John Ireland has sent this gentle reminder to marck Harper, the Conservative Shadow Veterans Minister, asking him to look again at the evidence in the context of the Government spin.

He is the opposition's Veterans Minister. It is time for him to do his job and start questioning what the Governemtnb is trying to get away with.

Here is John's excellent email:

From: John Ireland [mailto:jri2272@btconnect.com]
Sent: 17 September 2006 11:48
To: 'harperm@parliament.uk'
Cc: Agent Devizes Constituency Conservative Association Ian Ramsey
(ianramsey@devizesconservatives.org.uk); Michael Ancram
(mancram@hotmail.com)
Subject: Defence Matters


"Dear Mark, please allow me to introduce myself to you, I am John Ireland a
District Councillor in Michael Ancrams Constituency and an executive member
of that Constituency.


I write to you on the recommendation of Ian Ramsey, his agent, whom you know
well and it is about the award of the Pingat Jasa Malaysia, a prestigious
award from the Agong and people of Malaysia to the British and Commonwealth
veterans of a particularly vicious campaign in the jungles of that wonderful
country.

You have heard much of the campaign by those veterans to gain full
recognition of that award by having it unrestricted and I am fully aware of
the previous correspondence from you in that regard but I must inform you
that since Michael has studied the rebuttal to the governments line and the
subsequent update to that rebuttal, he has become convinced that those
veterans are right and is supporting their case fully.

May I please ask you to study those documents fully and to liaise with
Michael before rejecting the case being put forward by an increasingly
discredited Civil Service. Her Majesty has read them in conjunction with the
petition sent to her and has personally taken an interest sending them
directly to the Foreign Secretary for her to action. Many letters have been
sent to Margaret Beckett over this issue and she has to date refused to
answer or even acknowledge them.

This is a political matter and the Conservative Party is and always has been
the party of the Armed Forces. It is known that Her Majesty The Queen is
sympathetic but is constrained by her role in relation to the government.

I attach the web links for those two documents so that you may peruse them
at your leisure.

Regards


John Ireland

Member for Lickhill Ward Calne

(full contact details supplied)"


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