I was appointed to the Defence Select Committee in July 2005.
We are a Committee of fourteen Members of Parliament, appointed by the House of Commons and drawn from the three largest political parties. Our responsibility is to monitor and to hold to account the Ministry of Defence and its associated public bodies, including the armed forces, on behalf of the House of Commons and the people who elect it.
Although we come from different political parties, and often hold different views from one another, we always seek to agree to our Reports unanimously, on the basis of consensus.
The Committee was nominated on 13 July 2005. At its meeting on 20 July, the Rt Hon James Arbuthnot MP was elected as Chairman.
