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Tale Of Two Cities

Two events in the last week – one in Parliament, the other in the constituency- made me think of that wonderful opening to A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair….”

Parliament – MPs, staff, journalists – a good few hundred of us, turned out on Monday to welcome home 19 Light Brigade recently returned from Afghanistan. Led by the band of the Scots Guards they marched through our historic Carriage Gates, halted in front of the 1000 year old Westminster Hall which has seen so many heroes return, and where, as Chairman of the All Party Group for the Army it was my honour to welcome them home and thank them for their efforts. (And then to escort them down to the Terrace of the House of Commons for a few beers!)  What an immense feeling of pride at welcoming these heroic young men and women home. It was we in Parliament who sent them to Helmand, and so it should be we who acknowledge their service.

In my speech, of course, I remembered the eighty-one comrades in arms who did not return with them, but whose bodies were carried down Wootton Bassett High Street. And again, I feel a huge sense of pride that it is that wonderful little town in my constituency which week by week stands proxy for the nation in remembrance and tribute.

Yet the pride which we felt in Parliament and down the High Street is more than tinged with sadness, with regrets, with concerns about whether or not we are doing the right thing, about whether or not our boys have the best possible equipment to do their jobs. Pride tinged with great sadness in all of it.

But of one thing I am certain. And the soldiers in Parliament on Monday were more than certain, as are those who come to Wootton Bassett: the lives of the fallen must not be wasted, and must not be thought to have been wasted. There are two parts to that. First, it is quite wrong to say: “We mourn these brave young men, and we should therefore pull our troops out.” That is not only illogical; it would mean that their lives had been truly wasted. If it is a just and necessary war, then we must wage it no matter what the casualties may be, but if it is not, then we should not be there at all, even if there were no casualties whatsoever. There can, of course, be a debate –amongst those who know far more about these things than you or I- as to whether or not our strategy and tactics are quite right. That debate is as old as warfare itself. There will always be a multitude of armchair generals ready to do that. But it’s not a debate for us.

What we did in Parliament on Monday, and what we do week by week down Wootton Bassett High Street is simply to honour the service – in some cases including the ultimate sacrifice – of our men and women of war. They carry out their orders. The orders of the generals and politicians who sent them to war. And they do so magnificently, and without question. That is why recognising their efforts in these ways, and thanking them for it, quite leaving aside any kind of political judgements, is so overwhelmingly important.

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