Hutton joins fight for vets to wear foreign medals
Published on 26/06/2007

http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=513967

Well done but the last paragraph say's 'nobody at the RBL office in Barrow was available to comment'. Perhaps you should point out to the paper that they do not need to as both the RBL National Conference and the RBL Scotland Conference have vowed to support this award unanimously.

John

jireland wrote:

Well done but the last paragraph say's 'nobody at the RBL office in Barrow was available to comment'. Perhaps you should point out to the paper that they do not need to as both the RBL National Conference and the RBL Scotland Conference have vowed to support this award unanimously. John

Good point John, maybe your good self could enlighten both the newspaper and John Hutton MP how much the RBL (Both at national & Scotland) are very much in support of the veterans in this issue. I am sure its only ignorance at play here.

Secondly, I now realise John Hutton MP cannot sign EDM's like all the back benchers as he was and I hope still is a front bench MP.

I have sent a billy doo to the paper pointing this out and I will also contact John Hutton today and send him a copy of the entry in the latest Legion Newsletter headed 'Malaya Heroes Medal Debated'.

Best wishes

John

jireland wrote:

I have sent a billy doo to the paper pointing this out and I will also contact John Hutton today and send him a copy of the entry in the latest Legion Newsletter headed 'Malaya Heroes Medal Debated'.

Best wishes

John

letters@nwemail.co.uk
huttonj@parliament.uk

Dear editor ‘Evening Mail’

Hutton joins fight for vets to wear foreign medals
http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=513967

Congratulations to your newspaper and to John Hutton MP for supporting and speaking up for veterans right to wear the PJM medal. You can see below 180 back bench MP's have already signed Don Touhig's EDM. Support from John Hutton and Gordon Brown’s new front bench will be greatly appreciated.

EDM 356 PINJAT JASA MALAYSIA MEDAL 29.11.2006 Touhig, Don
That this House welcomes the decision by Her Majesty The Queen to allow veterans of the Malaysian campaign between 1957 and 1966 to accept the Pinjat Jasa Malaysia (PJM) Medal; is concerned that the Inter-Departmental Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals decided to advise Her Majesty not to grant permission for Malaysian veterans to wear the PJM on public occasions; and calls upon the Government to make representations to the Committee to overturn this decision.
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=31979

I would like to note both the National and Scottish Royal British Legion have also came out in support of the veterans at their recent conferences.

This letter has been sent to all members of the HD Committee, Ministers, key MPs and a number of other people who are deeply involved in this case:

http://www.fight4thepjm.org/Correspondence/Update_21_June_2007.pdf

Kind regards

Malay Borneo Veteran
fight for the PJM

Perhaps it would not go amiss if we all sent John Hutton our individual support after all by Friday he may well have an influential post in Browns new Cabinet


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HD Committee: Amateurs in a Professional World
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Here is my e-mail to John Hutton

John


Dear Mr. Hutton, I wish to thank you for your principled stand on Honours and Decorations and in particular that relating to the PJM which is an honourable award given for the very best of reasons by a Muslim nation in thanks and gratitude, something we don’t get a lot of from that quarter I fear.

The medal itself is small compared to the thought that went with it and most veterans look back to their time in Malaysia as a difficult but immensely rewarding period in their lives. I spent six months in the jungles of Borneo as an 18 year old infantryman and it was also a frightening time for most of us. Very few ex service personnel can be described as medal chasers which we have been called by various civil servants and had they not been so obdurate in their approach to this award then the vast majority of us would never have dreamed of getting involved in a campaign such as this. That so many have is surely indicative of just how strongly most of us feel about the dishonourable and disgraceful way that this matter has been handled and there we place the blame firmly on those Civil Servants at the MOD and Foreign Office who have taken such a disingenuous view of this award.

To forget that the H&D Committee also took such a stand against this award would be remiss of me especially in the light of revelations about the award and unrestricted acceptance of the 25th. Anniversary of the Independence of Antigua & Barbuda Medal which the Queens Private Secretary, member of the H&D Committee and retired Naval Officer Sir Robin Janvrin has accepted so readily. This is the most disgraceful hypocrisy that I have ever witnessed as he is so antagonistic towards the PJM.

You are right in thinking that it is high time that the system was overhauled and a more rewarding user friendly one put in its place. I look forward to the day when rank and privilege no longer have any part to play in this system and all are rewarded equally for service of any kind. I attach for your information a copy of the entry in the Legion Conference Newsletter which will show you that this issue has been taken up by the RBL and will feature as a campaign by them.

Thank you once more for your support

John Ireland
Councillor & RBL Branch Chairman

John Cooper wrote:

Perhaps it would not go amiss if we all sent John Hutton our individual support after all by Friday he may well have an influential post in Browns new Cabinet

Good idea John, lets keep our fingers crossed that Margarett Beckett is given the heave ho into the back benches.

Just heard Beckett will not be Foreign Secretary.



Last edited by MB_Veteran on Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:44 pm; edited 1 time in total

Quote:

John Ireland wrote: Here is my e-mail to John Hutton

Well done and well said John....l can testify, on secure knowledge, that Mr Hutton MP has received many such communications based upon his comments to the press...one only hopes that he will be aware enough to recognise the oft-regurgitated claptrap, which he will undoubtedly receive in answer to his written questions to the Minister, for what it is...

Fortunately, there are many of us to provide him with suitable interpretations...


_________________
...................'Jock'
Paroi...Rasah...Batu Signals Troop.

(I'm really very modest).

Jock, vide the NW Evening Mail, I have already revealed to him what he might
expect in a reply - 'who very bravely fought' etc. I referred to Barbuda, and
all the usual rhubarb as well as telling him who is likely to have signed the reply
(by Office and position of couirse), as well as the Minister!

John Ireland made a very good case re Antigua and Barbuda and explained the RBL positon
in the same day posting.

I've corrected the '108' to read circa 180 signatures on the EDM 356

David