Tory Mercer ‘ought to maintain eyebrows shave vow’ if he fails on Veterans ID pledge
A Tory Minister has been instructed to maintain his promise to shave his eyebrows off if he didn’t full the Veterans ID playing cards rollout by the tip of the 12 months.
Johnny Mercer is beneath stress to show he’s “a man of his word” as he’s set to overlook his dedication. In March, the Veterans’ Minister pledged to get ID playing cards rolled out for armed forces veterans this 12 months.
An account known as Military Banter replied to Mr Mercer’s put up on social media, asking: “Robogen?”. The army slang means: If you’re mendacity, will you could have your head shaved bald like a robotic?
Mr Mercer replied merely with: “Eyebrows”. It means if he’s mendacity then he could have his eyebrows shaved off. Labour has now known as for the Tory MP to stay to his phrase, as evaluation suggests fewer than 4% of veterans ID playing cards have been given out.
A Labour supply mentioned: “This Government has a track record of letting ordinary people down. Their record on veterans is shocking – full of warm words and no action. But Johnny Mercer is a man of his word. I look forward to Johnny following through on this commitment, and I wish him a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”
It comes as Mr Mercer faces criticism over remarks made on social media directed at Carol Vorderman and Fred Thomas, Labour’s candidate hoping to unseat him on the normal election. In an astonishing social media message the highest Tory claimed Mr Thomas had “served five minutes in uniform”. In truth Mr Thomas was within the Royal Marines for seven years turning into a Captain.
Mr Mercer additionally accused Mr Thomas, who’s standing in Plymouth Moor View, and Ms Vordermanof main “s*** lonely lives”. The ID playing cards scheme was launched to assist the 2 million armed forces veterans entry specialist assist and providers. Phase one, for individuals who left the army after December 2018, is accomplished, with some 71,000 playing cards having been issued.
For section two, for individuals who left earlier than December 2018, simply 500 playing cards have been dispatched. Defence minister Dr Andrew Murrison launched the figures in response to written parliamentary questions.
He mentioned manufacturing had aimed to dispatch hundreds of playing cards for pre-2018 veterans by the tip of 2023. The division expects manufacturing to extend over the course of 2024 in direction of a most output capability of round 50,000 playing cards per 30 days. A authorities spokeswoman mentioned: “We committed to delivering thousands of Veteran Cards to veterans who left service before December 2018 by the end of this year. This has been achieved, so the Minister’s eyebrows are safe this Christmas.”
