The Rt Hon Dr Andrew Murrison MP is a Minister at the MOD and we were excited to record this episode in the heart of our nation's Defence HQ at MOD Main Building. 

We talk about the Invictus Games, Ukraine, his service in the Royal Navy as a doctor, both regular and reserve, his family, Defence and the various ministerial roles he has served in.

We also share a special message this Christmas time to all those from the Armed Forces serving over the break.

Big thanks to the MOD for their help in delivery this episode.

About the Minister

Dr Andrew Murrison was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence on 30 October 2022.

He was previously Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development from 9 May 2019 to 13 February 2020.

He was elected Conservative MP for South West Wiltshire in May 2010, and was first elected as the Conservative MP for Westbury in June 2001.

In November 2003 he was appointed to the Conservative front bench as a health spokesman, transferring in July 2007 to defence. In May 2010 Andrew became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Secretary of State for Health and was asked by the Prime Minister to review and make recommendations on health care for members of the services community. The principal recommendations in the subsequent reports, ‘Fighting Fit’ and ‘A Better Deal for Military Amputees’, are being rolled out by the government.

In November 2011 Prime Minister David Cameron appointed him as his special representative for the centenary commemoration of the First World War, a post he was re-appointed to by Theresa May.

Andrew previously served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence and Minister for International Security Strategy from September 2012 until July 2014. He then served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office from July 2014 to March 2015. He chaired the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee from July 2017 to May 2019.

Career outside politics

Andrew served for 18 years as a medical officer in the Royal Navy, leaving in October 2000 as a Surgeon Commander. In 2003 he was recalled to serve in Iraq.

In 2021 was mobilised to lead vaccination teams as part of Operation Rescript. He remains an active reservist.

Personal life

Andrew and his wife live near Warminster. They have 5 daughters, 2 of whom serve in the Armed Forces.

Useful links:

OP Courage: Mental health support for veterans, service leavers and reservists - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Combat Stress is the UK’s leading mental health charity for veterans  Call them on 0800 138 1619, text them on 07537 404 719 or email helpline@combatstress.org.uk.

Medical assistance for veterans in:
England: NHS 111 service or call 111 when you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency, or contact NHS
Scotland: Scotland’s Health on the Web or call 111
Wales: NHS Direct Wales or call 0845 46 47
Northern Ireland: nidirect government services - telephone contact details are available from the website
Samaritans Call 116 123 to speak to a Samaritan.

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💳A small donation helps us pay our publishing fees & expenses and enables us to reach even more people, by creating the content you love! Every supporter will get a shout out on our show too!
CLICK HERE 👉https://www.buzzsprout.com/1394725/support

This week we speak to veteran Channel 4 and BBC investigative journalist, Michael Crick as part of our 'Behind the Politics' feature where we interview experts in the field of politics, from campaign managers to pollsters to journalists like Michael... and maybe even the odd Special Advisor!

Michael is a TV legend,  broadcaster, journalist and author. He was a founding member of the Channel 4 News team and remained there until joining the BBC in 1990. He started work on the BBC's Newsnight programme in 1992, serving as political editor from 2007 until his departure from the BBC in 2011. Crick then returned to Channel 4 News as political correspondent. In 2014 he was chosen as Specialist Journalist of the Year at the Royal Television Society television journalism awards.  In that same year, he even doorstepped our podcast host Jonny Ball, when Jonny was working for Grant Shapps MP!  Jonny and Michael talk about this rather amusing anecdote as well as Michael's current work unearthing the murky world of political selections via his Twitter/X feed @tomorrowsMPs which you must follow now!

Big thanks to Bare Arms Military Support to Film & TV for lending us their podcast studio.  If you'd like to rent it, in the heart of Westminster, London, contacts Bags on:
info@barearms.co.uk
Whatsapp 07410 603080
Web- https://barearms.co.uk/contact-bare-arms/

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Stand Up and Serve Again!

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Veterans In Politics- Andrew Selous MP- Former Army Reservist on a day in the life of an MP

Our host first met Andrew Selous MP when he himself was brand new to politics.  UIt was great to sit down in Parliament all these years later and chat through mucvh about the day in life of an MP.  From PMQs to consituency life and casework, this episode is packed full on insight.

We also talk about his life in the army reserves, or the TA as it was known back then, through Andrew's service in the HAC and Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.  Off the back of this, we chat about work-life-reservist balance and how much of this helped him campaign.

About Andrew

Andrew was born in 1962 and married Harriet in 1993 and they have three girls. They live in the South West Bedfordshire constituency in Studham near to Whipsnade Zoo.

Andrew is Patron of Leighton-Linslade Homeless Service and Patron of Homestart Central Bedfordshire. He was a Territorial Army officer for twelve years and served in Germany, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States of America.

Andrew qualified as a chartered insurer and worked as a reinsurance underwriter before being elected to Parliament. His firm helped many of the world’s poorest communities recover from natural disasters.

Andrew supports local homeless charities by taking part in sponsored sleep-outs. Andrew is Patron of SIFT a development charity working with people in extreme poverty in Nicaragua.  Andrew is also Patron of Reclaim Life in Leighton Buzzard.

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Stand Up and Serve Again!

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James Paul Watson (known as Paul) joined the Irish Guards straight from school and completed 6 operational tours including Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He sustained a spinal injury in Afghanistan, which ultimately led to his medical discharge from the British Army in 2015. He immediately enrolled at Salford University where he graduated in 2018 with a degree in Political Contemporary History before being elected as a local councillor. Whilst at university, Paul began to become disillusioned with society's relationship with the veteran community - specifically how our injured veterans are dependent on charities for support post-service.

Paul fundamentally believes that it is the responsibility of local and national government to provide for our veteran's aftercare, as it was the politicians and not the charitable sector that send us to war, hence, the accountability lies solely with them. Paul was diagnosed with complex PTSD in 2017 and uses his platform to promote positive mental health by being honest and open about his own battles with PTSD.

In 2021, Paul released his memoirs where he challenges the MoD's policy regarding the mental health of both serving personnel and veterans, and in 2022 founded the Ex-Forces Union to lobby on behalf of our veterans.

LINKS:
Join our Facebook Group community here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2314725475490967/

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Insta/Twitter/Facebook: @CampaignForceUK

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https://www.exforcesunion.org/

OP Courage: Mental health support for veterans, service leavers and reservists - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Combat Stress is the UK’s leading mental health charity for veterans  Call them on 0800 138 1619, text them on 07537 404 719 or email helpline@combatstress.org.uk.

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Tobias Ellwood has always been in the headlines.  This interview covers the reasons why, and comes with a trigger warning as we talk about tricky subjects, including grief and trauma.  For details of supportive organisations, see the bottom of these notes.

About our guest:

Tobias was elected as Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East in May 2005, and subsequently re-elected in 2010, 2015, 2017 and most recently in December 2019. 

He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with special responsibility for the Middle East and Africa from July 2014, and was made Parliamentary under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence in the June 2017 reshuffle.

Shortly after being first elected to Parliament in 2005, he was appointed Opposition Whip. In July 2007, he was promoted to the post of Shadow Minister for Culture Media and Sport where he was responsible for a portfolio including tourism, gambling and licensing. After the May 2010 General Election, Tobias was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Defence Secretary, the Rt. Hon Liam Fox MP. He was appointed to similar positions for the Minister for Europe, the Rt Hon David Lidington MP, in October 2011, and the Health Secretary, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, in October 2013. He held this position until he was promoted to the Foreign Office in July 2014, with responsibility for the Middle East and Africa.

Tobias was elected Chair of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee in January 2020 and remained in that position until September 2023.

Tobias was born in New York, USA due to his parents' overseas posting at the time. He grew up in Bonn, Germany and Vienna, Austria, but returned to the UK to complete his first degree at Loughborough University. Whilst at Loughborough, Tobias was elected President of the Students' Union.

He spent six years in the Regular Army with The Royal Green Jackets, head quartered in Winchester, and served in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Kuwait, Germany, Gibraltar and Bosnia. He now has the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as a reservist in the 77th Brigade. 

Tobias is married to Hannah and they have two young sons, Alexander and Oscar.  He is a patron of a number of local charities, including Caring Canines, Samaritans, and Boscombe’s Crumbs Café.

Outside of politics Tobias is a keen sportsman, an active Army Reservist and a private pilot. He is frequent visitor to the United States and the Middle East. He also enjoys the theatre, military history, and is an Eagle Scout.

OP Courage: Mental health support for veterans, service leavers and reservists - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Combat Stress is the UK’s leading mental health charity for veterans  Call them on 0800 138 1619, text them on 07537 404 719 or email helpline@combatstress.org.uk.

Medical assistance for veterans in:
England: NHS 111 service or call 111 when you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency, or contact NHS
Scotland: Scotland’s Health on the Web or call 111
Wales: NHS Direct Wales or call 0845 46 47
Northern Ireland: nidirect government services - telephone contact details are available from the website
Samaritans Call 116 123 to speak to a Samaritan.

✅Support The Show Help Us Grow! Help us reach more veterans by donating the cost of a cup of coffee today...

💳A small donation helps us pay our publishing fees & expenses and enables us to reach even more people, by creating the content you love! Every supporter will get a shout out on our show too!
CLICK HERE 👉https://www.buzzsprout.com/1394725/support

Royston Smith GM MP is an RAF veteran, former council leader and George Medal recipient and our latest guest on Veterans In Politics Podcast.

He has been the Member of Parliament for Southampton Itchen since 2015 and is the former Leader of Southampton City Council, having served as the Councillor for Harefield Ward – where he was born – from 2000 until 2016.

He has worked in both the private and public sectors, which offers useful experience to his approach to the key issues that face Southampton most effectively. His career spans four decades – starting by serving in the Royal Air Force as an aircraft engineer working with the Nimrod aircraft- and he later spent 16 years as a maintenance engineer at British Airways. He has also run local businesses in the city.

We talk about the circumstances behind the award of the George Medal for bravery, and in doing so, remember Lt Cdr Ian Molyneux GM.

The medal citation reads: "Lt Cdr Molyneux, with complete disregard for his own safety, had deliberately made an effort to tackle the gunman, knowingly putting himself into extreme danger in order to try to safeguard others from personal injury.

"His actions were incalculably brave and were carried out in the highest possible service traditions of courage and selfless commitment, resulting ultimately in providing just enough disruption to the sentry's intent to enable him to be subsequently overwhelmed and disarmed."

We will remember him.

LINKS:

Spitfire Memorial Campaign-
https://www.roystonsmith.co.uk/2020/10/12/a-national-spitfire-memorial/

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OP Courage: Mental health support for veterans, service leavers and reservists - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Combat Stress is the UK’s leading mental health charity for veterans  Call them on 0800 138 1619, text them on 07537 404 719 or email helpline@combatstress.org.uk.

Stand Up and Serve Again!

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This week we sit down with HAC Veteran James Gray MP.

James was first elected as MP for North Wiltshire in May 1997.  He was educated at Hillhead Primary School and Glasgow High School and later read History at Glasgow University and Christ Church, Oxford. More recently he was a visiting Parliamentary Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford and is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies.

Before entering Parliament, James’s career was in business. He worked for P&O, latterly as one of their shipbrokers on the Baltic Exchange, when he was also made a Freeman of the City of London. He helped devise the means for trading bulk shipping as a futures commodity, and wrote several books about it. After 15 years in the City, he became Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Michael Howard, and his successor John Gummer.

After his election to Parliament in 1997, James served on the Environment and Transport Select Committees until his shadow ministerial career began with his appointment as a Conservative Whip and then as a Shadow Minister for Defence. He served as Shadow Minister for the Countryside and after the 2005 General Election briefly as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. James now serves as a Member of Mr Speaker’s Panel of Chairmen.

James’s military interest includes seven years in the Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest regiment in the Army Reserve, on whose Court of Assistants he also served from 2002 to 2007, and of whose Saddle Club he is life Vice-President. He is a graduate of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme and of the Royal College of Defence Studies. In 2010, James founded the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Armed Forces, which he has chaired since. In 2013, James became founding Chairman of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Trust, which seconds up to 35 Parliamentarians a year to the three services.

James has a particular interest in the Polar Regions, having travelled in both. He is Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Poles, and serves on the No 10 Advisory Committee on the environment.

James is a member of NATO Parliamentary Assembly,  Patron of Operation Christmas Box, and a Younger Brother of Trinity House. He sat on the Defence Committee and the Committee on Arms Export Controls, and chaired the Defence Sub-Committee on the Arctic from 2016 to 2017. Following the 2017 election, he was appointed by the Prime Minister to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy.

He and his wife Philippa live on a farm in North Wiltshire.

LINKS:
Operation Christmas Box: https://operationchristmasbox.org/
Join our Facebook Group community here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2314725475490967/

Engage with us on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13628154/

Insta/Twitter/Facebook: @CampaignForceUK

or email the host jonny@campaignforce.co.uk

Stand Up and Serve Again!

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💳A small donation helps us pay our publishing fees & expenses and enables us to reach even more people, by creating the content you love! Every supporter will get a shout out on our show too!
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Veterans In Politics Podcast this week meets Richard Drax MP, a former Guards Officer who served in Northern Ireland and is on the Defence Select Committee

Richard was delighted to re-elected the MP for South Dorset in December 2019.

He served across the world, including Germany, Cyprus, Kenya, Brunei, Hong Kong, the United States, London and three operational tours in Northern Ireland.

Richard enjoyed a variety of activities, ranging from ceremonial duties, such as Trooping the Colour to mark the Queen's birthday, to parachuting with the Guards' freefall team.

On leaving the army, he studied land management for three years at the Royal Agricultural College, near Cirencester, before embarking on a career in journalism, which spanned 17 years.

His early years were spent with the Yorkshire Evening Press, a daily broadsheet in York, where Richard qualified as a professional journalist.

While attempting to break into broadcasting, Richard did stints at Tyne Tees TV, the Daily Express and the Daily Telegraph.

Finally, he joined BBC Radio Solent and BBC South Today, where he spent nine years.

He became one of the station's senior reporters, working across the south of England and occasionally abroad.

Those trips took him to Haiti, Florida and South America.

In 2006 he was selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for South Dorset.

At the same time, he took over the family business and retired from the BBC.

Richard, who has four children, is married to Elsebet, who is from Norway.

LINKS:
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Insta/Twitter/Facebook: @CampaignForceUK

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Stand Up and Serve Again!

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Veterans In Politics this week is with Rt Hon Mark Francois MP, the former TA Officer and past Defence Minister who worked hard to bring the Armed Forces Covenant into being with the then Prime Minister David Cameron.

We talk about his beginnings in the Royal Anglian TA, getting into local government and eventually becoming a Member of Parliament.  On the way, he even went up in a selection and beat a certain Boris Johnson!

About Mark

Mark’s political career began in local government, when he was elected to Basildon District Council in 1991 for the Langdon Hills Ward. When the Conservatives took control of the council in 1992.

Mark fought his first parliamentary election in 1997, when he stood as the Conservative candidate in Brent East against Ken Livingstone (prior to Ken becoming the Mayor of London). He was subsequently first elected to Parliament as the MP for Rayleigh in June 2001. 

In May 2007 Mark was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Europe, where he worked directly for the Shadow Foreign Secretary the Rt Hon William Hague MP. Mark’s job involved working as the Opposition spokesman on Britain’s relations with Europe, including the European Union, Russia, the Balkans, NATO, and the OSCE. In January 2009 Mark was made a Member of the Shadow Cabinet by David Cameron.

Following the 2010 General Election, Mark was appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron as a senior whip in the Government Whips Office. Mark's title was 'Vice Chamberlain of Her Majesty’s Household'. In the same year Mark was also appointed to the Privy Council.

In September 2012, Mark was promoted to become Minister of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans (Min DPWV) in the Ministry of Defence. In this role Mark liaised with service charities and was also instrumental in the provision of the latest generation of prosthetics (what The Sun newspaper christened 'Bionic Legs') for service personnel injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In October 2013, a year after joining the Ministry of Defence, Mark was again promoted to the role of Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Min AF) with responsibility for operations, operational policy, operational legal matters, training and force generation.

Mark was appointed Minister of State for Communities and Resilience and Minister for Portsmouth in May 2015, a role which he held until July 2016, when he returned to the backbenches.

Following the appointment of the Rt Hon Theresa May MP as Prime Minister, Mark was tasked by the Prime Minister to carry out a study regarding the future recruitment of regulars and reserves into the Armed Forces. The study, entitled "Filling the Ranks" was completed and submitted to the Rt Hon Theresa May MP in June 2017 before being published on Mark's website in September 2017.

LINKS:
Mark's book Spartan Victory: https://amzn.eu/d/7mayoaM

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Stand Up and Serve Again!

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Jonny and Lydia wrap up their look at Party Conference season with analysis of the Labour Party Conference.

We take a look at the man who wants to be Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer's speech, which began with protester throwing glitter over him! But he handled it well and it actually played into his delivery.

'Behind the Politics' is a new addition to the show where we interview experts in the field of politics, from campaign managers to pollsters to journalists.. and maybe even the odd Special Advisor!

Next week we are back with another interview with an MP.

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Stand Up and Serve Again!

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