Kevan Jones seems to be a particularly unpleasant piece of work.
A few months ago he was fingered as being the junior minister at the centre of the smear campaign against the Chief of the General Staff - General Richard Dannatt.
Now he has decided, whilst giving evidence to a Select Committee, to have a pop at Joanna Lumley over the issue of Ghurkha resettlement.
Jones, let us not forget, was totally opposed to giving Ghurkha's the right to settle in the UK and now seems to have taken an opportunity to fire a really cheap shot at Ms Lumley.
My guess (and it's just a guess) is that Jones may be one of those bitter, twisted, vindictive people who simply won't (or can't) accept that they have been bested and then look for a grandstanding opportunity to whinge about it - preferably by defaming the person who defeated them.
Jones looks like one of the New Labour career politicians that I especially despise - degree in Government & Public Policy, then worked for a trade union & then parachuted (no doubt because of his union influence) into a safe North East Labour seat.
All in all it hasn't been a great day or so for ministers at the MoD following Bill Rammall's attempts to defend the appalling training & equipment failures that contributed to the deaths of 4 soldiers in Afghanistan.
In fairness, I felt slightly sorry (but only slightly) for Rammall - it can't be easy trying to put a case after the Wiltshire Coroner had pretty much eviscerated Government arguments that our troops were adequately equipped and funded.
Isn't it a shame that the Chilcott Enquiry is so feeble in it's questioning?
If there were a couple of QC's sitting on it instead of the nice historians and government appointees (who are so polite and unchallenging) then I am sure Brown & Blair's "evidence" would have been ripped to shreds.
