Dan used his first ever question to Prime Minister, David Cameron, to ask him to order a new chapter to the Strategic Defence and Security Review

Dan has today urged the Prime Minister to “do the right thing for our country and for our armed forces” and introduce a new chapter to the Strategic Defence and Spending Review in light of the Arab Spring.

The former Army Major who was recognised by the Queen in her recent Birthday honours for work he had done whilst serving in The Parachute Regiment, used his first question to the Prime Minster to ask “the October 2010 SDSR has now been overtaken with events and the world is now a fundamentally different place so can I ask the Prime Minister again will he do the right thing for the armed forces and for the country and order a new chapter to this now outdated review.”

The Prime Minister failed to address Jarvis’ main point which was to order a new chapter in the same way that former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered a new chapter after the September 11th attacks. Instead the Prime Minister claimed, “I really think the idea that totally reopening the entire defence review at a time when our forces are actively engaged is the wrong one.”

Speaking after the exchange, Dan explained, “My question today was part of a wider debate that we need to have regarding the cuts to our armed forces. What the Prime Minister doesn’t seem to understand is that the events in North Africa and wider Middle East region, means that the decisions made in October 2010 are not relevant to a world which has, as William Hague has suggested, fundamentally changed in 2011.

“I wasn’t asking the Prime Minister to ‘totally reopen’ the review, I was asking him to order a new chapter. It is the detail that the Prime Minister has missed, yet again.”

“In the coming weeks the Labour Party will be putting the case to the government to try and get the Prime Minister to do the right thing and introduce a new chapter.

“National Security has to be the number one concern of any Prime Minister. I know from my own professional experience that Defence Chiefs don’t break ranks and speak out against the government unless they feel it is absolutely necessary. This is a time for the government to listen and show respect - something which has sadly been lacking from the Prime Minister’s rhetoric in recent days.”