Legion message to Parliament gets good reception
14 July 2010
130 Members of Parliament
and 35 Peers of the Realm crowded into the Members' Dining Room of
the House of Commons last week for our annual Parliamentary
reception. They were there to hear the latest about our 'Time to do
your bit' campaign and to meet Legion representatives from around
the UK.
The National President, Lieutenant General Sir John Kiszely, opened proceedings by welcoming Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, the Secretary of State for Defence, and the assembled guests. James Gray, the MP for North Wiltshire whose constituency includes Wootton Bassett and who is also Chair of the Armed Forces All Party Parliamentary Group, then said a few words before inviting Chris Simpkins, Director General, to speak.
The Director General
began by thanking MPs for getting involved in our 'Time to do your
bit' campaign and telling guests that 60% of the new House of
Commons had already pledged to do their bit.
Highlighting a recent independent poll which showed overwhelming public support for the Legion's manifesto call for improvements to Armed Forces accommodation, he urged the Government to publish full details of the timescales and funding needed as soon as possible.
He also told the assembled MPs and Peers that the Legion is changing, saying, "We're actually by far the largest charity providing professional welfare support to the Armed Forces family - we'll spend over £70m on welfare this year - and, increasingly, supporting younger generations, not just elderly veterans."
He concluded by offering the Government and Parliament the hand of critical friendship and pointing to our £21 million investment in the Personnel Recovery Centres as proof that we will always step up to the mark. A short film about our work was then shown.
Responding, the Secretary
of State stressed that support for the Legion cuts across all
parties. Speaking from personal experience, he said, "I saw
firsthand, when treating serving personnel as a doctor, that if you
want to create unhappy personnel, the sure way to go about it is to
create unhappy families…" He also highlighted what he called "a
real societal challenge facing us about our understanding of what
exactly are veterans because the term, 'veteran' has come to mean
something very different…"
Concluding the formal part of the proceedings, the National Chairman thanked the Secretary of State and guests for making the time to join us on a sweltering afternoon and told them that like the MPs present, he felt honoured to have been elected. He closed with a simple question: "United in our aim to serve, I ask you - whether a member of the Commons or the Lords - to work with us and the whole Armed Forces family to honour that Covenant."
The formal part of the
proceedings being over, the rest of the reception was spent
networking with MPs and Peers. Feedback suggests that our County
Managers found the event and the opportunity to meet new MPs, in
particular, especially useful. The Public Affairs team will now be
working with colleagues to help build on this strong start to our
dealings with the new Parliament.
For more information on our campaign, visit www.timetodoyourbit.org.uk
