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Sir Gerald Howarth MP is The Freedom Association’s ‘Parliamentarian of the Week’
The Freedom Association is pleased to announce that Sir Gerald Howarth MP is this week’s ‘Parliamentarian of the Week.’
Strong National Defences is one of our seven principles of a free society, and the primary raison d’être of any government is to keep its citizens safe. No-one can say the world is becoming a safer place. On the contrary, as the tragic events today in France, Tunisia and Kuwait testify, it is becoming more dangerous. Despite this, the Government intends to continue to reduce defence spending, which could easily fall below two per cent of GDP – a minimum requirement of our Nato membership.
We should be thoroughly debating defence issues, but instead, in the words of Philip Johnston, the Daily Telegraph’s Assistant Editor, “to raise the subject with senior people in No 10 is to invite derision; it is even off-limits to our elected decision-makers. Defence matters are rarely discussed in Cabinet any more and are principally the concern of the National Security Council in a break with our age-old constitutional arrangements”.
This week, Sir Gerald Howarth, Conservative MP for Aldershot and a Freedom Association Council Member, presented his “Defence Expenditure (NATO Target) Bill” in the House of Commons. According to Hansard, the Bill will “make provision about the meeting by the UK of the NATO target for defence expenditure in each member state to constitute not less than two per cent of gross domestic product; to make provision for verification that NATO’s criteria for defence expenditure are met in calculating the UK’s performance against this target; and for connected purposes.”
We fully support this Bill and will be actively campaigning in favour of it. We never know exactly what threats are on the horizon. At the end of the Cold War, we had high expectations that Russia would become a flourishing democracy. Instead, the Russian Bear is flexing its muscles. Putin is intent on taunting the West, making various threats to enhance his position.
The threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has prompted the French Government to increase defence spending by almost €4bn from next year. The French Government is correct to do this, and the very least we can do is stick to the Nato requirement, although we think our Government should go further.
Sir Gerald is to be commended for presenting this Bill in the House of Commons, and I offer him my congratulations as this week’s worthy recipient of our ‘Parliamentarian of the Week’ award.
Source: http://www.tfa.net/sir-gerald-howarth-mp-is-the-freedom-associations-parliamentarian-of-the-week/
