PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON
-------------------------------------------------------------------------****************************************************
Prime Minister, being posted below is a photograph of the individual that you have, holding the position of Minister For Defence Personnel Welfare And Veterans.
Mr ANDREW ROBATHAN
Prime Minister, for your information from (Hansard, 1 November1949) YANGTZE OPERATIONS (MEDAL) Commander Noble asked the Prime Minister whether approval has been given for the issue of a General Service Medal for service in operations on the River Yangtse earlier this year.
The Prime Minister (Mr. Attlee) Yes, Sir. His Majesty has approved proposals for the grant of the Naval General Service for specified service on the River Yangtse between 20th April and 31st July, 1949. A short White paper on the subject is available in the Vote Office.
There you see what was stated within the House of Commons, as part of the business concerning or appertaining too the YANGTSE OPERATION (MEDAL) of sixty-three years ago.
Prime Minister, Cameron, that which
I am about to quote comes from the pages of a review of records
pertaining the institution of the Yangtze 1949 Clasp to the Naval
General Service Medal (1915) the review was compiled by The Naval
Secretary SO 1 and thereafter forwarded by Mr Andrew Robathan MP, to
the Public Petitions Committee of The Scottish Parliament, dealing
with the Petition Numbered 1312.
From page 4 of the review at item numbered eleven, under the heading
of HMS CONCORD, I now quote;* “Examination of T300/71 shows that the
HD Committee were not invited to consider whether HMS CONCORD should
be included as one of the units whose personnel would be eligible for
the medal. This is central to the veterans claim that HMS CONCORD’s
part in HMS AMETHYST’s escape on the night of 30/31 July 1949 was
deliberately covered up and this alleged cover up led to HMS CONCORD
being omitted from the list of units that were specified as qualifying
for the medal.” *Unquote.
Prime Minister, if Mr Andrew Robathan MP, Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans, was not capable of reading into what those terms amounted to, then obviously he should be removed from the office he now holds, further, on the 14 September 2010 Mr Robathan MP, in a letter, reference number: - D/Min(DPWV)/AR MC03871/2010 wrote the following to The Rt Hon Greg Knight MP., (The institution of medals is approved by the Sovereign on the advice of the pan- Departmental Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals, the HD Committee. The HD Committee papers relating to the institution of the ‘Yangtze 1949’ clasp to the NGSM are now in the custody of the National Archives at Kew.
Examination of this record indicates that the qualifying criteria for
this clasp, and the ships and units that should be eligible, were
carefully considered by the responsible authorities in the admiralty
and the HD Committee after the action fought in April 1949 but before
HMS AMETHYST had successfully escaped from the River Yangtze.
The institution of the award was announced in November 1949, after HMS
AMETHYST’s escape on the night of 30/31 July 1949 when HMS CONCORD had
been deployed to go to her assistance. The records of the contemporary
HD Committee show that the circumstances of HMS CONCORD’s
well-documented deployment into the river and her meeting with the HMS
AMETHYST does not compare with the actions fought on 20 and 21 April,
nor with the circumstances of HMS AMETHYST’s lengthily enforced
incarceration in the river from 20th April until 30/31 July
1949, for which the award was specifically instituted and intended to
recognise.
In closing you are in no doubt aware of the Coalition Pledge to
‘review the rules governing the awarding of medals’ At present the
scope and nature of the review is still being determined and it is
therefore not possible at this stage to say when an announcement will
be made on this or what findings the review will reach.),
Prime Minister, Cameron, you will no doubt notice that Mr Robathan, in
his correspondence with Mr Greg Knight, omitted to relate to the terms
that can be found in: - “Examination of T300/71” which has been
quoted above, and also, Mr Robathan, in writing to the Petitions
Committee of the Scottish Parliament, made no mention, of the
Coalition Pledge to review the rules governing the awarding of medal.
Further, it has not escaped my notice that The Rt Hon Greg Knight MP.,
is chairing the Procedure Committee for the reform of, Ministerial
Statements to the House of Commons, well perhaps Mr Night, and the
members of the Procedure Committee, might give some consideration to
examining that all important Ministerial Statement that made to both
The House of Commons and the House of Lords on the 26th
April 1949 relating to the Yangtze
Incident 20th/21st April 1949.
Click on the link below to access the Ministerial Statement: -
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1949/apr/26/attacks-on-hn-ships-china
Next, obtain a copy of: - Secret Document:- NO 3125 April
Cabinet Situation in China
Memorandum by Foreign Secretary and First Sea Lord of The Admiralty
HMS AMETHYST
We circulate for the consideration of the Cabinet the text of the
statement which is proposed should be made to the Parliament on the
Amethyst incident (Annex A) some details are not intended to be
included.
That gist of that memorandum by the Foreign Minister and the First Sea
Lord, issued to the Cabinet, 25th April 1949 establishes
that the text of the Ministerial Statement made to both the House of
Lords and the House of Commons, was part of an orchestrated plot
devised in order to disallow questions.
See
also on this website: -
http://www.thehmsconsort.co.uk the link tilled: -
UNTO THE RT HON DR LIAM FOX MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE
Yours Sincerely,
William Leitch.