Review ordered into lack of aircraft for D-Day commemorations, says Defence Secretary
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said a review has been ordered after it was reported that only one aircraft is available for a mass parachute drop to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
He told GB News: “I do think it’s incredibly important to remember the past and if we don’t do that then we essentially commit ourselves to making the same mistakes again in the future.
“I have ordered a review of that immediately. It is the case of course these aircraft are being used in a more difficult troubled world, including…to drop aid into Gaza. They’re very heavily used for that. So I’ll have a look at the resources.”
He continued: “I absolutely agree about needing to make sure we do it properly, not just because it’s a display but because it commemorates something…
“It’s important that D-Day is remembered properly here. It will be, by the way, both in Portsmouth and in France. I want to make sure it’s done properly and come back to the decisions that pre-date my time.
“It is the case that we do have some very, very good A400 heavy lift aircraft with about 1.4 million tonnes of lift ability. So we actually have a lot of lift ability in the RAF…
“We know there are several live wars going on and they are being used for those purposes, but I’m quite sure to commemorate something as significant as D-Day we can do a bit better than that and I’ve undertaken to make sure we do.”
Asked about pro-Palestinian protests in London, he said: “It worries me, It worries the Government a lot. I was pleased to see that ten or so arrests yesterday were made.
“We have said in the past, I think the police need to be very much all over these things. And we see the impact on people. It makes people feel very uncomfortable.
“When these marches sometimes spill over from the legitimate right to protest and make a point, that is not an issue, when they spill over into anti-semitism, when they spill over into hate speech, racism, that is where there is a problem and we absolutely back 100% police taking the necessary action.
“I see now that they have charged hundreds and hundreds of people over the last few months and there were a significant number of arrests yesterday, which I think was the right way to deal with these things.”
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