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Mr. King: I am afraid that I cannot give way because I have only 10 minutes in which to speak, and I have several things to say arising from my previous experience in these matters.
Many areas of the review command respect, including the development of jointery, rapid reaction and equipment systems, and work on those areas must be carried forward. The Defence Committee's report was excellent and I agree with its wish that this should be the last review. That was my hope of "Options for Change", although necessary work continued on the logistic follow-up. I understand why the Government had to have a review--they said that they would do so because that was the only defence policy that they could think of in opposition--and, in many areas, the review has been carried out without too much damage.
Although I hope that no more reviews will be conducted, I hope that the Government will remain flexible. I have the need for flexibility burned into my soul: in a statement on "Options for Change" one 25 July, I said that we must be ready for the unexpected; seven days later, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, and the wisdom of my remarks was revealed rather earlier than I had expected.
My hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip-Northwood (Mr. Wilkinson) referred to the changes in Germany that have taken place since the review was published. We now face the prospect of a Green Foreign Minister in the German Government and a new Chancellor who, earlier in his career, was opposed to NATO. The Chancellor has changed his attitude, but fundamentalist elements in the new German coalition are anti-military and strongly against defence expenditure. That will have implications for German attitudes to defence. Volker Ruhe was very supportive of air strike activities in Kosovo, but the new German Government's attitude may be very different. Attitudes to defence alliances and industrial restructuring will change. Indeed, I have seen some reports that German defence companies are thinking of moving their headquarters out of Germany, because the new Government's attitude to arms exports may be different from that of the previous Government.
Drawing on my other responsibilities connected to intelligence, I recognise the importance of what is called asymmetric warfare, or the weapons of the dispossessed. I refer to the need in any defence strategy to be ready to combat the type of threats that we may now face. Given the time I have available, I shall not rehearse those threats, but they include the possible utilisation by terrorists of chemical, nuclear or biological weapons. Any defence strategy that purports to care for the security of this
country must keep in mind the threats posed by such unconventional warfare. Intelligence is important to enhancing the defence role. If we put unarmed observers into Kosovo, their first defence will be good intelligence so that they know whether any elements mean them harm.
The Defence Committee and the strategic defence review recognise that defence is about people. I became Secretary of State for Defence having been Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and I learned in that job about nights out of bed and unaccompanied tours. Those phrases stick firmly in my mind and I know the challenges, strains and stresses imposed on those who serve us so magnificently in difficult circumstances. I also know the challenges that are posed for Governments and all those involved in defence--for example, in maintaining recruitment and adequate manning to reduce unfairness in the arrangements for unaccompanied tours.
When we consider the challenges posed by manning levels, we should remember MARILYN--manning and recruitment in the lean years of the '90s. Everybody has forgotten about it, but it identified the problems in the 1980s; and it has been with us through the 1990s. Those are the problems that beset the Government now.
When I was Secretary of State and we undertook the "Options for Change" review, people proposed reductions in the TA as a way to save costs. I regard the TA decision in some ways as the most political of the decisions that I took in the "Options for Change" review. I am perhaps the last Secretary of State to have served in the TA. I was about to say that everybody knows that, if someone did national service, he also served for four years in the TA, but that is probably not true because there are now fewer people around with that experience. I am a deep believer in the wider role of the TA. The Government have identified specific roles and problems for which the TA can be targeted to provide an immediate response, but the hon. and learned Member for North-East Fife (Mr. Campbell) described the wider role of the TA very well. It includes contact with the community and interaction with the public, such as work in civil emergencies such as flooding. God help us if we should ever have to mobilise again, but if we had to face a critical emergency--and the defence of the country has to be ready for the unexpected--such a mobilisation would be achieved through the TA. It is profoundly necessary that the TA's role of identification with the community, and the inclusion of many people who cannot serve in the regular forces but who enrich the calibre of our services, continues.
I hope that no one will object if I say that, in my experience, the TA is not represented in the Ministry of Defence at the same level as the senior services. In any argument, the reserves and the TA need another spokesman, and if the Minister for the Armed Forces does not perform that role, no one else will.
Mr. Alan Keen (Feltham and Heston):
I congratulate Ministers on the review, which has received praise from almost every quarter, and I, too, welcome the new Minister for the Armed Forces. It is worth reflecting that, not so many years ago, my hon. Friend's previous responsibilities for Europe would have been combined with his current job, in the post of War Minister. It is good that we have moved on from those days.
I wish also to praise the Minister's predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Hamilton, North and Bellshill (Dr. Reid), who contributed so greatly, both in opposition and in government. When I made my maiden speech in 1992, from the Opposition Benches, my right hon. Friend sat with me to give his support. In that speech, I said that it was a nostalgic return for me, because my first Army posting after infantry and trade training was to headquarters, London district, in Horseguard buildings in Whitehall. I cannot work out whether my career, in which I started as a sergeant and ended as a corporal after two and a half years, matches beginning as a Back Bencher and ending as one.
I was lucky not to have to fight in any war. In case anyone wonders whether I served on special missions with the SAS, I did not. The closest I came to conflict was when I was seconded to the Egyptian army that fought the Ethiopians, but that was none too dangerous because it happened in the Royal Opera house, and we seemed to win every night, which was lucky for the opera goers because it would have been awful if they had to miss the triumphal march in "Aida".
Two weeks on Sunday, I will march from Heston Territorial Army depot to the local church with people who did fight in the second world war. They gave the best part of their lives to winning us the freedom that we enjoy today. For those who do not know where Heston is, incidentally, the two top restaurants in west London are the Heston North and Heston South motorway services on the M4. I should make that clear, because my accent can be misleading. I am proud of the multicultural society of west London. Marching with me will be members of the Sikh community who fought at Monte Casino and in other crucial combats during the second world war. It is sometimes too easy to forget them. As one born in 1937, I shall never forget the war years and the period after them, when the prisoners of war came home only to suffer the deprivations that the whole people suffered at that time. Memories of the second world war could slip away quite easily if it were not for those who will march in a couple of weeks' time.
I am continually reminded at my surgeries that conflicts happen all the time, and that is what the defence review is about. People from all parts of the world come to see me, having had to leave their own countries and possibly some of their families as a result of conflicts. It is important to address their problems in our defence review.
I cannot accept the statement made yesterday by the shadow Defence spokesman, the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Maples), that we do not want to
be part of a world police force. We may not want to be, but our duty as a democratic nation is to look after people all over the world. We have learnt many lessons recently on that. I accept that the United States has more than once had to withdraw from some areas, and those defeats have been bitter. However, the USA was not really supported by all the democratic world, and we must learn from that. It is vital to revise the United Nations so that consensus can be achieved before action is taken.
My major concern is not financial aspects but our moral duty to all human beings, wherever they happen to live. However, there is no doubt that the financial cost of inaction is greater than the cost of firm and decisive action, especially when the impact on potential aggressors of the deterrent effect is taken into account. The defence review takes full account of that.
I have paid tribute to the soldiers of the second world war, and I extend that tribute to those who have suffered in conflicts since then, and to those who serve now in our armed forces. My brief, compulsory, experience of the armed forces helped me to understand the culture of the armed forces, and 30 or more visits to the Royal Air Force as a member of the parliamentary armed forces scheme has taught me a great deal about the impact of high-technology equipment and the need for high-level training. I have learnt of the dedication of personnel at all levels, and I realise that everyone understands the international responsibilities of the armed forces. They are no longer defending Britain against an aggressor, but playing a part in establishing a secure world.
It was clear to me after days of questioning and listening that there was a high level of dissatisfaction in the services. Personnel knew that although it was necessary and beneficial for the United Kingdom to reduce its armed forces after the end of the cold war, the cuts imposed by the previous Government were completely Treasury led. People were angry about that, and the present Front-Bench team has learnt from the mistakes made then.
Personnel want to know what role the nation wants them to play in defence of our country and in the furtherance of peace in the world for our children and our grandchildren. They want to know that future commitments will be fully financially supported, both for human resources and equipment. They deserve more than the treatment they had from the previous Government, when military commitments were extended way beyond the scope of financial and logistical support.
I listen frequently to men and women whose family lives have been stretched beyond the limits of acceptability. The armed forces and their families have always benefited from medical resources, not given as a reward but because it was essential for those in the front line to know that their families had access to health care whenever they needed it. I hope that Ministers will take that into account. That policy represents common sense and good management, as is recognised by many commercial companies. The armed forces should not change the culture that has existed for many years.
The closure of many high street recruitment centres has meant that the burden of promoting awareness of the armed forces has fallen increasingly to other parts of the military. Museums play a part. They may seem to be soft
targets for cost cutting, but I hope that the Government understand the opportunity that they give to many people to understand our military history, which is inspirational and helps with recruiting.
I do not have time to elaborate on problems caused by cost cutting, but I am sure that the contractorisation of much RAF engineering, while it may save money in the short term, will result in higher costs in future, because the contractors are unable to recruit from retiring RAF technical personnel.
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