MP gets emotional as he speaks about fighting tyranny – like his father did in WW2
Mark Francois has made an emotional speech in which he explained how appeasement in the 1930s had failed, leading to his father having to fight in WW2, insisting such a policy would continue to fail today.
The former defence minister spoke of how his father fought the Nazi regime during the Second World War, Neville Chamberlain's.attempt to keep the peace with Adolf Hitler having come to nothing.
The Conservative MP said any attempt to repeat this policy with modern-day dictators - such as Vladimir Putin - would also lead to failure.
Mr Francois was taking part in a debate about the publication of several recent Commons committee reports that raised concerns about the Ministry of Defence's resources and ability to respond to a range of threats facing the UK.
He told his fellow MPs: "My father was a good man and the story he told me was of a country that eventually, reluctantly, had to go to war against the evil of Nazi tyranny.
"Because for years its politicians had been so parsimonious... and so naive that when Nazism emerged we completely failed to deter it."
He added: "That is the lesson of the 1930s, but it was also his lesson to me. He made me take a solemn vow that as his son I would never take living in a free country for granted, because he told me too many good men had died to achieve it.
"I issue this stark warning today. The skies are darkening. Brutal dictators with powerful weapons at their disposal are on the rise.
"The democracies are on the back foot rather than the front. History tells us again and again, indeed ad nauseum, that the appeasement of dictators – be they called Adolf Hitler or Vladimir Putin – does not work.
"The first duty of Government above all others is the defence of the realm - and we forget that at our peril."
Labour former defence minister Kevan Jones called for the UK to reappraise its defence position in the world.
He told the Commons: "The nonsense slogan we have had from the last few years of 'global Britain', you know, somehow we are now a pre-imperialist view where we are going around the world. Well I'm sorry, it is absolute nonsense.
"We have got to look at what we can do to protect our own defence.
"Do we actually need a full-spectrum Army? No we don't, we need to plug into our Nato allies, and say 'what can we deliver well as part of overall defence?' against the threat that is coming from not only Russia in Europe, but also increasingly it affects, in terms of China, in terms of the North Atlantic, and as we get global warming and the opening of sea lanes."
Fellow Labour MP John Spellar said a failure of the Government to respond to the global security situation would make war more likely.
He told the Commons: "Underlying this of course is the question of whether we are in a new environment or just an oscillation, basically is there a war going on?
"The people of Ukraine certainly know that. The Baltic nations and Poland and Finland and Sweden know that.
"It doesn't mean that war is inevitable, but it certainly means that it is now possible, and failure to respond will actually make it more likely.
"Across Nato there is not that sense of urgency and clear realisation of the crisis."
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