Army 2020
Debate between Gordon Banks and Lord Hammond of Runnymede(12 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Hammond
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.
Gordon Banks (Ochil and South Perthshire) (Lab)
Today’s announcement has succeeded in doing what our opponents in the first world war, the Boer war, the Korean war, Iraq and Afghanistan all failed to do. It has reduced the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to an ineffective fighting unit. The Argylls are recruited from part of my constituency, and the announcement is already being greeted with dismay and anger there. Does the Secretary of State really believe that making the Argylls a ceremonial division will provide it with a suitable future, given its historic legacy?
Mr Hammond
If my memory serves me correctly, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were reduced to company strength shortly after the withdrawal from Aden in 1967.