Astute-class Submarines

Debate between Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville and Lord Astor of Hever

Monday 2nd March 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville (Con)]

My Lords, could my noble friend give a word of description of how the naming of warships occurs in the Royal Navy? Contingent on his answer, would HMS “Adaptable” be a possibility?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, I wish I could answer that question. For the benefit of the House, I have mentioned the first three submarines: HMS “Astute”, HMS “Ambush” and HMS “Artful”. The fourth is called “Audacious”, the fifth is “Anson” and the sixth is “Agamemnon”. For the seventh, we are still waiting to decide on the name.

Ministry of Defence: IT Systems

Debate between Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville and Lord Astor of Hever

Tuesday 14th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Astor of Hever]

The noble Baroness makes a very good point, but, as I said, the Army will not lose control of this whole process and there will be soldiers helping with recruiting. This concept was designed not only to cut costs but to enable soldiers to go back to the front line. The initial gateway business case was accepted back in July 2008 by the previous Government.

[Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville (Con)]

My Lords, in addition to what my noble friend referred to in 1998, does he also recall that there was a massive reduction in the Territorial Army during that period? Some of us who were then sitting in the other place had to defend not one but two Territorial Army bases in our constituencies in order to prevent them from being closed. The situation that we are now dealing with would not be so acute if the Territorial Army had had a more stable period.

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, my noble friend makes a very good point. When the previous Administration took office in 1997, the Territorial Army was more than 50,000 strong; by the time it left office in 2010, that figure had halved. That pattern of decline has now been arrested and the strength has been stabilised.

Ministry of Defence: Dogs

Debate between Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville and Lord Astor of Hever

Monday 14th October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, that is a very interesting question and I will consider it closely.

[Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville (Con)]

My Lords, if I may shift the emphasis from the Government to dogs, is my noble friend aware that Greek vases demonstrate a considerable use of dogs two-and-a-half millennia ago? That tradition has been maintained for a very long time—to the enormous credit of the dogs.

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, I am learning a lot today.

Territorial Army

Debate between Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville and Lord Astor of Hever

Wednesday 17th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, I am not at all surprised that the noble Lord was in the Territorial Army. He has that military demeanour, and cut a fine dash when he came into the Ministry of Defence the other day. We need to expand the Army Reserve to reflect the future liability of 30,000 trained reservists. To deliver that, the supporting structure needs to be changed. We are confident that the Army Reserve will continue to demonstrate its ability to adapt to new requirements.

[Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville]

My Lords, how many of the 35 sites that will no longer be used are in Scotland?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, there are seven sites in Scotland where there is no longer a requirement for Army Reserve basing as a result of structural change. These are Wick, Bothwell House in Dunfermline, Sandbank, Keith, Kirkcaldy, Carmunnock Road in Glasgow and McDonald Road in Edinburgh. One site, Redford cavalry barracks in Edinburgh, will be reopened.

ETA: Ceasefire

Debate between Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville and Lord Astor of Hever

Monday 28th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, the noble Lord makes a very good point. The situation is very fluid at the moment, with a new Government about to take power in Spain next month. We should wait and see how things turn out and then decide what to do. But it is essentially a sovereign matter for Spain.

[Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville]

My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister share my view that help is always defined better by the receiver than by the giver? Does he also recall the observation of CS Lewis, that if you hear about someone going around doing good to others, you can generally tell the others by their hunted look?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, I shall certainly make a visit to the Library afterwards and have a look at that.

Libya

Debate between Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville and Lord Astor of Hever

Tuesday 24th May 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, the answer to the noble Lord’s last question is yes: they are exactly the same. We want a genuinely Libyan solution. This is about upholding UNSCR 1973 and its remit to take all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas. That is what the French want and that is what we want.

[Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville]

My Lords, in the context of the press comment alluded to, and referring back to a previous Anglo-French alliance, does my noble friend recall the episode in The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman leading up to taxis of the Marne, where the French chief of staff was having dinner in the Champs-Elysées with a friend and they heard the couple at the next table say one to another, “The situation is so serious that the chief of staff is leaving for the front tomorrow”? As the chief of staff’s friend smiled and raised an eyebrow, the chief of staff said, “That, my friend, is how history is written”.

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, I am afraid to say that my noble friend is better read than I am, but I shall have a word with him afterwards and find out the source of his comments.

Armed Forces: Redundancy

Debate between Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville and Lord Astor of Hever

Wednesday 2nd March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, the noble Lord and the noble and gallant Lord raise a very important point. I am happy to put this in writing to the noble Lord, Lord Soley, and the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Boyce. I will certainly deposit copies of those letters in the Library to clarify this issue.

[Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville]

My Lords, given the perennial difficulty of deciding whether fair is better than very fair or vice versa, I have the gravest possible sympathy for my noble friend.

Armed Forces: Redundancies

Debate between Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville and Lord Astor of Hever

Tuesday 15th February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, I share 100 per cent the noble Lord’s views on fast jet pilots. Last week, I was fortunate enough to go to RAF Coningsby to see the hugely impressive work of the Typhoons. But, due to the reduction of the RAF’s aircraft fleet, the number of student pilots in the flying training pipeline will unfortunately be reduced by about 170 personnel. We will endeavour to find alternative positions, where available, within our branches, such as personnel support, engineers or logistics. However, I must make clear that there will be the need for redundancies. As these pilots are under training, it will not impact on operations.

[Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville]

My Lords, in the context of morale, will my noble friend share with the House how he thinks that the silent majority, to which some in your Lordships’ House like me belong, can do more than is being done to help improve morale in the field?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, that is a very interesting question. I cannot think of an instant bright answer, but I will cogitate on it and come back to my noble friend.