Oral Answers to Questions

James Gray Excerpts

Wednesday 16th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)]

The bravery of all our servicemen and women is beyond question, but does the Prime Minister agree that the bravest of the brave must be those who faced the invisible bullets of Ebola in the recent crisis in west Africa? Will he take the opportunity to join me, along with Members of both Houses, at the great north door of Westminster Hall straight after Prime Minister’s questions to welcome back 120 soldiers, sailors and airmen, together with aid workers, medical workers and others, who did our bidding in west Africa?

[The Prime Minister]

I will be delighted to join my hon. Friend. One of the great privileges of this job was being able recently to hold a reception at No. 10 for people who had served in west Africa tackling Ebola. They are some of the bravest and most remarkable people I have met, whether the nurses, the volunteers or members of Britain’s brave armed forces. It really is remarkable what they have done. We are almost in a position to declare Sierra Leone Ebola-free. Great work has been done by the people of Sierra Leone, but I think that Britain was able to take on this task because we have good armed forces that are properly funded, and having an aid budget at 0.7% of our GNP is something the whole country can be proud of. That is exactly the sort of use of our aid budget, where we are doing it with moral force and with our moral conscience but also keeping our country safe at home. To those who sometimes wonder what are the uses of British troops, I say, “Get a map out and have a look at Sierra Leone.”