Basic honesty called for

Yesterday, I saw a lady at my constituency office whose son, serving with the military, is about to be deployed to Afghanistan.  She had asked to see me urgently.

When she arrived, she was quite distressed.  She was proud of her son, who, at the age of 26, had already served in the forces for some years.  She was, of course, concerned at the thought of his being sent to Afghanistan, but she fully understood the reasons for our being there and, indeed, approved of them. 

What she couldn’t accept, however, was the thought that her son and thousands like him were being sent to such a hostile theatre in insufficient numbers and without the best equipment in sufficient quantity. She wanted me to write to the Prime Minister expressing her concern, which, of course, I shall do.

If only at the presentational level, Gordon Brown’s handing of the troop and equipment issue has been a disaster.  In an embarrassingly stumbling performance at PMQs on Wednesday – all bluster and percentages – he asserted that:

“While the loss of life is tragic and sad, it is not to do with helicopters.”

That claim has been comprehensively rebutted by the Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, who said yesterday that he was “busting a gut” to get more helicopters into Afghanistan in order to give more protection to foot soldiers:

“In this situation where you have lots of improvised explosive devices, the more you can increase your tactical flexibility by moving people by helicopters then the more unpredictable your movements become to the enemy. Therefore it is quite patently the case that you could save casualties by doing that.”

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the Head of the Army, has in the meantime expressed concern over troop numbers.  His reward for doing so is to be snubbed by Downing Street; the general has, astonishingly enough, been excluded from top-level talks over the deployment of reinforcements. 

Dannatt apparently demanded 2,000 more troops on the ground, much to Gordon Brown’s displeasure.  Which brings me back to my constituent.  She had seen his appearance before the Commons liaison committee on Thursday and was appalled by his refusal to give the chairman, James Arbuthnot, a straight answer on the issue.

And I can entirely understand her concern.  Her son’s life is being put on the line.  The least she should be able to expect from the man who is sending him to Afghanistan is a basic degree of honesty.