Dan has been one of the leading voices in Westminster on the Defence Secretary's handling of the Ministry of Defence. Today Dan kept the pressure on...

Dan has continued to keep the pressure on Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, by calling on the government to announce when the Reservist Review will be published.

Dan, who served in Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq explained, “There seems to be a total paralysis of decision-making from the Defence Secretary. As I said to him in the House of Commons yesterday, the results of the Reservist review should have been published in line with the Strategic Defence and Security Review.”

“We know the real reason why he isn’t publishing the results; it’s politically toxic for the government. Colonel Bob Stewart admitted in an interview we both did on the Daily Politics yesterday, that he would like to see the military have an aircraft carrier – all of which were scrapped by Liam Fox and George Osborne last October. Bob and his fellow backbenchers will hate the scrapping of the reservists even more.”

He continued, “The Reservist force is an important element of UK Defence. The reason I am calling for a new chapter to the SDSR is because I believe that it is about priorities. The world has moved on - defence policy and resources should move with it. What is not acceptable for our forces or their families is for the Defence Secretary to prioritise politics over people, which is what he is doing.”

“I think the Reservist forces make a significant contribution to our country. Therefore, it is the right thing to do to provide leadership by delivering this important piece of work, not trying to bury it in the long grass, the week before recess.”