SINCE 1688, the consent of parliament has been required for the raising and keeping of a standing army. In modern times, this means that every five years parliament is asked to give consent to an Armed Forces Bill, which came before us last week and, without which, there is no means to ensure service personnel obey orders. I’ve taken a keen interest in our treatment of servicemen and women as my dad served in the British Army for 18 years, seeing armed conflict in places around the world. And, of course, we have a strong tradition of admiration and service for our armed forces within the Wantage and Didcot constituency. That tradition of service includes some of my predecessors: when the seat was Abingdon, it was of course represented by Airey Neave, who had a proud record of service in World War Two. His predecessor was Ralph Glyn, who served in World War One and was awarded a military cross.