CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

DEFENCE – RAF - 06 April 1998

DEFENCE – RAF - 06 April 1998

Dr Julian Lewis: What plans the Government have to commemorate in the UK the 80th anniversary of the Royal Air Force and the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift?

[SUPPLEMENTARY:] I am delighted to hear that the Government plan to recognise these events. Do the Government realise the intensity of pride that the British people take in such anniversaries? Will the Minister be a little more specific about the events that he has in mind? Events to mark these anniversaries have been carried out and are planned in my constituency. It would be a shame if more was taking place in one constituency than in the whole of Whitehall. Will the Minister consider the representations of the British Berlin Airlift Association, which wants the Royal Mail to issue a commemorative stamp to mark that crucial turning point in the war? That suggestion has so far been given an idle brush off.