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Armed Forces Bill

I am sorry that the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Bramall, is not in his place. When I was a very junior officer serving abroad, I was sent to a certain minor unit because there had been some desertions and it was feared that there would be a mutiny. I am not a legal man clever enough to make the law, but what I can say is that you should not pussyfoot about with the two words ““mutiny”” and ““desertion””. You should not funk coming clean in what you write. The noble Lord, Lord Thomas, was absolutely right and put it more diplomatically than I could when he suggested that you had better face up to it and not be frightened of writing it down. Through his amendment the noble Lord is seeking to put this in the Bill. I would ask the Minister to take some further advice. These are frightening words and advisers sometimes funk them. The noble Lord, Lord Judd, was right to say that these are terrible words. He was once a defence Minister and he understands how important they are. I do not know whether it is right to put in the word ““legal””, but even if a war is illegal in the eyes of some, it is still no excuse for a unit to desert or mutiny. This is an area where I would again urge the Minister to seek advice. I am not saying that he has had weak advice, but I get the impression that people who advise get a bit frightened when the words ““mutiny”” and ““desertion”” are used. You do not pussyfoot around with mutiny or desertion in the military.