HMForces

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.”

Col Scriven, who served in the military police, is standing as a Liberal Democrat against Julian Lewis at the next election. Dr Lewis, a brigadier in the AFPS, has accused Col Scriven in Parliament of trying to smear him. Dr Lewis refused to comment.

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