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I mean actually gone front line
Johnny mercer served three tours in Afghanistan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Mercer_(politician)
Current politician - Rory Stewart I believe.
Plenty of ones from the past century, obviously.
Farage probably claims he did.
and from the other side of the House, Clive Lewis did a tour as TA too
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Lewis_(politician)
Does Dan Jarvis count
Lots of blue on that list.
This chap was front line apparently:
JFK
Paddy Ashdown? ex Marine and SBS
Do you mean the other way around? i.e. they were a politician and in a war that had the consent of parliament ended up fighting themselves? Maybe a pre WW1 politician ended up on the front line. Doubtful though. As above though - soldier then politician is/has been relatively common.
though I guess most of them have family they’ll be visiting
Politics aside, Rory Stewart is a remarkable person with a fascinating career. That career does not however include military service, he was a foreign office diplomat.
Winston Churchill resigned as First Lord of the Admiralty after Gallipoli and went into the Trenches on the Western front, he was still a MP as well.
Someone’s already beaten me to Paddy Ashdown.
Both Lord Carrington and Willie Whitelaw were awarded Military Crosses during WW2 - as indeed was the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, Robert Runcie.
That career does not however include military service, he was a foreign office diplomat.
It does actually, but only a very short six month commission which the Army has historically used to "network" with potential future opinion formers.
Winston Churchill resigned as First Lord of the Admiralty after Gallipoli and went into the Trenches on the Western front, he was still a MP as well.
That sentence doesn't quite tell the whole story. 🙂
Bobby Sands and Martin McGuinness
Tony Benn served in WW2. Dunno how much action he saw. Michael Foot was a member of the auxiliary units apparently - their intention was to wage a campaign of sabotage and assassination if the Germans invaded in WW2
Edward Heath was in the Royal Artillery in WW2, landed on DDay
Tommy Robinson?
I think they all should have at least one tour of duty on the front line before they even attempt to become an mp.
Tommy Robinson?
I don't think fighting for Luton Town is really the same. But who knows, he's gone by at least 4 different names during his 'career'.
That sentence doesn’t quite tell the whole story. 🙂
Maybe not. However, it is factually correct.
George H W Bush. WW2.
I did the best fighting. With the greatest fire & fury. Against the bad guys. In some big league huge wars. Believe me.
Serving in the military does not necessarily mean that you are qualified to lead a nation and, in some cases, might actually be a reason not to lead a nation.
A government needs people from all parts of the country to lead it. Maybe there is an argument for insisting on public service of some sort, or genuine technical skills to prevent the career PPE/politician doing things, but not an insistence on the military.
You could always make it a lottery... You register to vote in your ward, get chosen at random and become an MP for your ward for five years. After that term, the process repeats and you may get chosen again, but that's not likely.
Why so many conservative MPs?
David Davis, ex- 21.
Gerry Adams.
Andre Thome was a member of the French Chamber of Deputies and exempt from military service. He still volunteered and was killed at the Battle of Verdun.
John McCain had a distinguished US military career (obviously not a real hero though seeing as he carelessly got shot down, captured and tortured).
Rory Stewart wrote a book about his time in Afghanistan. Well worth a read, fascinating and quite an epic challenge he set himself. He managed to do something both dangerous, informative and adventurous that few others could have achieved. It undoubtedly gave him just the sort of outlook anyone in Politics would benefit from.
Why so many conservative MPs?
Assuming you mean, "why are such a high proportion Conservative rather than Labour or that other lot", the answer is probably because it is a predominantly male, authoritarian and hierarchical organisation whose ethos is to look after your own and do down the fuzzy wuzzies. The Conservative party, I mean.
Che Guevara
Fidel Castro
Robert Mugabe
Adolf something
Colonel gadaffi
It was very noticeable the gulf war 2 when Blair said that they would be welcomed in tripoli as heros for freeing the people that the main dissenting voices in parliament came from those who had served and actually fought.
As for tories - while a lot have served in some form its mainly TA and ceremonial troops - not actual fighting service where you have to kill someone. Plenty of exceptions to that but plenty who fit the description
Robespierre
Trotsky
In WW1 one third of MPs served in the forces. And that's not 1/3 of those eligible to serve, that's one third of all MPs, full stop. Incredible when you think about the average age of MPs.
More here:
Alan Clark was way off the mark.
Bonaparte
Half of the pre war Labour Party claimed to have fought with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War.
I say claimed....
Tobias Ellwood is an active member of the Army Reserves.
Having spent a fair bit of time with senior military, getting to that point is fairly self-selecting in terms of their personal politics - quite a few were certainly fairly detached from reality living in the MOD / Whitehall 'bubble'.
At the other end of the scale, extremist right wing views are quite common in the lower ranks of the Army in particular which certainly has an effect on the diversity of the organisation.
I volunteer JRM for the frontline. In Ukraine, maybe, against the Russians.
Failing that, he can serve by walking the streets of Britain, meeting the homeless and providing them with a nice meal.
Lets go steady on the insults, some of those MP's joined up out of a sense of duty or went when called up. either way I repect them for that even though I may not agree with their politics.
As for tories – while a lot have served in some form its mainly TA and ceremonial troops – not actual fighting service where you have to kill someone. Plenty of exceptions to that but plenty who fit the description
Riiiiiiight.
"I think they all should have at least one tour of duty on the front line before they even attempt to become an mp."
Why?
MT - I would agree with that sentiment for those who were actually in peril. Like Heath, Ashdown and Benn ( amongst others) I have little time for those who did TA and parade around in uniforms they are not entitled to wear - thats you Ruth Davidson
CFH - those like Davidson - parading around in a uniform she had no right to be wearing.
Riiiiight.
Over the last few years TA and reservists have ended up in some very interesting places.
Churchill is the only one I can think off who has gone from politics to the front. Post war (WW2) most of the PMs had actual combat experience up to the 60s.
I'm no fan of his, but in his youth he was in the thick of hand to hand fighting with swords against the ISIS of his day.
He did a bit of spying in the SA Boer War.
As Colonial Secy he also toured part of Uganda on a bicycle.
As a spoilt rich boy, he stands head and shoulders above our current crop of toff politicians.
Wee Nicola would've been involved in a few battles of Dreghorn cross.
I have little time for those who did TA and parade around in uniforms they are not entitled to wear – thats you Ruth Davidson
Did she serve or not?
I'll answer that for you, she did between 2003 and 2006 and got a medical discharge. Just in case you think TA is pretend army:
In 2003, 9,500 reservists, the vast majority of them from the Reserve, were mobilised to take part in Operation TELIC, the invasion of Iraq; in contrast, only some 420 Regular Reservists were called-up. Approximately 1,200 members of the Army Reserve deployed annually on tours of duty in Iraq, Operation HERRICK in Afghanistan and elsewhere, normally on six month-long roulements. They cannot be used in operations for more than twelve months in any three-year period - making most of those who have already served ineligible for call up for two years afterwards, although reservists may choose to volunteer for additional deployments.
So she joined knowing full well she could be called up for front line duty so I'd say she earned that uniform.
I'll politely request you STFU about things you are clearly ignorant of, wilfully or otherwise. If you want to play at cheap digs how about we ask what makes you the arbiter of who deserves to wear a uniform or not? How much time have you served?
Errmmm - it was an honorary Officers uniform she wore ( that she is entitled to wear) but she wore it for political photoshoots (which she also did with her ordinary TA uniform) something which is against army regs.
So she is entitled to wear the unifom but not to use if for political photoshoots - OK. so she was NOT entitled to wear that uniform when she did ie using it for political purposes
I respect her for joining the TA, I have no time for her using the uniform for party political photoshoots in complete breach of army regs.
Its distasteful and a stain on the memory those who have been in real peril.
I suggest you stop making baseless assertions about subjects you know little about
Oh - and the arbiter of whether she could wear that uniform for political photoshoots? Army regs. and what did she do to deserve an honorary officers uniform?
You sure it wasn't Kim jung un?....
Much as I hate this source even a stopped clock is right twice a day:
https://theferret.scot/ruth-davidson-army-rules-military-uniform/
Riiiiiight.
I suggest you stop making baseless assertions about subjects you know little about
Edit -Great minds, etc.
de Gaulle and Eisenhower are big names, do they count?
Bill Pullman as President Thomas J Whitmore in Independence Day?
Idi Amin
Gadaffi
Mubarak
Stroessner
Pinochet
Tito
George Bush Senior
Mobutu
Yitzhak Rabin
Saddam Hussein
Benjamin Netanyahu
I think they all should have at least one tour of duty on the front line before they even attempt to become an mp.
Nonsense. You need potential Mps to come into politics from different walks of life, with different experiences, just look at the total f*ck up the current government are making with the Brexit debacle\international embarrassment, and they are increasingly being churned out from a narrow educational and "work" background.
As a spoilt rich boy, he stands head and shoulders above our current crop of toff politicians.
Gordon Brown stands head and shoulders above the current crop as well, its not really much to shout about.
Dennis Healey was at Monte Casino, it shaped his approach to his fellow man after the war.
Lord Admiral Alan West was last to abandon HMS Ardent in the Falklands. Nice chap when he accidentally visited our govt dept.
Somewhat unfair to have a go at the TA etc by picking on the odd exception. Members join knowing what the score is. I guess being STW its only to be expected that political prejudice comes before sticking to the thread.
Doubt you'll find many politicians who go to war as generally government is an old mans job by the time you have worked your way through the ranks where as the military is the other way round. I would bet that Churchill wasn't the only MP who went to the front in the 1st war.
John McCain would be a fair bet for being up there with the most suffering in times of war...
Didn't know that one, Sandwich. Thanks.
Enoch Powell
John McCain, JFK, John Kelly, Helmut Kohl, Dwight D Eisenhower, George Bush snr, Winston Churchill, spring to mind.
Paul Nuttall was another notable, he won a VC and received a promotion to Field Marshall.
Iain Duncan Smith’s gatherwas a decorated Spitfire pilot. I’ve mixed feelings about this as ideally he’d have had his reproductive organs shot away before helping to conceive IDS.
I would bet that Churchill wasn’t the only MP who went to the front in the 1st war.
You'd be betting right. One third of sitting MPs during WW1 served in WW1. ie they fought in WW1 while they were MPs. That's 1/3 of all MPs at the time, not just 1/3 of MPs eligible to serve. (Link with more detail posted earlier in the thread.)
It undoubtedly gave [Rory Stewart] just the sort of outlook anyone in Politics would benefit from.
And yet he's still a dick.
Wasn't the Duke of Wellington both a politician and a serving general?
Didn't Paul Nuttall claim to be Andy McNabb?
Maybe a pre WW1 politician ended up on the front line. Doubtful though.
Maybe? Doubtful? I don't think you quite appreciate the level of carnage that WW1 involved.
"In total, 264 MPs or former MPs served in World War One, with 23 of these making the ultimate sacrifice.
In addition, 323 members of the Lords served, with 24 being killed (one of whom was also an MP - meaning some list 24 MPs as having died)."
from Linky
Adolf Hitler was in the trenches in WWI, ended up running his country, and other peoples for a bit.
Adolf Hitler was in the trenches in WWI, ended up running his country, and other peoples for a bit.
Mornington Crescent (see my earlier post)
I didn't recognize him from that photo Nico.
Veering back to the OP, may I just bring you one of the finest examples of a politician (very briefly) to serve in the Armed Forces, Fitzroy Maclean. Frustrated at not being able to join up because he was a diplomat, he sought and won election to parliament, only to resign straight away to enlist (the Wiki link is a little unclear on the sequence). This caused Churchill to accuse him of abusing the mother of all parliaments.
He was one of the founder members of the SOE, and ended up serving as Churchill's envoy to Tito in Yugoslavia. His biography, Eastern Approaches is an extraordinary read, and there's still time to get in on your Christmas list.
Oh, and he is thought to be one of the models for James Bond...
I didn’t recognize him from that photo Nico.
That was before Hitler's moustache was a Hitler moustache!
Fitzroy Maclean book is outstanding
It's not all swashbuckling tales of derring-do, which are a major snooze in my opinion