The Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme

THE ARMED FORCES PARLIAMENTARY SCHEME

You may ask yourself why someone who has spent their working life in education, health and social services ends up in Westminster joining the Defence Select Committee and undertaking the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme? My father was in the merchant navy during the Second World War and had terrible experiences on convoys to Russia and bringing food and equipment to Britain from America. My mother was notified more than once that he was missing at sea. For five months he was icebound in Archangel in northern Russia where his diet consisted of horseflesh, corned beef and Pease pudding all cooked in river water which was also their drinking water as the fresh water on the ship was frozen. On another occasion he drifted across the Atlantic for seven days in an open boat after his ship, the Vernon City, was torpedoed and landed in South America. All of my uncles had been in either the forces or merchant navy so I grew up with their stories of the war and marvelled that these men had coped with such trauma.

The Scheme

I am undertaking what is described as the basic course (named, I assume after basic training) which lasts for 22 days over a one year period. This may not seem very long but for an MP anything which takes up 22 days is a huge commitment, especially as many of the days are during recess and take time away from the constituency. Members are required to take a sabbatical of one year before commencing a post graduate course so I will not be able to have any involvement next year.

The scheme started in 1988 to provide those Members of Parliament with no military background the opportunity to experience service life.

I joined the scheme with Lord Tom Pendry, Lord Charles Shrewsbury and Claire Taylor from the Commons Library. Tom left the course due to health problems and we were then joined by Juan Watterson from the House of Keys on the Isle of Man. Please click on the individual pages to read about my visits to RAF Stations.