Clause 8 — Desertion

Part of Orders of the Day – in the House of Commons at 5:45 pm on 22 May 2006.

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Photo of Gerald Howarth Gerald Howarth Shadow Minister (Defence) 5:45, 22 May 2006

I am extremely grateful to Bob Russell, who represents another important garrison town—almost as important as Aldershot—for mentioning that point. Having welcomed the Minister, I was indeed going to pay tribute to his predecessor, Mr. Touhig, with whom I have had an extremely interesting and constructive debate on the Bill. I thank him for the efforts that he made to ensure that we were as well briefed as we could be on the implications of the Bill, and I salute him for that. As this is a moment of salutations, I also thank the Bill team, whose presence we are not allowed to acknowledge in the Chamber, but no doubt the message will get to them that they have also been extremely helpful in relation to getting this legislation right, which is of great concern to all Members of the House.

On the amendment, I also pay tribute to how well John McDonnell moved it, with great dignity and honour, save for the slight disagreement drawn to our attention by Mr. Hancock, on which I think that he is right. Nevertheless, the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington made his case in a coherent and restrained way.

It is claimed that the desertion clause has been rewritten to punish those who refuse to serve in Iraq with life imprisonment. The amendment seeks to remove "occupation of a foreign country" from the categories of desertion, and removes the punishment of life imprisonment for the most serious classifications of desertion. The desertion clause has not been rewritten to cover those who refuse to take part in the occupation of Iraq, as I am sure that the Minister will also tell the House. It does not increase the punishment for desertion to life imprisonment; it reduces the maximum penalty for most desertion cases by reintroducing a two-tier classification of desertion that takes us back to the position under the 1955 Act, as Mr. Jones pointed out. That Act included two tiers of desertion. Less serious forms of desertion, including desertion while in the UK, were punishable with a sentence of up to two years' imprisonment; the more serious form, desertion while on active service, carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Occupation of a foreign country was included in that more serious form, and the hon. Member for Rhondda pointed out the importance of having that provision in the Bill.

In 1971, new armed forces legislation amended the desertion offence and ended the two-tier punishment for desertion, counting all forms of desertion together, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The reason for that change was the situation in Northern Ireland, which, as Northern Ireland is in the United Kingdom, was not covered by the definition of active service. However, desertion to avoid serving in the Province was considered just as serious as desertion to avoid active service. Little changed in the everyday application of the punishment for desertion, and the punishment continued to reflect the seriousness of the offence.

Therefore, the Bill merely reinstates the two-tier provisions of the earlier Act. It includes a lower tier of less serious forms of desertion, with a maximum sentence of up to two years, and includes the equivalent of desertion while on active service, with a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. The only difference between that and the earlier Act is that the Government have removed the term "active service". They have included the provisions and definition of active service from the 1955 Act in the Bill. The Government have therefore reduced, not increased, the maximum sentence for the lower forms of desertion. They have taken the armed forces back to the position under the 1955 Act. They have not included foreign occupation because of Iraq; it is nonsense for the awkward squad to make that claim. Desertion while occupying a foreign country has had a punishment of up to life imprisonment for the past 50 years.

Mention has been made of two high-profile recent cases. The first was that of Flight Lieutenant Kendall-Smith. He was jailed for refusing a direct order. He was punished not for his conscientious objection but for his failure to obey an order. He was court-martialled for disobeying a direct order to report for pre-deployment training. His claim that he was acting on principle has no legal basis, and his sentence rightly reflects that.

However, Ben Griffin, the SAS conscientious objector, did not refuse a direct order, and nor did he desert. While he was on leave, he told his commanding officer of his objections to the war and, through the existing procedures, left the Army. That was a perfectly honourable course of action for a volunteer soldier to take. He decided that, in all conscience, he could not obey the order. The hon. Member for North Durham is again right that this country is extremely fortunate that those who make up our armed forces are not automatons but have a highly attuned sense of morality and are extremely sensible and decent people. Mr. Griffin took a principled decision. He did not make the fuss that the chap in the Royal Air Force made.