Johnny Mercer: 'People need to re-calibrate their naivety towards the military... the 1945 values and ethos remain today'

As one of his daughters is gently ushered out of the room - “you’ll need to ask your mother, I love you” - it strikes me the youngster is not the kind of intruder the former Royal Artillery Captain is used to guarding against.

Mr Mercer served in the military for 12 years - with three tours of Afghanistan under his belt - and so is perfectly placed for his current role in the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

Kick-starting a better relationship between politics and the Armed Forces was his “sole reason” for becoming an MP in 2015, he said.

And today, 75 years after victory in Europe was declared and one of the last major milestones many of the 1945 veterans will live to see - Mr Mercer said the values and inspiration which kept him going on the frontline then were exactly the same as those three quarters of a century ago.

“I always think about what it must have been like for that generation of people, being a veteran and having served myself the thing that always struck me was how - and I don't think that generation ever really thinks about this - but how they very much set the standard for us on operations today,” said Mr Mercer.

“Whilst lots of things are different around technology around fighting and all the rest of it, the core values, if you like, of determination, selflessness, courage, humility, are all the same. And I certainly remember during my time thinking of the experiences of that generation and how we should try and match their behaviour in order to achieve what they were trying to do.”

The world is a different place to that of 1945, but Mr Mercer said in many ways, military service remained the same.

“Take Afghanistan, for example, some of the environments out there are pretty austere,” he said.

“Certainly in the early days, the kit and the equipment wasn't very good and we had to rely on those sorts of characteristics and values and ethos.

“The military gets criticised, I think, for being a bit traditional and all that, but that's the reason for it.

“It's not because we're history buffs, it's because these things actually mean something, the words, ethos, values of for example, leadership, courage they actually mean something, and that's why we try and get our history right as well.”

Of course much had also changed, Mr Mercer said the military itself was smaller, and the threats the country faced had changed.

But he said it would be “incredibly naive” to think that simply because the nation was not about to face a World War Two-style invasion, that the need for brave service personnel had diminished.

“The military is smaller but some of our military is still fighting every day. There are some people that are engaged in fighting, it is a smaller proportion of course it is, but every single day there are men and women out there on operations,” he said.

“But what I found coming across into political life is a breathtaking naivety of people who think the war happened and that was then and the military, in a way, kind of lost this purpose, because we don't have overt state on state action anymore.

“It's incredibly crass, and demonstrates a level of misunderstanding and it's just extraordinary.

“Every single day people are trying to do this nation harm and sometimes that will be in the covert space sometimes that will be in the overt space, but the reality is these guys are doing it because they're patriots because they're proud of the nation and they want to defend their nation and so I think that people misunderstand that.”

But he admitted the military sometimes had a problem with clearly explaining what it did.

“Our communications as an MOD do need to be much, much better,” he said.

“But also people need to re-calibrate their naivety when it comes to the military as well.

“Look at this Covid response, 92 out of the 96 stations that have stepped up to get this testing thing done are manned by military people. The Nightingale Hospitals set up, organised, run by military people. In my view they're the backbone of the nation.”

However he felt the issues of misunderstanding had often sat with politicians rather than the public.

“The problem’s always been with the political class, he said. “Which is why I became an MP.”

He added: “My sole reason for entering this career was to reset that relationship between the military and the nation, and it's important that we do that. We don't devalue their sacrifice, or what it was like, what we asked them to do to protect the way of life that we enjoy it.”

One of the key misunderstandings, he said, was the role of military families.

“You've got to remember that the military is as much about families as anything else because without getting that right you can't expect your people to operate at the level you expect them to operate at, which is why we take families welfare so seriously,” he said.

“I found out in the political world and in the world of Westminster people say ‘why should they have subsidised accommodation? Why should families have help getting employment?’

“And it just shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the military that's come about after years of comfort in this country.”

He added it would be “incredibly naive” to think the role of the military was lessened because “there is no immediate threat to the UK in terms of another power trying to invade”.

He said it was not about sympathy or praise - acknowledging joining the military was a choice, one which he said attracted “the best of us” - but a “level of understanding [over] what we ask people to do to protect the way of life that we are so lucky to enjoy in this country”.

“You certainly don't do it for the money or because the uniform's pretty, you do it because you believe in something,” he said.

“The very nature of military service is different to anything else,” he said. “And I have this conversation in London when I'm trying to sort out residency requirements for people who served for 10 years and then can't bring their family over here, for example, and an official or another politician will sit there and say, 'well, what about police the NHS' and these things are all equally worthy.

“But military service is fundamentally different to anything else, there is no other service that compels you to sacrifice on behalf of the nation in a way that military service does, and that should be recognised for its unique nature.”

Things were changing, he said, highlighting the setting up of the first Office for Veterans Affairs, and legislation to end vexatious prosecutions and protect military personnel and veterans from prosecution for alleged historical offences.

The Armed Forces Covenant, which pledges to treat veterans and their families fairly, was set to become law.

“By the end of this parliament, this will be the best country in the world to be a veteran,” he said.

“The military is not better than anybody else, veterans aren't better, they don't deserve better treatment. But it is different and veterans should not be disadvantaged because of their service to this nation.

“Ultimately, without our security. I'm afraid there is no economy and no NHS and other things everyone wants to argue about all the time.”

In a message specifically for Yorkshire, Mr Mercer urged today should be about celebration as much as remembrance.

“Thank you for the thousands of men and women from Yorkshire who've served in our military,” he said. “Today remember but celebrate as well, there's no need to be all dreary about these things.

“We remember those who died of course, but they would want us to enjoy the freedom that they fought so hard for.

“So pause to remember and reflect and then have a good old celebration because it's a pretty miserable time at the moment for a lot of people, obviously following social distancing rules, but just appreciate what we have.

“I think it's very easy in the Western world these days to forget how fortunate we are.”