Misleading DTR coverage

Last week the BBC published an article about the Defence Training Review (DTR). It was entitled '£12bn military academy 'on track'. The article was quite biased and lacking in research. Chris Ames sums it up very well here. Chris Ames (also runs the Iraq dossier website.)

Back to the article which doesn’t mention that the project is already delayed and over budget nor the fact that Qinetiq, the equal equity partner along with Sodexho, are themselves experiencing difficulties. See the following articles:
The Cost of Privatisation
Qinetiq Prepares to Tighten Finances

I won’t go into whether or not the 5000 jobs figure is accurate, but that number of ‘new’ jobs won’t be created at the base. The jobs are already held by Civil Servants around the country who will be expected to relocate to Wales or lose their jobs.

Many of the trainers will be unable to relocate to Wales and the loss of these skilled trainers will put Defence Training and front line troops at risk.

In addition to the above there is the question of putting the Defence of the United Kingdom in the hands of private companies that are ultimately out to make a profit for their shareholders. A further risk is that the companies involved may get taken over by a non-British organisation which could generate a conflict of interest between corporate aims and loyalties and national security.

You may also be interested in this article entitled ‘The Ministry and the Media'

Adam Price for a military academy?

Adam Price MP has a regular column in the weekly news magazine Golwg. That of 13 November was titled Y ddadl o blaid academi filwrol – ‘The debate in favour of a military academy’.

Much of it discusses the history of militarism in Wales, a comparison with the Scots, and the number of Welsh people in the armed forces historically and today. The part about St Athan actually only comes in the final few sentences as follows, with a translation of it below

Yn yr un modd, tra bod protestio yn erbyn polisiau a rhyfeloedd a dulliau ac arfau milwrol yn ddilys, ydi gwrthwynebu academi hyfforddiant (Academi Filwrol Sain Tathan ym Mro Morgannwg) fel y cyfryw yn gwneud synnwyr? Onid natur yr hyfforddiant ddylai fod ffocws ein gwrthwynebiad ni?

Wedi’r cwbl pan ffurfiwyd West Point gan yr Americanwr o Gymro, Thomas Jefferson, academi heddwch oedd ei weledigaeth e. Oni allwn ni ganolbwyntio ar greu, mewn cysylltiad a’r datblygiad hwn, pwyslais newydd a chanolfan rhyngwladol o ragoriaeth mewn ymdrechion i gadw heddwch.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

In the same way, while it is correct to protest against military policies and means, against wars and arms, does it make sense to oppose a training academy as such (St Athan Military Training Academy in the Vale of Glamorgan)? Should it not be the nature of the training being provided that forms the focus for our opposition?

After all, when West Point was established by that Welsh American, Thomas Jefferson, his vision was of a peace academy. Can’t we concentrate, in relation to this development, on creating a new emphasis on an international centre of excellence in peace keeping activities.

MOD on St Athan

http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/31D096E9-3F41-4633-BEA2-AE62CF97C3AE/0/annrptvol1_200708.pdf

234 We continued to make progress on Package 1 of the Defence Training Review (see
paragraph 297 under People) to deliver training for all three Services at a new site
at St Athan in South Wales. The Metrix consortium has been taking forward risk
reduction work to secure planning consent and develop an affordable training solution.
We aim to begin construction at St Athan in 2010, with training beginning in 2014. After
reviewing further options for Package 2 it became apparent that the Metrix consortium
was not able to offer an affordable and acceptable solution and the competition
was therefore ended in January 2008. We are now considering a range of options
to rationalise the estate in an affordable way while maintaining our supervisory
care commitments. We also announced in January 2008 that we plan to relocate the
Defence College of Logistics and Personnel Administration and the Director Royal
Logistics Corps from Deepcut in Surrey and consolidate elements of logistics training at
Worthy Down in Wiltshire and Southwick Park in Hampshire. This will enable the eventual
disposal of the Deepcut site;

Inexperienced politicans & Rhodri Morgan

Inexperienced politicians and the messes they make By Matthew Sinclair She counts among her "achievements" Railtrack's renationalisation, the selling of Qinetiq for a fraction of its true value, and the disastrous creation of Metronet. This one-woman disaster zone has cost the taxpayer several hundred ...The TaxPayers' Alliance - Better... - http://tpa.typepad.com/bettergovernment/

Best quote ever from House of Commons questioning of civil servants involved in Quinetiq sale. MP Richard Bacon: "MR WOOLEY ARE YOU A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT ?
"Woolley: "I AM NOT"
Bacon: "ARE YOU A QUALIFIED FINANCIAL PERSON OF ANY KIND ? DO YOU HAVE ANY FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS ?"
Woolley: "I DO NOT HAVE ANY FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS"
Bacon: "WHAT IS YOUR JOB ?"
Woolley: "I AM THE FINANCE DIRECTOR OF THE MOD"

Rhodri Morgan - Don’t worry about Plaid Daily Post, UK - 18 Feb 2008
He criticised Plaid vice president and MEP Jill Evans for attacking the proposed multi-million pounds Defence Training Academy in St Athan, south Wales, ...So who is Rhodri listening to?

Paul Murphy St Athan project nothing to do with him!

Q. Did the 'Wales Office' not have to approve the St Athan PFI?

Paul Murphy : Written Answers - Wales: Departmental Private Finance Initiative (3 Mar 2008)
The Wales Office has not initiated or approved any private finance initiative projects in the last threeyears.

A. Its not a Welsh PFI. Remember that MC3 package 1 solution was based around Bordon and Cosford and Portsmouth. It was instigated by Mod with Ministerial backing. However the Welsh politicians did help Metrix win the bid by hard lobbying and the WDA provided human resources to METRIX.

Not in our NAME!

BBC NEWS | Wales | Wales bid for UK military academy
Politicians have been in London to make the case for St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan as the location for a new pan-forces military academy. ...not in my name!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4825632.stm

Same old lies....5,500 jobs ...no way

Speaking at the launch of the bid by Metrix in London on Monday, economic development minister Andrew Davies said the Welsh Assembly Government was "fully supportive".
The creation of 5,500 jobs and with 10,000 trainees being based at the site are estimated to be worth around £58m per year to the area

Even John Smith of pork barel fame and Metrix lacky doesn't agree with those figures.

John Smith MP in the House of commons on Thursday 28th Feb

Metrix has used the most conservative calculations to show that it will create at least 1,500 jobs in the wider community of my constituency of Vale of Glamorgan and south Wales generally.

Vale of Glamorgan council no time for opponents of the academy - but boasts of visit by MOD officials!

Vale Council briefed on defence training academy plans

Plans by the Metrix Consortium to create the £11bn defence training academy at the former RAF St Athan airbase have been the subject of discussions between Ministry of Defence officials and the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

During a visit to South Wales, Major General Tim Inshaw and Brigadier Geoff Nield visited the Civic Offices to meet council cabinet members, including leader Cllr Margaret Alexander, and officers.

St Athan is the site proposed for the development of a defence academy for aeronautical engineering, electro-mechanical engineering and communications and information systems training for the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. This is currently provided through nine locations across the UK.

Caption: Ministry of Defence officials Major General Tim Inshaw (centre) and Brigadier Geoff Nield have updated Vale of Glamorgan councillors and officers on the progress of the Metrix Consortium plans to create the £11bn defence training academy at the former RAF St Athan airbase. Also pictured are council leader Margaret Alexander, deputy leader Neil Moore (second left) and cabinet member for planning and transportation Chris Williams.

I hope that these councillors and officers will be also be prepared to meet campaigners against the military academy. They have not bothered to reply to our letters and have not given any reply to our concerns. This shown a bias in favour of the project which is unethical and in planning terms could be illegal.

08/02/2008

Paul Murphy's Hawk Record

Paul Murphy new Secretary of State foisted on Wales. Looking at his record there doesn't seem to be much hope of his support to stop the St Athan Project!

Voting record (from PublicWhip) www.paulmurphymp.co.uk

How Paul Murphy voted on key issues since 2001:
• Has never voted on a transparent Parliament
• Voted moderately for introducing ID cards.
• Voted very strongly for introducing student top-up fees.
• Voted very strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws.
• Voted very strongly for the Iraq war.
• Voted strongly against investigating the Iraq war.
• Voted very strongly for replacing Trident.

Paul Murphy was chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee
which produced a report on UK Agencies and Rendition in July 2007.
The Committee concluded that there was no evidence of any UK Agency
being directly involved in the U.S. rendition programme, including
any “Extraordinary Renditions”!

MURPHY, Rt. Hon. Paul (Torfaen) Register of members interests

Extraordinary rendition by the United States - Wikipedia, the free ...

Extraordinary Renditions allegedly have been carried out from these ..... 2005, that the British...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition

UK 'breaking law' over CIA secret flights | Special reports... Andrew Tyrie, the Tory MP and chairman of the parliamentary group, said: "By apparently...

BBC NEWS | Programmes | This World | Shedding light on CIA mystery ... The BBC's This World investigates "extraordinary renditions", ... or Europe The UK Government has said it does not know and has no way of finding out who was aboard the 80 CIA flights that landed on British soil.

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | MI5 enabled UK pair's 'rendit... Telegrams sent by the British security service led to the "extraordinary rendition" of...

He certainly wouldn't want himself or his colleagues to lose their jobs in the commons gravy train!

Fewer Welsh MPs bonkers, says Murphy ic Wales, - 29 Jan 2008 CUTTING the number of Welsh MPs to reflect the post-devolution age would be “bonkers”, Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy said yesterday. ...

Murphy dampens referendum thoughts ic Wales, - 28 Jan 2008 A REFERENDUM on a Welsh parliament is unlikely to occur before the next Assembly elections, new Welsh secretary Paul Murphy said yesterday. ...

Bloggers on Murphy!

The Secret life of Paul Murphy.

25 Jan 2008 by Paul Flynn Paul Murphy MP for Torfaen has done a Lazarus. He is restored as Secretary of State for Wales and reunited with his beloved red boxes, chauffeur driven car and swish Gwydir House. Paul is a politician of mystery. ...

Life Without Hain

31 Jan 2008 by Ordovicius For some reason Ive always believed that Peter Hain is a lot younger than Paul Murphy. I got a bit of a shock then when I realised that there are only two years between them with Mr Hain at 57 and Mr Murphy approaching his 60th birthday ...

Rhodri and Paul Murphy have worked together for decades and understand one another completely....

Paul Murphy: Steady as he goes...

24 Jan 2008 Miss Wagstaff tells us that Paul Murphy originally became Secretary of State for Wales on 28 July 1999, until appointed as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 24 October 2002 to 5 May 2005. On leaving government he became chairman of the Intelligence and ...and points out that

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones (2001):

Paul Murphy is clearly out of touch with the growing feeling in Wales, and within his own party in the National Assembly. Those of us who have to work within the current settlement see its obvious flaws and a growing number of Labour AMs are coming out to support a law-making Parliament, because they are frustrated at the Assembly's failure to deliver in key policy areas. Paul Murphy and the 'dinosaur tendency' in the Labour Party are being left behind in this debate.

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones (2008):

I welcome Paul Murphy's appointment and look forward to working with him. His role will be pivotal in steering the Welsh Assembly Government's bids for the right to legislate through Westminster and in working with us to deliver the One Wales programme of Government.

...Whoops....!!!!

Contact Paul with your views.

Constituency 73 Upper Trosnant Street Pontypool Torfaen NP4 8AU phone 01495 750078 Westminster Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP House of Commons London SW1A 0AA email hunta@parliament.uk

The strange tale of the Wrekin MP Mark Pritchards appointment to the Welsh Affairs committee!

10 October 2007 : Parliamentary Question

RAF St. Athan

Mark Pritchard questions the Secretary of State for Wales on progress on infrastructure projects in support of the Defence Training Review project at RAF St. Athan. full story

http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/welsh_affairs_committee.cfm

On Monday 17 December 2007 Mr Stephen Crabb MP was discharged from the Committee and was replaced by Mark Pritchard MP

Member Constituency Party Dr Hywel Francis MP (Chairman)AberavonLabour

David T.C. Davies MP Monmouth Conservative

The Grange 16 Maryport Street Usk Monmouthshire NP15 1AB or House of Commons London SW1A 0AA.

if you would like to meet him at one of his surgeries please ring his office on 01291 672817. These are held regularly in Usk, Abergavenny, Chepstow and Monmouth.
If you need to reach me during the week, my office number in Westminster is 0207 2198360, and my fax number is 0207 2192806. I can also be reached by e-mail, at daviesd@parliament.uk
http://www.david-daviesmp.co.uk/contact.aspx

Nia Griffith MP Llanelli Labour
Mrs Siân James MP Swansea EastLabour Mr David Jones MP Clwyd West Conservative
Mr Martyn Jones MP Clwyd SouthLabour Rt Hon Alun Michael MP Cardiff South and Penarth Labour Co-op Albert Owen MP Ynys MonLabour Mark Pritchard MP The Wrekin Conservative Mr Hywel Williams MP Caernarfon Plaid Cymru Mark Williams MP Ceredigion Liberal Democrats

& Who is Mark Pritchard, MP??? Mark Pritchard is Conservative MP for The Wrekin (Shropshire). He is Secretary of the Conservative Defence Committee; and Secretary of the Conservative Foreign Affairs Committee. He is also a member of two Select Committees: Department of Work & Pensions; and Environmental Audit Select Committee.

Derek Twigg MP can't say How many jobs at St Athan

Military Bases: Wales How many jobs?

All Written Answers on 10 Jul 2007

John Smith (Vale of Glamorgan, Labour) | Hansard source

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) military and (b) civilian personnel he expects will be based at MOD St. Athan when the new military academy is complete.

Derek Twigg (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Defence) | Hansard source

The scale of the facility to be constructed at St. Athan is dependent upon the outcome of further work with the Metrix Consortium which is exploring the possibility of a Whole Programme Solution.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2007-07-10a.147282.h