My comments:

David Dilley
Posted on 22 May 2008 9:28 pm

I believe that the number of Members of Parliament who remained in the chamber to support the Rt Hon Don Touhig's Bill, was unusually large for a first Ten Minute Rule Bill reading, more over the presentation was interspersed with many a "hear, hear" and the aye vote was unanimous.

I believe that Parliament will eventually restore its right to govern, and I also believe that because of their intransigence, the HD comittee is facing a 'kamikaze' end to their own existence. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, the elitism and arrogance of the HD committee is something "up with which we shall not put".



Last edited by GLOman on Thu May 22, 2008 11:07 pm; edited 1 time in total

Only when this unelected HD Committee are made to answer to the elected representatives of the people will justice be served.
A member of this committee put aside the so called five year rule so that he could accept and wear a foreign medal but imposed this rule to stop 35,000 British Veterans from wearing the PJM.
I urge this Government to support this bill.

Further correspondence (email) with Sally:

Many thanks for this. I went in for part of Don Touhig's bill, but had to go out to something else part way through. However there was a good crowd there, it does seem to be an issue that is getting a lot of support.
I will not be able to be there on October 17th, because I will be in the constituency that day.
Do keep me informed of things as they progress.
Best regards
Sally Keeble MP
Northampton North


Thank you for your prompt reply. Of course I know from experience how busy you get seeing constituents, however if you are going to Weston Favell Emanuel Church Rooms, I would be delighted if you could spare me perhaps 10 minutes of your time. I will gladly keep you up to date as things progress.

Once again, many thanks for your continued interest in our campaign.

Best wishes,

David Dilley.

Herewith the article in South Wales Argus (24 May 2008) reporting on Don Touhig's 10 Minute Debate (Copyright South Wales Argus).

When you read a summary like this, it underlines the totally bizarre and shameful nature of the PJM recommendation!

Our thanks go to Lyn Vaughan for pointing us to the article.

Barry




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BarryF, who fought for the Right to Wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia

Thank you Lyn for providing this reference.....I sincerely hope that any of our membership who take the 'Argus' will be favouring the Editor of same with a letter stating their opinions? Don Touhig's comment, comparing the jungles of Malaysia to those of Whitehall, inspire the thought that there are some similarities...both are heavily populated with snakes and leeches (of a sort)


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

'There is no excuse for the total unaccountability of the HD Committee, and there is no excuse for its behaviour towards our veterans', said Don Touhig MP to parliament.

Well said Don Touhig MP. We live in a democracy (or so they tell us) and our parliament should be the only ones who tell British citizens whether or not they can wear a foreign medal. There is no place in a modern democracy for the likes of the HD Committee which is made up of top civil service Mandarins, acts in secret and conspires to fill their own coffers with honours and awards whilst treating the rest of the population with disdain.

Our parliament must act to protect its citizens from such an archiac committee which does not deserve a place in our modern society. Get rid of them!

Here, here..................................and don't forget petrol tax you rebelious lot..............and vehicle tax....................oh bo****ks, everything!!! Up the revolution.

jireland wrote:

Here, here..................................and don't forget petrol tax you rebelious lot..............and vehicle tax....................oh bo****ks, everything!!! Up the revolution.

We have received this message from Redcapfred (he is no longer a member of this Forum and I see that some of his posts have been deleted from the NMBVA Forum). Never let it be said that we are not democratic. Here is his message ... and my reply. He refers to jireland's post (quoted above):

"Subject: Political Soapbox
Message: How can this website claim to be apolitical yet at the same time allow blatant political propaganda as this (nothing to do with the fight for the PJM)"

My reply is:

We are not political. And by trying to suggest otherwise will not change that. You just have to see the cross-party co-sponsors of the 10 Minute Rule Bill that supports the Fight4thePJM case .... those co-sponsors represent the following parties:

* Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats, The Scottish National Party, and The Democratic Union Party.

The sponsors included:

* Ex-Government Ministers (Don Touhig for Labour and Michael Mates and Ann Widdecombe for Conservatives, as well as Adam Ingram ex-Armed Forces Minister who was notably a Defence Minister at the time of the PJM decision).
* The First Minister of Northern Ireland (Rev Ian Paisley).
* A member of the Defence Select Committee (Linda Gilroy).
* Privy Counsellors (Rev Ian Paisley, Don Touhig, Malcolm Bruce, Adam Ingram, Michael Mates, Ann Widdecombe, and Michael Ancram).
* Barristers at Law (Michael Ancram).

The total breadth of support is actually greater than that ... for example we also have Ulster Unionists and an Independent signed up, as well as the Respect MP.

Thank you Redcapfred for highlighting the strong support that we have from all sections of the political spectrum, from all four corners of the UK and from around the world, and from all people of so many nationalities and creeds. It is heartwarming indeed.

And just one other thought ... if you disregard 35 posts in this very important thread and are unable to detect a tongue in cheek statement in the one you mention, and then you try to make it a political issue of it, then I think there is a problem with bias. But that bias problem is not ours.

Barry

PS The Fight4thePJM campaign has no political affiliations and no organisational affiliations. We were highly delighted when we were received so well by Derek Twigg, the current Under Secretary of State for Defence and Veterans Minister.


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BarryF, who fought for the Right to Wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia