Armed Forces Bill

Lord Burnett Excerpts

Thursday 11th February 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Burnett (LD)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Judd, who was a distinguished Navy Minister, and I join with him in paying tribute to the members of our Armed Forces and their families. They always exceed the high expectations we have of them. In addition, it is a pleasure to say that we have had three outstanding maiden speeches today. No one could fail to be moved by the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Shinkwin.

In a debate on 15 September last year, to which my noble friend Lord Thomas of Gresford has referred, I said some words about the existing courts martial regime and some of its failings. This Second Reading debate on the Armed Forces Bill is an opportunity to elaborate on the criticisms I made in the earlier debate and to make one or two other points.

The Armed Forces Bill provides the system of command, discipline and justice for the Armed Forces. It covers the renewal of the powers of courts martial and, where there are failings in the courts martial system, now is the time to highlight those failings and to endeavour to remedy them. My first point is that there has been considerable criticism of the fact that, in a court martial, a simple majority can convict a defendant. My noble friend Lord Thomas of Gresford, who has considerable experience in these matters, has been a long-standing critic of this iniquitous rule. The Judge Advocate-General himself has been critical.

In the case to which I referred on 15 September, involving Sergeant Al Blackman of 42 Commando Royal Marines, five panel members found the defendant guilty, while two found him not guilty. That ratio would not have been sufficient to convict in a civilian criminal court. It is outrageous that members of our Armed Forces serving in the most dangerous and demanding conditions—serving our country—should be treated less favourably than their civilian counterparts. One of the principal aims of the military covenant was to ensure that this did not happen and that members of our Armed Forces were not disadvantaged. A simple majority goes against the rules of natural justice, and amendments should be brought forward in Committee by the Government to bring the conviction ratio in line at the very least with the standard in civilian criminal cases.

My second point concerns the choice of individuals to serve on the panel. In civilian cases, the defendant can challenge members of the jury who, for one reason or another, are likely to be prejudicial. The ethos of a court martial is that you are supposed to be tried by your peers. In the case to which I have referred involving Sergeant Blackman, all of the panel, not just some of them, should have been drawn from individuals who had served through the horrors of the front line in Afghanistan or in similar combat conditions, who would have understood the effects that constant mortal danger, exhaustion and stress can have even on the strongest and best-trained individual—especially if that person had, over recent years, done six six-month tours on combat operations and witnessed the level of barbarism and brutality inflicted on his comrades by our enemies. As in civilian criminal cases, the court martial rules should be amended to allow a defendant the right to challenge individual panel members to ensure that he is truly tried by his peers.

Finally, like many others in this debate today, I should like to highlight the impact that human rights legislation is having on our Armed Forces. There are currently well over 1,000 public law claims filed against the Ministry of Defence in connection with British military action in Iraq. In addition, there are thousands of private law claims. These claims often relate to operations in which British Armed Forces were engaged decades ago. Our troops must at all times comply with the Geneva conventions, but we must ensure that we do not paralyse our Armed Forces with legal red tape and doubt. This leads to death and defeat.

In an excellent article in the Times on 30 March last year, Mr Tom Tugendhat, who has recently left the Armed Forces and who has considerable recent operational experience—I should add that he is now a Member of the other place representing Tonbridge and Malling—wrote:

“By applying human rights laws designed for the stable conditions of peaceful, postwar Europe to our forces operating in extremely violent and fast-moving combat situations, judges are damaging the fighting capability of the most accomplished military force in Europe. Victories abroad are being undermined by defeat after defeat before the benches of London and Strasbourg. … The Geneva Conventions allowed our troops to detain combatants or civilians if necessary — but our judges, and Strasbourg, couldn’t see the difference between Helmand and Henley”.

Those who drafted the European Convention on Human Rights did not intend the convention to apply outside the signatory states, and the Geneva conventions should take precedence in law.

There is power to derogate from the convention. I believe that the French Government contracted out of the convention in respect of their Armed Forces. I hope that the noble Earl will explain what steps the Government are taking to do the same.

--- Later in debate ---

[Earl Attlee (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for his explanation of the Bill and to our most excellent maiden speakers.

I believe that the constitutional arrangements whereby we expend the service discipline Act annually by order and five-yearly by Act of Parliament is the right arrangement. I remind the House that I have an interest as I am technically still a commissioned officer in the Reserves, but not for long, since I will have to hang my boots up on my 60th birthday. I have exercised summary jurisdiction under the Army Act 1955 and in my very early days I was on the receiving end of it, although in retrospect I realise that it was probably much more to do with accounting for a lost camp-bed than for anything I might have done wrong. In answer to my noble friend Lord Lyell, I was using the Army Act 1955 in 1998 and it was still being used until the 2006 Act came into force.

I do not have any problems with the provisions of the Bill, but I regard it as an opportunity to raise a number of G1, or rather J1, issues, and not just service discipline arrangements. The difficulty with defence legislation is that the needs of the majority in the Armed Forces have to be balanced with the rights of the individual. I agree with all that the noble Lord, Lord West, and other noble Lords have said about the Human Rights Act.

The noble Lord, Lord Judd, raised the issue of the age of recruitment. Perhaps the Minister could not just put the correspondence in the Library but share it with all of us who have taken part in the debate, as that would be very helpful.

The noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Bolton, talked about the statistics regarding “inappropriate behaviour”, if I may put it that way. I would be interested to see how those same questions and statistics compare with the experience in industry. It may be better or worse, but it would be useful to know what the difference is.

I will touch on “pay as you dine”. A few years ago, junior service people were charged for their food, whether they took it or not. This caused some resentment, and prior to the 1997 Parliament new arrangements were studied and were later put into place. In Committee, I will table some purely probing amendments to explore how the system is currently working.

I was very surprised that no noble Lords raised the issue of women in the front line. We already have women serving courageously in the front line and in harm’s way. They will engage the enemy as vigorously as their male colleagues. The issue is whether they should take on a role which is primarily to close with the enemy and kill him. Women are currently precluded from serving in the infantry or the Royal Armoured Corps operating armoured fighting vehicles. It is possible that, in respect of armoured fighting vehicles, women have advantages that outweigh the disadvantages. However, as regards the infantry, “closing with the enemy and killing him” is a brutal, bloody business. Physical strength is all-important. Since the average male is far stronger than almost all females, it follows that allowing women to serve in the infantry will reduce the combat effectiveness of the British Army and therefore I would strongly oppose it. There is of course an acid test for this issue. In the event of general war and conscription, would noble Lords be prepared to conscript women to serve in the front line? I very much doubt it.

We have talked a lot about the Government’s policy for the reserves, and while I have my misgivings I have a helpful suggestion; I will read very carefully what my noble friend Lord Freeman said. I believe that we should blur the distinction between regular and reserve service. This may be particularly relevant to cyber-reservists. Perhaps we should think of reserve service much more as being in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces but on a zero-hours contract. Rather than have me blunder around in the dark, it would be helpful if the Minister could arrange for me to be properly briefed on the current legal situation as soon as possible.

We have heard much about the military covenant, one of the principles of which is that no one who serves should be disadvantaged by that service. Over the last year or so, we have seen a retired officer of stratospheric seniority, who will have held the highest security classification, and who is also a Member of your Lordships’ House, having his public reputation traduced by a police investigation called Operation Midland. The public were told that the evidence was “credible and true”. As we know, parts of the operation were carried out in the full glare of publicity and not discreetly and sensitively. Of course, no one—but no one—is above the law and we need to give the police operational independence. However, I know that many noble Lords are deeply unhappy about this matter, which is fast moving, with developments even today. My main effort will have to wait for the next police and crime Bill, but I will table several amendments to address some of these concerns where they are relevant to the Armed Forces Bill. These might not necessarily be probing amendments, especially on Report.

I turn to the Blackman case. Several years ago, I told the House that service personnel deploying on operations have a secret dread fear, which is misconduct on operations. It is a sad fact that, if we are engaged in operations, sooner or later something will go wrong such as in this case. The House will recognise that the reason why we have a system of military discipline is so that our members of our Armed Forces, who are lawful combatants, will engage the enemy when required and, most importantly, they will adhere to the law of armed conflict and treat captured and injured enemies as they would want to be treated themselves. The fact that the enemy might not reciprocate is immaterial. We will not descend to the enemy’s level.

For years and years, during my annual training on the law of armed conflict I watched a video which covered some of the crucial points. I expect that the noble Lord, Lord Burnett, has watched the very same video. Among the points were the duty to protect vulnerable non-combatants and cultural items and, most importantly, that wounded enemy get medical treatment according to clinical priorities and not according to whose side they are on. The video also made it clear that you cannot kill the enemy once he is wounded and no longer able to fight. There was absolutely no doubt on these points and the current training is even more detailed and carefully delivered.

The noble Lord, Lord Burnett, knows very well that I hold both him and the Royal Marines in the very highest regard. However, I have to part company with him on this issue. I am very sorry for Blackman and his family. When he comes out of prison I would support him in seeking good employment.

[Lord Burnett]

I am grateful to the noble Earl for giving way. The thrust of Sergeant Blackman’s case is that he shot a man he thought was dead; we should all be careful about what we say about the case, because the papers are now with the Criminal Cases Review Commission, and we await what its judgment will be on the facts.

[Earl Attlee]

I am grateful for that. I was going to say that he is a good man but he has fouled up, and has been convicted in the courts of a serious military offence and has to be disciplined, however unpleasant that is for everyone.

The noble Lord called into question the court martial system and in particular the experience of the officers on the board. Those comments were rather adventurous. I have served on two or three court martials but only for much less serious matters, and certainly not involving the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford. I can assure the House that, in my experience, the mindset of the board is to acquit if at all possible. Your Lordships will recall that the court martial acquitted Marines B and C, and I am bound to say that I would have been surprised if a civilian court had done so.

The noble Lord implied that the officers on the board would have difficulty in understanding the operational conditions at the time of the incident. That is not a fair criticism but, in any case, how much more difficult would it be for a jury in the Old Bailey? The reality is that of course Crown Court juries are forever deciding cases where they have no experience of the relevant environments, such as drug dealing, gang culture and organised crime.

In the past, I have intervened in support of service personnel who have been prosecuted when I believed that something had gone wrong. The Trooper Williams case comes to mind. I am very sorry, but nothing has gone wrong with the system and my counsel to the Minister is to do nothing. I am sorry to disappoint the noble Lord, Lord Burnett, who, as I have said, I have high regard for. Fortunately, there is much common ground between us. I look forward to Committee.