In this section
- Section Home
- Privacy Policy
- Get a postal vote

Archive
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006

Blog RSS feed

RSS Feeds

- News RSS
- Blog RSS
- Gallery RSS

Lyneham and Wootton Bassett

Lyneham and Wootton Bassett have certainly been in the eye of the storm this week.

I strongly support the great British respect for free speech and the right to protest - after all that’s one of the things our soldiers have fought and died for in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is essential that Anjem Choudary should be allowed to express his views - even if they seem to me, and I think to most people, including much of the moderate Islamic community, to be almost as eccentric and obnoxious as those of Nick Griffin and the BNP at the opposite end of the spectrum. He must be allowed to speak if he wants to.

But he must not be allowed to do so in Wootton Bassett. Our repatriation ceremonies - and I have attended perhaps to thirds of them - are absolutely apolitical. No comment is made about the war, either in favour or against. We simply turn out in all weathers, and often twice a week, to pay our respects to soldiers who have fallen in service of Queen and country. That’s why we are so opposed to the proposed Islam4UK march - it would be hijacking out quiet and simple ceremonies for political purposes.

I have always advised David Cameron, for example, against coming to repatriations, as his presence might be thought to be ‘political.’ A number of MPs have attended alongside me on various occasions, but always incognito, in the crowds alongside the Mayor and the Royal British Legion. Mr Choudary and his like can say whatever they want on the media - and perhaps the threat of the march alone has achieved that through wall-to-wall media coverage without the march itself having to take place. They can have their protests wherever they want to, and I strongly recommend Parliament Square to them. But they must not be allowed to sully the purity of the quietly respectful ceremonies of the good people of Wootton Bassett.

How ironic to have had all the fuss about the Islamic march on Monday, yet another sad repatriation on Tuesday and by strange coincidence a debate in Parliament on Wednesday on the future of RAF Lyneham. I was able to raise a raft of arguments against the new cargo plane, the A400M, without which there is even less logic in the move to Brize Norton. I’d like to see the Hercules fleet stay at Lyneham, supplemented by C17s. That solution would also save the taxpayer a great deal of money. And above all it would avoid “putting all of our eggs in one basket.” I put together a weighty dossier detailing all of this and handed it over both to the Minister and his Shadow - who after all may well be the one making the decision in the end. As with all debate, we can but see what effect it all has.

Tags: