[BITList] Off Topic - Medals for UK MPs - More....

[John Feltham]

Further to the controversy "Medals for UK politicians", I have just  
received this from a friend in NZ


,….and they deny us the honour of wearing our PJMs,…..I’m lost for words


The link at the bottom will take you to the petition that I posted  
earlier.



Subject: MEDALS for MP's!!!
To: undisclosed-recipients


MPs HAVE been condemned by ex-servicemen after accepting commemorative  
medals for time spent with the Armed Forces.

Some MPs have received the awards for 10 years’ or more membership of  
the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme (AFPS).

The body allows politicians to spend around 22 days a year with the  
Forces. The practice has been criticised by former servicemen,  
families of personnel who have died in Iraq and a senior officer who  
led British forces in Afghanistan.

Col Richard Kemp, was commander of British troops in the country in  
2003, and campaigned for a medal for all those wounded in action but  
was turned down by the Ministry of Defence.

He said: “It seems a bit rich to give a medal to an MP for visiting a  
combat zone, yet the Government is not prepared to give a medal to  
someone who has lost a leg or an arm in battle.” The AFPS medal is  
made of silver and attached to a crimson, gold and green ribbon  
representing the colours of the Lords, the Queen and the Commons.

It is an unofficial medal and is worn by recipients on the right breast.

MPs in the scheme – which is backed by the Ministry of Defence – are  
given a uniform which includes a badge decorated with a portcullis,  
the symbol of Parliament, and enter at the rank of major. They can  
earn promotion to colonel and above, according to the number of  
“training” days they attend. So far, around 200 MPs have participated  
but only eight to 10 have served long enough to be eligible for the  
award.

Soldiers are only awarded medals if they serve in a war zone, in  
operations, or for long service or acts of conspicuous bravery.

The MPs’ medal ceremony has previously taken place in the Speaker’s  
state dining room at the House of Commons, and is attended by senior  
military officers. The Labour MP Frank Cook was presented with his  
medal by Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the current Chief of the  
Defence Staff. Other politicians to receive the award include the  
Tories Roger Gale; James Gray; Edward Garnier QC, who is shadow  
attorney general; and Julian Lewis. They have all reached the rank of  
colonel or above.

Other Labour MPs known to have been given a medal include Andrew Miller.

“It is a bit vain to award yourself a medal just for spending time  
with members of the Armed Forces,” said Bob Clay, 78, who served in  
the Guards Independent Parachute Company for 22 years and is now a  
Royal British Legion committee member in Lymington, Hampshire.

“It is like patting yourself on the back. What the troops want is real  
support from politicians, not this sort of PR.”

Robert Hannaford, 76, who served in the Army Intelligence Corps in the  
1950s and is now president of the Royal British Legion Club in  
Margate, Kent, said: “I’ve always been sceptical about medals awarded  
to people just for being in a certain place at a certain time rather  
than for earning them on merit.”

The scheme is run by Sir Neil Thorne, a former Tory MP and former  
colonel in the Territorial Army, with part-funding from the defence  
industry. He started it in 1988 to give MPs a clearer idea of Forces  
life.

Sir Neil defended the medal as recognition of long service and loyalty  
to service personnel.

“What I am trying to get them to do is support the men and women in  
the Armed Forces,” he said.

Mr Gale said: “I have got one medal from the scheme which I have worn  
on two occasions. Of course I would never wear it on something like  
Remembrance Sunday, because that’s for the bold who earned their  
medals in combat.”

Mr Gray said he had never worn the medal in public and considered it a  
“badge”.

The awarding of the medal has also attracted criticism from families  
of servicemen killed in action.

Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon, 19, was killed in an attack on Army  
vehicles in Iraq in 2004, said: “Of course it’s a good idea that MPs  
visit troops and spend time trying to understand the Armed, Forces  
because a lot of them don’t really understand the reality of what it  
is like. But they don’t deserve a medal just for doing their job like  
that.”

Mrs Gentle is due to receive her son’s posthumous Military Cross.

Reg Keys, whose son Tom was one of six Royal Military Police officers  
killed in Iraq in June 2003, said: “For an MP to qualify for a rank  
and a medal on the basis of a quick visit is excessive. It almost  
cheapens medals that are awarded for real service and bravery.”

The UK National Defence Medal campaign, which wants medals for all who  
have served the country since the Second World War, also believes the  
award is unjustified. Terry Scriven, a co-chairman, said: “It is  
outrageous that an MP can get what is effectively a Mickey Mouse medal  
for little more than 22 days’ service when we have members who served  
our country and got nothing.”



SO NOW GO TO THIS ADDRESS AND SIGN THE PETITION WHICH WILL BE SENT TO  
PARLIAMENT

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/notompmedals/



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