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Discussion on defence with Dr. Julian Lewis MP

Totton Conservative Club

Saturday, 7^th November 2015

Driving rain and blustery wind did not prevent people from crowding into Totton Conservative Club on Saturday, 7^th November to hear a wide ranging outstanding speech on Defence from Dr. Julian Lewis MP, chairman of the House of Commons Defence Committee.   Starting from the first Iraq War his talk covered recent wars which when over had left civilians still in difficult conditions   Libya for example was an almighty mess.  He said that we were bad at predicting wars, such as the 6 Day War or events such as 9/11.   Dr Lewis went on to say that regarding the Syrian debacle, the Russians wanted Assad to win but this country wants both sides to lose!  

John Strafford interviewed Julian Lewis and commenced by saying he agreed 100% with his views, and he was wholly in favour of spending 2% of the Budget on Defence spending, and that more of the budget should be spent on conventional weapons.   John Strafford wondered if we were spending money in the right places

When questioned, Dr Lewis said that if British troops were in the Ukraine but we denied they were there it would be a scandal, but that is what is happening now with Russia in the Ukraine. 

NATO says that an attack on one NATO ally is an attack on all. 

The question of Trident came up not surprisingly.   One member of the audience wanted 10 Tridents and another questioner wondered where, if required, a new base could be found – answer Milford Haven in Wales. The audience included several former service military personnel - so informed questioning ensued.   Queries on  drones, aircraft carriers, state of readiness to respond to attack – all were competently responded to by Julian Lewis.

Cllr Allan Glass closed the meeting after warmly thanking the speaker for an informed speech.