BREAKING: The secretive medal cttee which denies honours to veterans will be reviewed, vows Labour.

@JohnHealey_MP will overhaul the system which forces those who served to fight again for recognition. cc @BWallaceMP @JohnnyMercerUK

#medalforheroes

mirror.co.uk/news/politics/… Image
Hopefully it would mean more honours for rank-and-file servicemen, who get thoroughly overlooked by top brass who are up to their necks in gongs.

"The only time some of them have held a gun is on a grouse shoot," said nuclear veteran John Morris, 85.
This is important because, in govt, Labour could never again claim this medal committee was fit for purpose, not unless it's rebuilt to deliver veterans justice without forcing them into long and damaging battles for the truth.
The psychological and social harm of that is vast.
Many veterans have been refused by this committee - Bomber Command, the Berlin Airlift, Brixmis to name just a few. But in large part the battle for justice by the nuclear test veterans has proven what a corrupt and failed medals system we have.
And now the Tories have to address it, too.

A massive step forward, won by the continuing and inspiring battle of the nuke test vets, for the sake of all veterans and those yet to serve.
And to top it all - the govt gave a medal to a man now found to have contributed to the deaths of Manchester Arena victims. Gongs for the chaps, none for the troops. Image

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More from @fleetstreetfox

Nov 8
Today is important.

At 0857 on November 8, 1957, an RAF Valiant bomber dropped a carefully-prepared device of explosives, uranium-235, plutonium, beryllium and lithium deuteride, on the southern tip of Christmas Island in the South Pacific.

#missingmedal 🧵 Image
The explosives detonated, the beryllium tamper compressed the blast wave and forced it back inwards, and the atoms of uranium and plutonium were split with a force equivalent to 18,000 tons of TNT.

Britain had just gone thermonuclear.
There were thousands of British troops on the island, at the most 20 miles from the blast and some around 6 miles.

Others were ok ships at sea, where the top brass were keeping a safer distance on HMS Cossack.

The 500 islanders were huddled under blankets on the beach. Image
Read 9 tweets
Oct 3
While @trusskliz tries to convince her party she knows what she's doing, these are the men and women she refuses to meet.

Last week, nuclear veteran families held a reunion, and wrote her some messages. 1/plenty
Julie Soan, whose dad took part in firing the biggest weapon Britain's ever had, Operation Grapple Y, in 1958: "I seek justice for him." Image
David Witcomb, who was on National Service when ordered to Christmas Island after it had been covered by radioactive fallout. "Please, before we are all gone." Image
Read 27 tweets
Sep 22
Well well well well well.

This is worth a thread and no mistake.
The Shadow Attorney General wants to know what the Foreign Office has been using its credit cards for.

It went from annual spending of around £24m suddenly to £35m from September 2021.

Liz Truss was appointed Foreign Sec on Sept 15 2021.
Read 8 tweets
Sep 5
Johnny, @JPAOwen and unnamable others have had their shoulder to the wheel on this for weeks as Boris' time in office ticked down, working against the clock.

These men were brutally mistreated, for decades, while keeping us safe. Story here: mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
Should be said, one jarring point in the letter - these servicemen kept 100s of millions of people safe. But they were following grossly negligent orders.

And no-one kept indigenous people in Australia, Nevada, or Kiritimati safe. They don't get medals. They just get radiation.
Servicemen were knowingly and intentionally exposed. Records were never kept, or 'lost'. Brown people were treated even worse, whether Commonwealth soldiers or locals. And all so the British PM could take tea with the US president and not have to worry about the Russian one.
Read 4 tweets
Sep 5
BREAKING NEWS: I am going to have to reassess my opinion of the Prime Minister.

Massive, huge, win for @atomiclabrats and #lookmeintheeye and #medalforheroes - but still much much more to do

mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
This is down to everybody who launched and supported #lookmeintheeye - @almurray @rorybremner @mrmarksteel @Keir_Starmer @AndyBurnhamGM @MetroMayorSteve @RLong_Bailey and each of you who signed, backed, shared. THANK YOU. change.org/p/justice-for-…
This is the letter from @BorisJohnson to Britain's most mistreated and maligned heroes, the nuclear test veterans. Actual tears here, because this is the best these men have ever had. Image
Read 6 tweets
Jul 14
I’ve been quiet because I’ve spent the past two days on a paediatric ward with possibly-appendicitic (?) #Foxcub. We’re home now, she seems to have had a weird infection which is slowly improving, but couple of things of to say…
(Everyone leaves a hospital either so relieved and happy they’re evangelical about the NHS, or in pain of some sort which can make them rage at it. I am in first camp. But will *try* to limit this to facts.)
1. In the space of 48 hours we saw 7 doctors. GP, paediatrician, surgeon, junior doc, registrar, another jr and surgeon registrar. A dozen nurses. Sonographers. And there is no way on EARTH an insurance policy, or my income, would otherwise have got us more than 2 or 3 of them.
Read 15 tweets

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