Defence On The Election Agenda

Gordon Brown’s confirmation that the General Election will take place on 6th May came with a reminder of the PM’s credentials as a man of the people: “I come from an ordinary middle class family in an ordinary town, and I know where I come from and I will never forget the values – doing the right thing, doing your duty, taking responsibility, working hard – that my parents instilled in me.”

Clearly, the contrasting backgrounds of the two main protagonists will be a recurring theme during this election campaign. Indeed, Brown’s former aide Charlie Whelan was quick to point out that David Cameron’s privileged upbringing and Eton education could be a factor in how people vote.

While their backgrounds may differ greatly, both the Fife-born Presbyterian and the Oxford graduate, son of a stockbroker, will need to be more acutely aware than ever before of the issues that matter most to voters – and there are currently few subjects more emotive than Defence.

In his election announcement, Mr Brown was careful to re-state Labour’s commitment to our Armed Forces, however, 24 hours later, during the final Prime Minster’s Questions before the election, David Cameron broadsided the PM calling on him to admit that British Forces operating in Afghanistan’s Helmand province had not been issued with the equipment “to get the job done.”

A ‘spirited’ back-and-forth then ensued, of course.

While it is always distasteful to hear our Armed Forces being used as a political football in this way, it is something that we will, sadly, have to get used to over the next few weeks as Defence will quite clearly be high on the election agenda.

Armed Forces Votes – Plane Nonsense?

Fears have been expressed in certain quarters that votes cast by military personnel serving in Afghanistan may not be received in time for them to be counted in the general election. Defence minister Baroness Taylor of Bolton has stated that the MoD, in conjunction with the Department of Justice and the Electoral Commission  “are striving to expedite – subject to operational priorities – the delivery of ballot papers to and from Afghanistan for service personnel.”

Apparently the Electoral Commission has designed a ballot paper specifically for Forces personnel in Afghanistan and the Government are to attempt to use supply planes to deliver and collect these from troops in the region. And therein lies the problem. The ‘operational priorities’ that the good Baroness spoke of could make it nigh on impossible to achieve success in such a mission.

Of course, it is the entitlement of every British subject who is registered to vote (apparently some 34,000 Service personnel are not) that they exercise their democratic right, wherever they happen to be in the world. However, the distribution and collection of thousands of slips of paper in the powderkeg that is Helmand could be tricky to say the least.

I would never claim to be anything of an expert in telecoms or IT, but it is surely not beyond the wit of man, or even Government departments, to construct a system where military personnel serving overseas can cast their votes securely through electronic means?  As it stands, Forces personnel on lengthy deployments are entitled to weekly phone calls home, along with (albeit limited) email and SMS access.

Our Armed Forces have in place some of the world’s most secure communications systems that could surely be harnessed for this purpose and, using their Service/Staff number or other form of identification, allow serving members to cast their votes.

Understandably, this won’t work for everyone – those engaging with the Taliban on the front line in the run up to 6th May particularly – and timing will be key, but it is surely logistically less complicated than attempting to distribute paper ballots in theatre…and eminently speedier.