‘Stop abandoning our troops’: Sacked veterans Minister Johnny Mercer savages Boris Johnson after being axed by text message over treatment of soldiers in Northern Ireland

  • Veterans minister Johnny Mercer was sacked tonight by PM Boris Johnson 
  • He said he was forced to resign by the Prime Minister over Northern Ireland  
  • Mr Mercer wanted Northern Ireland veterans protected from criminal probes 
  • He accused the PM of 'abandoning' Northern Ireland veterans accused of crimes 

By Mark Nicol and Glen Keogh For The Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

Johnny Mercer launched a blistering attack on Boris Johnson last night after he was dramatically sacked by text message as veterans minister.

The former Army officer had been threatening to resign over the failure to prevent elderly veterans being dragged through the courts in Northern Ireland.

In a sensational open letter to the Prime Minister released last night, Mr Mercer tore into his record on issues affecting the veteran community.

He claimed that former troops were ‘being sectioned, drinking themselves to death and dying before their time’ because the Government could not ‘find the moral courage’ to stop ‘appalling injustices’.

He referred to Mr Johnson’s ‘Veterans Pledge’ which he signed in 2019 when he was running to be Prime Minister and accused him of ‘abandoning’ troops. 

Johnny Mercer, pictured, has resigned this evening from Government in a row over the treatment of veterans accused of crimes in Northern Ireland

Mr Mercer, who served multiple tours of Afghanistan as a Commando Engineer, told the PM: ‘I had hoped your premiership would signal a step change in veteran affairs in the UK. 

'While we continue to say all the right things, you will understand that if we fail to match that with what we deliver we risk damaging an already bruised veterans’ cohort further – as I told you last month in our first face to face meeting, we crossed that line some time ago.’

He went on: ‘Perhaps nothing embodies this more than what we are asking our veterans in their 70s and 80s to relive, through endless reinvestigations and inquests, into events often more than 50 years ago in Northern Ireland.

‘We have abandoned our people in a way I simply cannot reconcile. Whilst endless plans are promised and solutions mused, veterans are being sectioned, drinking themselves to death and dying before their time because the UK Government cannot find the moral strength or courage we asked of them in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, in finding a political solution to stop these appalling injustices.’ 

Mr Mercer published his resignation letter which revealed he was 'forced' to leave Government

Mr Mercer published his resignation letter which revealed he was 'forced' to leave Government. He said he will lobby on behalf of Northern Ireland veterans in Parliament

Mr Mercer said he will lobby on behalf of Northern Ireland veterans in Parliament, having said he made promises to those troops in Mr Johnson's name

Mr Mercer concluded: ‘I made promises on your behalf to protect them. No discernible efforts have been made to do so and I can see no prospect of this changing.’

He will now return to the backbenches just as the Overseas Operations Bill, which he championed, returns to the Commons today after being defeated in the House of Lords.

Yesterday, before he was sacked, the Government watered down the controversial Bill, dropping plans which would have made it harder to prosecute soldiers for historic war crimes. 

10 Downing Street claimed Mr Mercer resigned, but the former veterans minister said he was 'relieved of my responsibilities' in Government

10 Downing Street claimed Mr Mercer resigned, but the former veterans minister said he was 'relieved of my responsibilities in Government

Mr Mercer’s sacking comes just days before two elderly Parachute Regiment veterans face a murder trial in Northern Ireland. 

Last night, former Life Guards soldier Dennis Hutchings, 79, who faces trial over a separate shooting incident, said: ‘Here we have two lads being taken to court 50 years after the event. It’s all political. 

'As far as I’m concerned, most of our politicians are spineless. I think it’s absolutely brilliant that Mr Mercer was prepared to stand up on this issue.

‘The Prime Minister hasn’t done a bloody thing to enact his promise to help Northern Ireland veterans.

‘The big problem is the Northern Ireland Office and their need to appease Sinn Fein.’

Mr Hutchings added: ‘It’s good to see a politician with principles who is prepared to stand up and show other politicians what they should have been doing.

‘This Government has done what Blair did. He sold us out to get peace with Sinn Fein.’

Mr Mercer entered Government as veterans minister in 2019. Last night a Downing Street spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister has accepted the resignation of Johnny Mercer. He thanks him for his service.’ 

Johnny Mercer's resignation letter in full

It is with a heavy heart that I am forced to offer my resignation from your government.

I am very proud of the small team in the Office for Veterans Affairs who have worked hard against a strong prevailing wind in Government to establish themselves and start the significant piece of work of getting the UK Government to realise her responsibilities to those who have served in the UK's armed forces.

I had hoped your premiership would signal a step change in Veterans Affairs in the UK. Whilst we continue to say all the right things, you will understand that if we fail to match that with what we deliver, we risk damaging an already bruised Veteran's cohort further, as I told you last month in our first face to face meeting, we crossed that line some time ago.

The challenges of the Office for Veterans Affairs are well known – I have raised them time and again within Government to you and many others. It was always designed in a specific way in the Veterans' Pledge that you signed when you were running to be Prime Minister in 2019. I was not the author; a cohort of charities, stakeholders, veterans and families came together with an ask of the next UK PM and both candidates signed it. However, after signing the pledge your team chose not to configure it in the way it was designed, and from the very first moment you appointed me, I made clear that this was unlikely to be successful.

I am of course, desperately sad events have transpired the way they have – I truly have exhausted my efforts and my team to make it work. But the truth is politics always was a means to change how this Country treats her military veterans, and I remain genuinely appalled by the experiences of some of the Nation's finest people who have served in the Armed Forces. I fought and bled alongside them. I've been far more fortunate than many of them since, and I have a duty to tell their truth to power.

Perhaps nothing embodies this more than what we are asking our Veterans in their seventies and eighties to relive, through endless reinvestigations and inquests, into events often more than fifty years ago in Northern Ireland.

Almost all these events were investigated at the time, and without the emergence of any new evidence and simply a changing of the political tide, we have abandoned our people in a way I simply cannot reconcile. Whilst endless plans are promised and solutions mused, veterans are being sectioned, drinking themselves to death and dying well before their time – simply because the UK Government cannot find the moral strength or courage we asked of them in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, in finding a political solution to stop these appalling injustices.

You have known for some time this was my red line. I am deeply proud of my predecessors who served in Northern Ireland. They are not second-class veterans. They deserve the protections of the Overseas Operations Bill like everyone else. A police decision was taken not to include them. I made promises on your behalf that we would not leave them behind and would walk through simultaneous legislation for them. No discernible efforts have been made to do so, and I can see no prospect of this changing. I have no choice but to leave Government and campaign for them in Parliament.

ConservativesUK GovernmentDowning Street

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