MOBILISE THE LAWYERS FIRST!
The Government wants greater powers to recall reservists.Excellent.But before dragging former servicemen away from their families and sending them towards another political war, perhaps Andy Burnham should begin with a different strategic reserve:**Britain’s battalions of barristers.**Form a Lawyer Brigade and send them in first.Let them exchange their gowns for body armour, their briefcases for rucksacks and their billable hours for the long hours of military service.Let Lord Hermer crawl through the mud before lecturing soldiers about decisions made under fire.Let the veteran lawyers like Starmer experience exhaustion, danger, confusion and responsibility - then return home and explain from personal experience what every soldier should supposedly have done in a split second.After all, some will undoubtedly appear years later to examine the operation, question the veterans and accumulate enormous legal fees. So why not give them some battlefield experience first, eh?**A soldier makes the decision in seconds.A lawyer can spend years - and millions - dissecting it.**No serviceman is above the law. Genuine crimes should be investigated fairly. But neither should veterans become legal prey for endless investigations, recycled accusations and lucrative fishing expeditions.Ministers start the wars.Servicemen fight them.Veterans carry the scars.And the lawyers arrive afterwards - hoping to make a killing.So when Burnham reaches for the reservist list, maybe Ant Middleton should hand him another one:**The lawyers.**Let those who expect to judge the next war be the first mobilised to fight it.
