Armed Forces Bill

I concur that on our visits it was plain that this was not something about which commanding officers felt strongly. However, I was told about an incident—I think it was the Trooper Williams case—in which the commanding officer acted exactly as the hon. Member for Newark (Patrick Mercer) proposed. He consulted lawyers and then decided that there was not a case to answer. That action was taken very quickly, and subsequent advice was that the original advice to the commanding officer was incorrect. By then, however, it was too late and there was no other way for the matter to be investigated, which led to the unfortunate result that Trooper Williams was prosecuted in the civilian courts, which no one wanted. That is why the protection has been included in the Bill.