Army 2020

David T C Davies Excerpts
Thursday 5th July 2012

(12 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Hammond of Runnymede Portrait Mr Hammond
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If the hon. Gentleman were in the Army, I suspect that he would be told to get his hands out of his pockets.

David T C Davies Portrait David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)
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Why are we scrapping five infantry regiments in the United Kingdom but not considering the two battalions of Gurkhas? Does the Royal Welsh need an ageing, glamorous film star to take up the cudgels on its behalf?

Lord Hammond of Runnymede Portrait Mr Hammond
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No. The reason why we have not taken out one of the battalions of the Royal Gurkha Rifles is that we have a partnership arrangement with the Sultanate of Brunei, under which one of those battalions is stationed on rotation in Brunei. That arrangement works extremely well for the British Army, and it can be sustained only with two separate Gurkha battalions.