Bob Stewart: MOD: All Documents

Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 24 Jun 2021
UK Defence Spending

"I should like to support my good friend’s comments. When I joined the Army, my battalion was 750-strong. When I commanded that battalion, it had 525 personnel. We now have one battalion in the Army that apparently has 170 people, yet it is still called a battalion. We must beware …..."
Bob Stewart - View Speech

View all Bob Stewart (Con - Beckenham) contributions to the debate on: UK Defence Spending

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 26 Apr 2021
Carrier Strike Group Deployment

"May I point out that I am the chair of the British-Taiwanese all-party parliamentary group? To supplement what my right hon. and gallant Friend, and very good friend, the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood) mentioned in his question, I am really saddened that we are, in a way, capitulating …..."
Bob Stewart - View Speech

View all Bob Stewart (Con - Beckenham) contributions to the debate on: Carrier Strike Group Deployment

Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 22 Apr 2021
Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Historical Inequalities Report

"On 15 June 1955, a small force commanded by RAF Regiment officers, including my father, crawled into the Wadi Hatib in Aden protectorate. They were ambushed. The commanding officer was killed. Another British officer was killed, and six Arab soldiers were killed. My father took over command. The six Arab …..."
Bob Stewart - View Speech

View all Bob Stewart (Con - Beckenham) contributions to the debate on: Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Historical Inequalities Report

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 14 Apr 2021
Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

"The Minister has outlined a concept predicated on the armed forces fighting an all-out war—a war where no holds are barred and we use everything. I get that; I understand grey-zone thinking—I am a strategist, too; I read it in great detail at university. However, for 70 years we have …..."
Bob Stewart - View Speech

View all Bob Stewart (Con - Beckenham) contributions to the debate on: Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 14 Apr 2021
Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

"I am sorry to have to disagree with my very good friend. We are reducing the capability of our armed forces. We are reducing their capability to do peacekeeping, limited operations, counter-insurgency and peacemaking. We have not got the men to do it. That is what we are doing...."
Bob Stewart - View Speech

View all Bob Stewart (Con - Beckenham) contributions to the debate on: Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 14 Apr 2021
Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

"I remember that in 2010 we cut the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers hugely, and said we would do the job through civilian personnel. Then, in 2015, we cut those civilian personnel. Who will keep all these highly technical things going if we do not have the people?..."
Bob Stewart - View Speech

View all Bob Stewart (Con - Beckenham) contributions to the debate on: Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 14 Apr 2021
Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

"I get the idea of grey-zone warfare. I studied strategy; I realise that we cannot fight the next war as we fought the last war—I get that, too. The real problem is that we are going to have to do the next war in a different way. I get that. …..."
Bob Stewart - View Speech

View all Bob Stewart (Con - Beckenham) contributions to the debate on: Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 14 Apr 2021
Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

"And indeed, as my good friend says, they are Fijian. Increasingly, those battalions will have to be manned by Englishmen.

I will end on that point. I understand the logic; I disagree with the result...."
Bob Stewart - View Speech

View all Bob Stewart (Con - Beckenham) contributions to the debate on: Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 14 Apr 2021
Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

"Forgive me for intervening yet again, but may I point out that, on most of our operations, we cannot win hearts and minds with a drone, with artificial intelligence or with a precision-guided missile? We must have men and women who talk to people...."
Bob Stewart - View Speech

View all Bob Stewart (Con - Beckenham) contributions to the debate on: Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

Written Question

Army

Tuesday 16th March 2021

Asked by: Bob Stewart (Conservative - Beckenham)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the strength is of each (a) English, (b) Scottish, (c) Welsh, (d) Irish and (e) Gurkha battalion.

Answered by James Heappey

The table below shows the Trade Trained Regular strength of English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish Infantry and Royal Armoured Corps regiments, and Infantry Gurkha strength as at 1 January 2021.

English	10,440
Scottish	3,060
Welsh	1,540
Irish	1,080
Royal Gurkha Rifles	1,690

Table notes:

The above figures are for Infantry and RAC only and include all members within the regiment regardless of whether they are serving at regimental duty.
Figures provided are for Trade Trained Regular and Infantry Gurkhas only and the figures do not include Reserves.
Regimental data has been provided as opposed to battalion, in order to capture the c.4200 who are not working at regimental duty.
All Officers of Paid Rank Colonel and above are included in Staff regardless of late Arm/Corps and have therefore been excluded from the figures.
The above Regular figures only include those regiments that are considered English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish. Those who are not associated to a specific country are not included.
All other regiments within the RAC are not wholly related to any one country due to historical mergers.
The Royal Gurkha Rifles figure includes both GURTAM and Regular Army Officers.
Figures have been rounded to 10 for presentational purposes, numbers ending in ‘5’ have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to present systematic bias.