Membership and Staff
9. The following were Members of the Committee on
17 November 1999: Mr Crispin Blunt, Mr Julian Brazier, Mr Jamie
Cann, Mr Harry Cohen, Mr Michael Colvin, Mr Bruce George,
Mr Michael Hancock, Mr Jimmy Hood, Mr John McWilliam, Mrs Laura
Moffatt and Ms Dari Taylor. Mr Bruce George continued as Chairman
for the whole of the Session. Mr McWilliam was discharged and
Mr Mike Gapes added on 24 November 1999. Dari Taylor was discharged
and Mr Stephen Hepburn added on 8 December 1999. Mr Michael Colvin
was discharged and Dr Julian Lewis added on 3 February 2000. Mr
Crispin Blunt was discharged and Mr Peter Viggers added on 21
February 2000. There are seven Labour members, three Conservative
members and one Liberal Democrat member. Their participation in
Committee activities is listed in Annex C.
10. It is with great sadness that we have to record
the death of Michael Colvin on 24 February 2000. Michael Colvin
had been Chairman of the Defence Committee between 1995 and 1997,
and had continued as the senior opposition member in this Parliament.
He had been discharged from the Committee just three weeks before
he and his wife Nichola died in a fire at their home. His last
speech in the House, on the first day of the defence debate on
22 February, was a typically erudite and generous contribution
to the subject in which he had been so closely involved for so
long. The tributes paid to him in the House during the second
day of the debate, on 28 February, indicate the high esteem and
affection felt for him by colleagues in every part of the House.
11. The Committee is supported by its staff team
and a team of part-time Specialist Advisers. Specialist Advisers
are appointed to 'elucidate matters of complexity within the Committee's
order of reference'.[14]
Some are appointed for the duration of particular inquiries; others
advise in more general terms. Lieutenant-General Sir Christopher
Wallace and Dr Irina Isakova were newly appointed as Specialist
Advisers to the Committee during the course of the Session. The
following Advisers continued to work for the Committee having
been appointed in the previous session: Air Chief Marshal Sir
Michael Alcock GCB KBE; Lieutenant General Sir Peter Beale KCB
of the British Red Cross; Professor Michael Clarke, Executive
Director, Centre for Defence Studies, King's College, University
of London; Mr Humphry Crum Ewing of the Centre for Defence and
International Security Studies, Lancaster University; Rear Admiral
Richard Cobbold CB, Director, Royal United Services Institute;
Dr Jonathan Eyal, Royal United Services Institute; Professor Keith
Hartley, Director, Centre for Defence Economics, University of
York; Dr Beatrice Heuser, Department of War Studies, King's College,
London; Professor David Kirkpatrick, Defence Engineering Group,
University College London; Professor Colin McInnes, Department
of International Politics, University of Wales; Dr Andrew Rathmell,
International Centre for Security Analysis, King's College London;
Major- General Peter Sheppard CB, Chief Executive of SSAFA; and
Air Marshal Sir John Walker KCB.
12. The cost of their fees and expenses amounted
to £26,931.99. We have chosen our team of Advisers to represent
a broad range of expertise within the Committee's field of inquiry.
They include the heads of three major institutes working on defence
and security issues. They also include a civilian and two former
military engineers and two economists, as well as retired senior
officers from all three of the Services, including the Chief Executive
of the principal forces welfare association and a former Chief
of Joint Operations. We are again very grateful to them for the
time and expertise they have given to the Committee in return
for a very modest pecuniary reward.
13. The Committee's full-time staff team were: Mr
Paul Evans, Clerk of the Committee; Mrs Carol Oxborough, Second
Clerk; Mr Simon Fiander, Senior Clerk (seconded from the NAO);
Ms Elisabeth Partridge, Higher Executive Officer; and Mrs Karen
Watling, Secretary.
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