The Minister for Defence People and Veterans (Leo Docherty): ... We are hugely grateful for the amazing contribution that our foreign and Commonwealth servicepeople make. I cannot pre-empt the Government announcement on the results of the consultation, but return of service is an important principle and I think it will be at the heart of the Government’s policy when it is announced in due course.

Dr Julian Lewis:  Will my hon. Friend allow me?

Leo Docherty: I would be delighted.

Dr Lewis: I am glad to be such a cause of pleasure to my hon. and gallant Friend. I am not a lawyer, so this might be entirely irrelevant, but I do not think so: before he leaves this first amendment [Lords Amendment 1B to the Armed Forces Bill], could he say whether those serious cases of murder abroad, such as has been reported in relation to an incident in Kenya some years ago – I appreciate that that case may still be live – are affected by this tussle between the upper House and this House on the question of whether such matters should be considered by court martial or civilian court? In other words, where there is a failure of the local police in another country, is it the Government’s case that the court martial system or the civilian legal system is better able to deal with it?

Leo Docherty: I am grateful for my right hon. Friend’s contribution; that is a very good case in point, and points to circumstances – although the numbers may be very small – in which the British military has to deploy to ungoverned spaces, let us say. Of course, that is not the case with regard to Kenya, but there are definitely advantages to the expeditionary capability of our service justice system. ...