend the drum head service held at the Ipswich Corn Exchange to mark the centenary of the Territorial Army. Horrendous weather forced the service from the Cornhill to inside the Corn Exchange, but it did not dampen the celebration.

I must admit as a regular soldier we did not always have much time for the TA but that has changed over the last few years as they are now closer linked to the regular army. Currently a TA unit from Ipswich is helping on the convoy routes between Kuwait and Iraq.

This commitment to support the regular army will have to continue. The statements this week by Brigadier Carleton-Smith about the situation in Afghanistan have shown that. The Brigadier of 16 Air assault Brigade had this to say about the current situation-

"We're not going to win this war. It's about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that's not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army," he said.
He said his forces had "taken the sting out of the Taliban for 2008" but that troops may well leave Afghanistan with there still being a low level of insurgency.

This is a view held by many in the military and this is one reason why the Territorial Army is as important now as it was when Richard Burdon Haldane reformed the army in 1908.

Lions of Basra- Nothing wrong with the youth of today.

Last week I managed a break from campaigning to go to London for a lecture by one of my former Army commanders. the was by Lt Colonel Patrick Sanders.

Patrick gave a fascinating lecture which gave those who were present a real insight to the difficulties the 4th Battalion The Rifles (2 RGJ) had encountered during those 6 difficult months in Basra last year. the lecture was even more relevant due to recent incidents in Basra where there Iraq Government has had a crack down on the Iranian backed militias.

What it id bring out to me was how much the Iranians are involved in the Basra power struggle and the very different problems that face the British compared to the Americans in Baghdad.

It was strange when Patrick described the many acts of courage undertaken by Rifleman, as many of those he mentioned, I had served with.

Election campaigning can often get you down, especially when you often face so much apathy- house after house of non voters and often young people who have never voted and are unlikely to vote ever, it was a real boost then when Patrick said forget all this criticism of the "play station" generation, what he had witnessed in Basra last years was young people performing immense acts of bravery under very trying conditions- As Patrick said - "There is nothing wrong with the youth of today".

Remembrance day

I will be attending the service in Christchurch Park, Ipswich in the morning, I thought of attending the Cenotaph service in London and joining the large contingent of ex Green Jackets - but no it will be Ipswich.

Why?

My father attended the service in the park every year, for many of them carrying the Korea Veterans Flag, so I will also be remembering my father.

Ipswich may not be a military town like Colchester but we have always been surrounded by RAF and USAF bases and now we have the Army Air Corps and Royal Engineers living close by, many of whom have now purchased houses in the town and think of Ipswich as their home- many of these have been or will be going back to Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is also even more important this year for the people of Ipswich to remember those who given their lives for their country as we have lost one of our own, Private Aaron McClure, one of nine Royal Anglians who have died with the this year in the Helmund Province.

We should never forget those who served us in both World Wars or in the conflicts since, if you cannot attend a Remembrance service in the morning, just take two minutes at 11 o'clock in the morning to remember those brave men and women who continue to serve this country in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

They shall grow not old

As we that are left grow Old

Age shall not weary them

Nor the years condemn

At the going down of the Sun

And in the morning

We will remember them

We will remember them

Lest we forget.

Amen.