Article published in The Sun on 11 February 2017. © Richard Kemp

If IHAT is shut down tomorrow it won’t be soon enough.

This miserable organisation and it’s posse of private investigators is the state arm of a despicable campaign to undermine our brave soldiers on the front line, spearheaded by bent tank-chasing lawyer Phil Shiner.

Shiner could not have brought so much misery onto innocent British soldiers and their families without the support of successive governments spending our tax money.

Theresa May and Sir Michael Fallon deserve credit for finally calling a halt.

Great credit is also due to the press, especially The Sun, in their tenacious campaigning on behalf of the beleaguered troops.
What they exposed has been nothing short of betrayal, by government ministers, senior civil servants and – perhaps worst of all – by generals who should have fallen on their own swords rather than see their soldiers sold down the river.

Our soldiers are not angels and they would be no use to us if they were. But they are courageous, well disciplined, well led, tough, professional and moral.

Very few have wilfully transgressed the laws of war in either Iraq or Afghanistan, despite untold horrors and provocations that less effective fighting men would not be able to withstand.

But their collective names have been blackened by this politically-motivated slur campaign. The government must now compensate those directly affected, many of whom have had their lives ruined.

Worse still, our jihadist enemies have used the lies of Shiner and his henchmen to recruit, to gain funds and to motivate. It is highly likely innocent people have died as a consequence.

This must never happen again.

When we send our fighting men into battle to defend this country, and risk their lives doing so, we must in future ensure that they know they will get 100 per cent support from their chain of command and politicians.

Images: Michael Fallon, Theresa May: Wikimedia Commons (1), (2)