Downing Street Says » Letter from soldier’s family

» Thursday, September 17, 2009

Letter from soldier’s family

Asked for the Prime Minister s reaction to the letter he received from the family of a fallen soldier who blamed him for the death, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) said that the Prime Minister was concerned about any death that happened to a serving member of our forces and took them all extremely seriously, as every one of them was a personal tragedy. The Prime Minister sent his condolences to every family and understood how families felt in such situations. The Prime Minister remained committed to what we were seeking to achieve in Afghanistan and determined to give the troops every support, especially in the fight against Improvised Explosive Devices.

Asked how the Prime Minister reacted to the fact he was being personally blamed for what happened, the PMS said that the Prime Minister was always very concerned when he received a letter like this from a family of someone who had died in action and he would be responding, as he did to every letter he received. The Prime Minister remained committed to what we wanted to achieve in Afghanistan.

Put that the Prime Minister received the letter ten days ago, the PMS said that he was not aware of the exact date the letter arrived, but the Prime Minister would be replying.

Put that the letter accused the Government of not providing enough equipment, the PMS said that the absolute priority of the Prime Minister was to give our troops the right equipment on the ground. We were very sensitive to the kinds of concerns that were expressed in this letter, and we remained completely committed to providing the right resources and equipment on the ground.

Asked if the Prime Minister had asked the Ministry of Defence to take action on some of the points raised in the letter e.g. the Taliban were using the same metal detectors as us, the PMS said that he would get back to the journalist.

Asked when the Prime Minister would respond to the letter, the PMS said that the Prime Minister would be responding but we didn t have an exact time yet.

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