The Times, which in fairness has been going hard on every conceivable aspect of the 'Andrew' story, is now suggesting that the former Prince could now be deprived of the South Atlantic Medal awarded to those who served in the 1982 Falklands Campaign.

"Andrew could lose Falklands medal after being stripped of rank
Defence secretary John Healey says he will be guided by King’s decision as former prince may be forced to forfeit award from 1980s conflict"

The MOD has published a useful short video on what to expect to see on arrival at the Bulford Military Court Centre, whether as a witness, a party to proceedings, a board member or a member of the pubic wishing to attend proceedings.

Starmer: 'Potentially putting Britons in harm’s way is a huge responsibility – but we must be ready to do our bit for Europe'

A PDF copy of the Prime Minister's article just published by the Telegraph is available to logged-in members only at the link below.

With legislation for the establishment of an Armed Forces Commissioner making its way through the UK Parliament, it is interesting to note that the President of Ukraine has appointed Ms Olha Reshetylova to be the countrys' first Military Ombudsman, or 'President’s Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Military Personnel and their Families'.

UPDATE 12 Dec: As predicted, the Bill Committee's deliberations have finished early, so the call for evidence is now closed. BAFF will continue to monitor progress and implementation of the Bill.

While we await the Chancellor's statement today (29 Jul 24) on the public finances - including public sector pay - it may be worth revisiting Commodore (retd) Steve Prest's articles on improving the offer for service personnel. He said

This is not all about money (although money is important) but rather the totality of the offer – in the jargon, the 'total reward framework'.

Alistair Carns MP has been appointed Minister for Veterans and People in the new Labour Government. This follows criticism by former minister Johnny Mercer of the PM's failure to appoint a dedicated Veterans Minister attending Cabinet, and 'disappointment' on the part of help for Heroes.

BAFF sends our best wishes to all previous Members of Parliament of any party who had served in HM Forces, and either retired or failed to win their contest at the recent General Election.

Following the General Election, Forces|Net have provided a list of new or returning MPs who have served in the armed forces. We've added one name, Angus MacDonald, whose election count was completed after publication of the Forces News article.

Mr MacDonald's election makes a total of 36 MPs, which - as Forces|Net say - is actually a reduction on the 2019 election, which saw 50 MPs with some armed forces background.

This is taken from BAFF's pre-election analysis of proposals in the various party manifestos about armed forces personnel and veterans. Quotes are from the Labour Party Manifesto 2024.

A Falklands veteran has called for a change in the law, after the disgraced former chief constable of Northamptonshire was found to have worn a medal (or replica of a medal) to which he was not entitled.

Tom Herring, the chairman of the South Atlantic Medal Association, told the BBC that the UK should look at introducing laws similar to other countries where wearing a medal without the right to do so can be a criminal offence.

Until 2006 it would have been a criminal offence under Section 197 of the Army Act 1955:

British Armed Forces Federation has, since its inception, been an advocate for sensible independent arrangements to represent legitimate concerns of armed forces personnel and veterans.

Some of the political parties included their own ideas in their manifestos for the 2024 UK General Election. Post-election update: the Labour Party proposed, as they had been saying for some time, the establishment of 'an independent Armed Forces Commissioner':

The BBC Panorama programme reported in February that UK Special Forces had 'vetoed' resettlement applications from Afghan commandos - known as the “Triples” - who had fought alongside the SAS.

There were suggestions at the time - which we said we hoped were untrue- that such a veto, if it existed, gave UK Special Forces (SF) decision-making power at a time when some of the Afghan commandos might be potential witnesses to the Haddon-Cave war crimes inquiry investigating SF actions in Afghanistan.

Defence Ministers then firmly denied to MPs that any such veto existed......

BAFF analysis of some of the manifestos, including Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, and SNP.

Some of the headlines from the latest Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey are:

Nearly six in ten personnel rate their Service morale as ‘low’. The proportion of respondents reporting their morale as 'low' has been going up every year since 2021.

Satisfaction with the rate of basic pay remained stable at 32%, but well below the peak level reported in 2010 (52%).

Satisfaction with both the response to SFA maintenance/repair requests, and the quality of SFA maintenance/repair work, has improved slightly this year.

The Telegraph is reporting tonight (Mon 26 Feb) that the Secretary of State has ordered a review of the New Accommodation Offer (NAO) in light of what they call a "backlash by military wives".

A "source close to Mr Shapps" said:

The Secretary of State is right to get to grips with this. He will pause the family accommodation part of the new policy while we consult and evaluate the policy and make sure it is fit for purpose.

Some concerns have been raised from senior officers, and we are confident that we can make changes so that this is a policy which will work for everyone.

This sounds sensible, and along with the late intervention by senior officers, credit must be due to Imogen Howell's Petition, which is approaching 20,000 signatures tonight, and remains open for signature here:

The Telegraph has published quotes from some of the submissions to the Defence Committee's Inquiry into Service Accommodation. They refer to the Future Accommodation Model (FAM) which was the basis of the now-imminent New Accommodation Offer (NAO).

The submissions are publicly available - some anonymised - at a link below.

There have been what media are calling "extraordinary scenes" at today's hearing of the Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan chaired by Lord Justice Sir Charles Haddon-Cave.

Veteran's Minister Johnny Mercer MP had referred in his written statement to warnings given by unnamed military friends that there might be something in the allegations circulating about unlawful killing's by some British Special Forces personnel in Afghanistan. But when appearing as a witness he refused to give the inquiry the names of those informants.

If there is to be blame for a bureaucratic mistake (or worse), it is important to recognise that UK individuals who served alongside the 'Triples' in Afghanistan have not abandoned them, and have been discreetly campaigning on their behalf.

BAFF previously commented on the "extremely serious allegation" that former members of Afghan Special Forces 'Triples' units who served alongside UKSF have had their applications under the ARAP scheme turned down, supposedly because of UKSF concerns that their former comrades in the Triples might, if relocated, give inconvenient evidence to the Haddon-Cave Independent Inquiry on Afghanistan.

The "Triples" were the Afghan SF units CF 333 and ATF 444, said to have been founded, funded and trained by Britain to give operational support to UKSF.

Further media reports now claim to have found documentary evidence in an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) that the UKSF directorate had complete veto power over Triples applications from at least the start of January 2023.

A petition for the Government to review its "New Accommodation Offer" has now received more than 10,000 signatures, so the Government has to respond.

Under the official UK Government and Parliament Petition procedure, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament if it gets 100,000 signatures.

If you would like to sign the petition, the link is here:

The Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps, has responded to a strong series of reports in The Telegraph about diversity and inclusion policies in Defence.

Many BAFF members and supporters will agree with much of what Mr Shapps said, and which we quote below.

Without the clearest possible direction which reaches all levels, there is a risk though of repeating the same kind of mistakes as before - like the "strange behaviours" which the First Sea Lord said could be the result of diversity targets - but now equally "strange behaviours" in the other direction.

Without clear consistent policies which are adequately explained and understood, the same mindset which described RAF aircrew applicants as 'useless white male pilots' could lead to equally undesirable consequences in other ways......

The Army’s “Policy, Guidance and Instructions on Inclusive Behaviours” states that “Acts of Remembrance, on Armistice Day and others, should be inclusive and seek to avoid being conducted as a wholly religious event”. (Telegraph source - Paywall)

Fair enough, but there's more than a touch of the straw man there. Remembrance absolutely shouldn't be a wholly religious event, but it never has been.

Then the guidance then goes on to say

Acts of Remembrance should be agnostic of religious elements and separated from Remembrance Services. This may be achieved by holding a religious service after the Act of Remembrance.

But the familiar Act of Remembrance is a non-religious ceremony which involves:

• The verse from Laurence Binyon's For the Fallen - 'They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old'

An extremely serious allegation against some element of UK Special Forces (UKSF) has emerged over the weekend.

The claim is that former members of Afghan Special Forces units, the so-called "Triples", who served alongside UKSF in Afghanistan, have had their requests for assistance under the ARAP scheme turned down because of UKSF concerns "that their former comrades in the Triples might, if relocated, “give evidence to Haddon-Cave”.

"Haddon-Cave" refers to the ongoing "Independent Inquiry investigating matters arising from the deployment of British Special Forces to Afghanistan from mid-2010 to mid-2013" chaired by Sir Charles Haddon-Cave.

Veterans UK, part of the MOD, have now extended the availability of the 'HM Armed Forces Veteran Card' to all former members of the UK regular and reserve forces:

Payments under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) are currently considered income when determining whether someone is eligible for various benefits, but compensation awarded by courts for personal injury or medical negligence is exempt.

The effect is to reduce the benefits to which some veterans are entitled, or even in some cases to wipe out their enitlement altogether. This can affect war widows and families, as well as veterans themselves.

The origins of BAFF lie partly in a non-politically-partisan campaign by serving and recently-discharged personnel to encourage members of the armed forces community to register to vote, in order to make their own voting choice in the General Election of 2005.