MPs snub campaign (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Trio refuse to back Arctic Convoys medal campaign

2:00pm Sunday 18th December 2011 in Local By Emily Roberts

THE three MPS in The Gazette area have refused to back our campaign calling on the Government to honour the heroes of the Arctic Convoys with a medal.

The Gazette and other campaigners are calling for the Government to award the 200 surviving veterans of the Second World War missions with an official medal – something the Conservative Party pledged to do if they were elected.

But Basingstoke MP Maria Miller and North East Hampshire MP James Arbuthnot have refused to support the campaign, while North West Hampshire MP Sir George Young – who has previously supported the veterans – has remained silent over the matter, refusing to talk to The Gazette about it.

Last week The Gazette reported how Whitchurch veteran, 92-year-old Roy Dykes, travelled to London to listen to a debate on the medal issue in Parliament.

Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage secured a House of Commons debate to grill MP Andrew Robathan, Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, about why the Government has so far failed to honour the Conservative pre-election promise to award a medal to the veterans.

But the 30-minute discussion ended in anger and dismay for the eight veterans who attended after Mr Robathan insulted them by comparing their campaign for a medal to the large number of honours given out by dictators such as Colonel Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein.

Mr Robathan said: “We have taken a view in this country that medals will only be awarded for campaigns that show risk and rigour.”

Mrs Miller declined to comment on the MP’s comments, saying she had not heard or seen his words. She also refused to support the medal campaign, and said: “The Arctic Convoy has been, over the years, recognised in a number of different ways.”

More than 3,000 British sailors died on the convoys delivering vital supplies to the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1945.

Mr Dykes, of Lynch Hill Park, spent more time on the convoys than anyone else alive today. More than 1,200 people have now signed a petition calling for him, and the other survivors, to receive a medal.

The Government decided that an independent review will be carried out into the rules governing the award of military medals – but the scope of this, and who will lead it, has yet to be announced.

Conservative MP Ms Dinenage criticised the time it is taking, and said during the debate: “How utterly disgusting it would be if a medal was awarded and there was no one alive to receive it.”

But Mrs Miller supported the review and said it was “the right thing to do.” Asked about the Conservatives’ pre-election promise to honour the veterans with a medal, she said: “I think that’s what the review is about.”

Mr Arbuthnot said he had an “enormous amount of sympathy with this campaign” but added: “Service people who have seen combat are the best to decide on these things rather than politicians who do not bring combat experience, and may bring a certain subjectivity to the decision of which awards to create and to whom to award them. So I do think it would be wrong for me, or, for that matter, for the Defence Select Committee to intervene.”

To sign the petition go to http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/5211</> or join our Facebook group ‘Honour the Arctic Convoy Heroes.’