National Defence Medal

Bob Stewart Excerpts

Tuesday 11th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

I rise to oppose the Bill because medals mean something to those who have them. In the military they denote gallantry, operational duty, good service, or special occasions such as when Her Majesty the Queen grants a jubilee medal. For me, medals worn on the chest can rapidly sum up someone’s service. Medals mean a lot. I recall that Napoleon said, “Men will do much for a scrap of ribbon.” To the services, medals mean a lot, and the gaining of them is terribly important. Medals should not be granted for nothing, and for that reason I oppose the Bill, albeit with some reluctance.

A gallantry medal is self-explanatory, and anyone wearing one is looked on specially by his or her peers. My right hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Mr Robathan) has a brace of operational service medals. Those mean that someone has put his or her life in harm’s way for our country. Good or long-service medals are rewards for a serviceman or woman who has spent a long time and done very good work in the services, and they are richly deserved. Finally, special occasion medals are different, because servicemen and women do not consider them in the same category as the others.

My hon. Friend the Member for Reigate (Crispin Blunt), who is sitting behind me, served for 12 distinguished years in the cavalry—

[Crispin Blunt (Reigate) (Con)]

Undistinguished by a medal.

[Bob Stewart]

As he says, undistinguished by a medal. He has told me that he does not expect or want a medal; he thinks it wrong for him to have a medal for not having served operational duty in his time.

The soldiers, sailors and airmen of our armed forces wear a uniform and they are proud of that, but do we automatically put a medal on a uniform when we issue it? No. Members of the armed forces who I have talked to are unanimously against the idea of awarding a medal for nothing. That is the truth, and I oppose the national defence medal on those grounds.

I shall not call for a Division on this matter because my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay (Stephen Gilbert) is a friend, and I understand his motives and wishes. It is Armistice day. However, I do want to register the fact that the national defence medal is not necessarily something that the armed forces or people who have served in them wish to have put on their chests without earning it.

Question put (Standing Order No. 23) and agreed to.

Ordered,

That Stephen Gilbert, Sir Menzies Campbell, Sir Bob Russell and Sir Nick Harvey present the Bill.

Stephen Gilbert accordingly presented the Bill.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 5 December, and to be printed (Bill 118).