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Ministry of Defence

I acknowledge the hon. Gentleman’s point, but, as I said, we have a duty and responsibility to remain for as long as the Iraqi Government wish us to remain. People who join Her Majesty’s armed forces do so in the knowledge that they could be deployed to parts of the world to which they may not want to go, but that is a reality of life. The ““Panorama”” programme was poignant, because within an hour of an officer being interviewed, that officer and a young private, who also appeared in camera, were tragically killed. The BBC’s presentation vividly brought home what is going on. Others have discussed the broader picture, but I shall concentrate on some relatively minor matters that are nevertheless important in the totality of events. I hope that the Defence Committee will consider the Army Base Repair Organisation. In the space of three months, the Ministry of Defence has gone from proposing large-scale cuts in ABRO to last week’s welcome announcement that the job losses will be fewer than originally proposed. My concern is that some MOD boffins concluded three or four months ago that ABRO should be reduced in size, but on reflection concluded that that was not such a bright idea. It may well be that some of the work that ABRO does could be privatised and put out to privatised contractors, but that would take away the dedication, consistency and continuity of a skilled work force who live and breathe the Army just as much as anybody in uniform. I sincerely hope that the MOD will think again, even on the job losses that it is still going ahead with, and I hope that the Defence Committee will consider the whole scenario.