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Commenting on the publication of the National Audit Office’s report into how the Ministry of Defence manages the delivery of equipment to military operations, South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon, a member of the Commons public accounts committee, said: “ The Ministry of Defence has had problems with the [...]

Chloe Smith MP will be supporting the 'Make it Marham' Campaign by collecting signatures for the Petition in Norwich this Saturday. You can join her to show your support and sign the petition at: 14.15 – 14.45 NCFC, Carrow Road 15.15 – 16.15 Chapelfield shopping centre Saturday 20th November 2010 An urgent rallying call has [...]

Chloe Smith, along with all other Norfolk's MPs, has signed a letter urging Liam Fox to choose RAF Marham as the sole location for the RAF's tornado fighter jets. In the Strategic Defence and Security Review last month it was announced that tornado jets would be scaled back, with just one [...]

Yesterday, I walked into RAF Henlow in my constituency with a heavy heart and then a wry smile as I thought about the Air Commadore. The very first time I visited Henlow,  Air Commodore Bill Coaker, threw me into a decompression chamber. The seco... [...]

Maria Miller, Basingstoke’s MP attended St Gabriel’s Church in Popley on Sunday 19th September to mark the RAF’s 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Maria said: “For decades Basingstoke has had a close association with the RAF. Not only do we have our local air base, many Basingstoke businesses [...]

Delyn MP David Hanson will join the Brew for the Few fundraising coffee event at Flint Town Hall on...

Delyn MP David Hanson will join the Brew for the Few fundraising coffee event at Flint Town Hall on Thursday (30th September) to raise money for the RAF’s Wings Appeal.   The RAF Association Wings Appeal raises around £2 million each year and has this year been promoting their cause by getting local [...]

• Project for new RAF transport and air-to-air refuelling planes is MoD's biggest PFI scheme. • MoD decided to use PFI in 1997, but only looked at alternatives in 2007. SOUTH NORFOLK MP Richard Bacon has said that the Ministry of Defence should avoid using the Private Finance Initiative to pay [...]

If there is one thing which should unite all political parties regardless of ideology, it is surely stamping out sex trafficking.   Slavery was officially abolished in the West in 1836, but in the form of trafficking in the twenty-first century, given the sheer scale of this enforced domination of victims [...]

Leaked reports  suggest the RAF is to be dramatically cut.  Seems those bods at MoD have finally discovered you can’t pour £20 billion into Eurofighter - and then expect to have [...]

Basingstoke’s MP Maria Miller was joined by James Arbuthnot MP and Councillor Ranil Jayawardena at Bramley Training ground to see the basic Chinook training for the RAF.   Maria said “Hampshire has a long history of association with the armed forces and in Basingstoke that link is most clearly seen everyday [...]

  David Cameron’s idiot populism has boomeranged. ‘Come on In-ger-land’ was his crude sound bite for the national news. He went even further to ingratiate himself with the masses by flowing the flag of St George from 10 Downing Street. No previous Prime Minister has been so foolish to identify themselves with a wildly optimistic dream that [...]

• Norfolk station is the largest and busiest combat aircraft station in UK • Norfolk MPs visit 31 Squadron, just back from Afghanistan South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon joined fellow Norfolk MPs on a visit to RAF Marham at the invitation of the Station Commander, Group Captain ‘Rocky’ Rochelle. RAF Marham [...]

I have to confess that I’m not the biggest fan of balck tie dos, but last Friday evening was important. Aylesbury RFC had organised a reception at Halton House (the Rothschild mansion that ow serves as the officers’ mess for RAF Halton) in aid of Help for Heroes, the service [...]

The two current big environmental disasters say it all.   BP has contaminated huge stretches of the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana, and now its shares have lost a third of their value (a fall of $40bn), the company is subject to an ‘aggressive’ criminal investigation led by the US [...]

The  following EDMs were tabled last week. They occupy eight pages of the EDMs list and confront MPs with the consequences of our decisions  Title: FATALITIES IN AFGHANISTAN  Motion Text: That this House salutes the bravery of the armed forces serving in Afghanistan and records with sorrow the deaths of Lance Corporal [...]

It was a privilege to have the Minister for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP, visit the town last week to meet with people from Hartlepool who had served in the country’s Armed Forces. The Minister met with Veterans (in appalling weather, if you remember last week) at the restored Heugh Gun Battery. [...]

The people of Hartlepool are the town’s greatest asset. One of the great things about my job as Member of Parliament is the opportunity to meet with many, many of the great characters of the town. I’ve said it many times before – but I’ll keep on saying [...]

Oh joy. David Cameron will be bringing "Cameron Direct" to Bristol this Thursday. Wonder if this will bring my elusive Tory opponent out of hiding? I was meant to be debating her on Monday at St Brendan's Sixth Form, but she had to pull out due to work commitments (or [...]

Iain and veterans minister Kevan Jones with land girl Florence. It was a privilege to have the Minister for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP, visit the town last week to meet with people from Hartlepool who had served in the country’s Armed Forces. The Minister met with Veterans (in appalling weather, if you [...]

Last week was very much RAF week.  On the Monday morning I began the working week with a visit to Halton Primary School, just outside Wendover.  About three quarters of the children who go to Halton are from RAF families.  This causes a number of challenges for the school.  For [...]