It seems fitting that as we approach the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Rishi Sunak has pledged to bring back a form of National Service.
It’s exactly the kind of bold, brave and visionary policy that the Conservative Party should implement if we’re lucky enough to be returned for a historic fifth term in office.
When we remember D-Day we are eternally grateful for the service and sacrifice made by those brave young men who fought to save our country.
Their bold actions were courage, strength, unity, service and purpose, personified.
Of course, many of today’s young people already possess these qualities, but sadly there are a great many who do not.
There are youngsters living in our great country and benefitting from all it has to offer, who do not really believe in it, who hold little stake in its future and for whom the idea of service is something that’s done by other people.
Rishi Sunak has pledged to bring back a form of National Service amid his General Election campaign
PA
For a country to be truly great requires its young people to be properly invested in its future and willing to all pull in the same direction for the greater good.
By choosing either a 12-month contract with the armed forces, or a period of time volunteering with either the fire service, the police, the NHS or charities tackling loneliness, young people will have a choice.
It’s not about forcing anyone into combat.
If someone is vehemently opposed to the prospect of serving in the Army, Navy or Air Force, then they can do something else.
But the fact is that they will have to DO something.
Just think of the benefits for those young people unfortunate enough to have grown up in a household where neither parent works or has ever worked. What might they have missed about the world of opportunity that awaits them?
The Conservative Party is the party of aspiration and opportunity and this policy offers both in spades.
You could also see it as an antidote to so-called ‘toxic masculinity’ (a phrase I don’t particularly like), young men, full of testosterone and raring to go, whose energies will be positively focused by a spell in uniform.
Instead of engaging in anti-social behaviour or sitting in their bedrooms playing Call of Duty, they will get out in the fresh air and have a proper outlet for their natural energies.
Major skills will be learnt, and discipline will be instilled along the way. I’d be willing to bet that crime rates will see a sharp decline just a few years after this policy is made law.
Learning a trade in say engineering, electronics or even fitness, takes the pressure off companies to take in unskilled apprentices.
Instead small and medium-sized businesses could take their pick from 19 or 20-year-olds who have experienced a bit of life, a bit of discipline and have learned some rudimentary skills. Surely a win-win for business too?
We know that young men and women from chaotic backgrounds often end up joining gangs because they are crying out for an identity and a purpose to their lives.
The journalist Harriet Sergeant spent time on the streets of London with gang members for her excellent book, Among the Hoods. One of the most shocking things she discovered was how badly a lot of these ‘lost’ young people eat.
They subsist on an erratic diet of fried fast food, something we are fast learning that is incredibly detrimental, not just to physical, but to mental health too. National Service could break this cycle.
In the forces, recruits receive three square meals a day and a clean bed at night. There’s evidence to suggest that young people from deprived backgrounds will benefit hugely simply from receiving these things and that could be enough to turn them away from a life of criminality.
It’s interesting that many Labour politicians (many of whom have privately educated their own children) are trying to talk down National Service as a bad idea.
Perhaps this is a classic example of holding a ‘luxury belief’ – “an idea or opinion that confers status on members of the ruling elite at little cost, while inflicting costs on persons in lower classes”.
Of course ‘their’ children don’t need such basics as proper feeding and discipline – but they’d be happy to deny it to others to make themselves feel superior.
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In fact the children of the liberal elite would possibly benefit from rubbing along with those of whom they probably know very little if they’ve had a gilded life of prep school, private school and university.
And for those accusing politicians of forcing young people to ‘do their dirty work’, by making National Service compulsory, it’s something that ALL of our young people will experience so that automatically includes the sons and daughters of MPs.
The shock invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s troops has demonstrated to the world that nations need to be strong and united to face up to the threat.
By giving everyone a stake in our national security we can present a unified and coherent front, a strong deterrent to bullies.
This brave policy pledge shows that only the Conservatives can be trusted to think ahead and prioritise our nation’s safety in an uncertain world.
