Prisoners from Guantanamo Bay

Apparently Gordon Brown has agreed to accept prisoners being released from Guantanamo Bay to help President Elect Obama out of a hole.

The thing is, these people will have no link what so ever with the UK.

Presumably they have been held on Cuba becuase they were considered a threat of some kind. They deserve a proper, just, trial and if found not-guilty should be released to where they came from or to make appropriate applications to countries considereing to take them.

So why are we agreeing to take them, apparently without precondition?

Defence questions

Just back from a meeting tonight in Poole, very nearly missed the deadline for writing something today, which would of course not do, as it would break my resolution about writing something every day.

I was asked a number of questions tonight about the provision of sufficient support to our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. The concerns raised by people were largely as a result of the C4 documetary last night, which I'm afraid I didn't see.

I was very pleased to be able to relay the statement released by Liam Fox this afternoon:

A future Conservative Government will spend what is required to guarantee the security of the United Kingdom. There is a constant choice between commitments and resources. In the current environment, we will either have to increase the resources reaching the front-line to match our commitments, or reduce our commitments to match our resources.

Personally I feel that the resources for the front line will need to be found. We punch above our weight in the world partially because of our history. More importantly it's because of the professionalism and dedication of our armed forces who we commit to missions on behalf of the international community. Support for our front line troops is vital, as I said on Sunday, there's something seriously wrong when the government spends more on their headquarters than they do on their soldiers.

Homes for MOD staff

The Sunday Times is reporting that the Ministry of Defence are spending £2.3 billion on a contract to refurbish and run their headquarters in Whitehall. You can read the full story here.

The Conservatives are requesting an investigation by the National Audit Office in the scheme.

Expenditure on the new home for ministers and civil servants will include:

• Luxury office chairs worth more than £1,000 for each of the 3,100 civil servants


• 
  The purchase of more than 3,500 oak doors for a total cost of £3m, or up to £1,200 each
  


• The restoration of a “terrazzo” marble and stone floor in the renovated “pillared hall”
  


• A restaurant, a coffee bar, three large plasma screens on each of the 10 floors, a gym and “quiet rooms” where staff can take a break.

The MoD expects to spend £75,000 per person working in the building on refurbishment and upgrades over the next ten years. This contrasts with an anticipated expenditure of £25,000 per person for those living in MoD accommodation, this figure includes ongoing maintenance.

This Government has asked our armed forces to undertake enormously challenging missions, while simultaniously cutting investment in them.

Our role as a leading western democracy places responsibilities on us in the fight against terror. It will be our armed forces who are required to fulfill much of this responsibilty for us. We should therefore be ensuring that proper investment is made in those who undertake these tasks, in their equipment and in their welfare.

Spending £2.3 billion on new offices isn't to my mind investment in the right place, we're right to be asking for the whole scheme to be properly audited and reviewed.